Our VocalEssence WITNESS School Program workshops are in full swing, with all eight VocalEssence Teaching Artists busy conducting workshops with more than 4,300 students from 32 elementary, middle and high schools, through the lens of their artistic medium, around the subject of trailblazing African American and African women in our community. Recently, at Alice Smith… Read More →
Let’s fill the hall! Orchestra Hall, that is. 4,245 students are slated to attend the VocalEssence WITNESS Young People’s Concerts this February, and celebrate the amazing African and African American women who change our world for the better! But here’s the catch… The cost of the VocalEssence WITNESS program and Young People’s Concerts is $28.50… Read More →
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jennifer Weismann 612-716-0556 Jennifer@owl-marketing.com HONOR THE AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN WHO POWER OUR JOURNEY TO EQUALITY WITH VOCALESSENCE WITNESS: YET THEY PERSIST Atlanta’s Spelman College Glee Club will join the VocalEssence Chorus and VocalEssence Singers Of This Age—February 24 MINNEAPOLIS — November 27, 2018 — VocalEssence will celebrate the accomplishments of… Read More →
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jennifer Weismann 612-716-0556 Jennifer@owl-marketing.com FIRST SOLO CONCERT FOR VOCALESSENCE YOUTH CHOIR TO CELEBRATE IDENTITY “Singers of This Age” (SOTA) choir welcomes special guests for inaugural performance in new VocalEssence Family Series—November 8 MINNEAPOLIS — October 23, 2018 — The first concert in the new VocalEssence Family Series, Identity, will be… Read More →
October is off to a rousing start for Associate Conductor G. Phillip Shoultz, III. He’s launched the second season of the VocalEssence Singers Of This Age, as they prepare for their Identity concert on November 8, 2018. He spent two days training VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! composer, Pablo Mendoza, for workshops in our partner schools. This past… Read More →
VocalEssence has just returned from conducting some “choral diplomacy” in Mexico. The trip to Mexico City—from Aug. 26 to Sept. 3— was a historic one. For ten years, Philip Brunelle has been visiting Mexico to meet and audition composers willing to fly up to Minnesota multiple times during the school year for VocalEssence ¡Cantaré!, staying a… Read More →
Artistic Director Philip Brunelle started the month of September by conducting the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers in Mexico City for an amazing week of concerts and workshops. They performed solo concerts and also joined 30 professional Mexican singers in concerts of Brahms and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Orquesta Symphonica de Minería. September is the month… Read More →
By Pamela Espeland | 10:05 am August 31, 2018 https://www.minnpost.com/artscape/2018/08/vocalessence-on-tour-in-mexico-peter-lorre-series-at-the-trylon/ The news about U.S.-Mexico relations continues to seesaw. After threats, tariffs and retaliatory tariffs, there’s a new free-trade deal in the works. There’s endless talk about a border wall and who will or won’t pay for it. ICE raids keep netting Mexican nationals. But this… Read More →
June 4, 2018 by Paige Elliott http://spokesman-recorder.com/2018/06/04/vocalessence-marks-milestone-season-with-new-voices-unique-collaborations/ Minneapolis-based choral organization VocalEssence has recently unveiled the musical offerings for its jubilee 50th season. Highlighting a diverse lineup of concerts and programming, the nonprofit’s 2018-2019 season promises outdoor summer sing-alongs, a new family series, and musical celebrations of inclusion, perseverance and identity. The season kicks off in August with… Read More →
The School Program The VocalEssence WITNESS School Program is an exciting opportunity for Minnesota students and teachers to learn more about the contributions African Americans have made, and are making, to the fine arts. This program is recommended for students in grades 4-12, is open to all classrooms and subject areas, and includes: Two free school workshop… Read More →
Dancer/Choreographer For 22 years, Patricia Brown has been an active member of the Twin Cities arts community as a dancer, instructor, choreographer, and performer. She is an African-based movement instructor whose fusion style is rooted in dance of West Africa, other African regions, the Caribbean, and Americas. Incorporating various forms of artistic expression, her classes… Read More →
VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! brings the talents of composers from Mexico into Minnesota classrooms. This year’s composers are Bernardo Feldman and Jimena Contreras, who were in Minnesota for a residency March 12-23, 2018. It was their second of three total visits to our VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! partner schools. This trip the composers had an opportunity to meet with… Read More →
The singers from the VocalEssence Youth Choir recently announced themselves to the local community using their official name: VocalEssence Singers Of This Age, or SOTA, for short. Since this is the inaugural year for the diverse choir, with students from all over the Twin Cities, the students were given the task naming the group. “During… Read More →
Our conductors had a great time with VocalEssence WITNESS: Of Such I Dream and the debut of the new youth choir, VocalEssence Singers Of This Age (SOTA). But there’s always another adventure around the corner for Artistic Director Philip Brunelle and Associate Conductor G. Phillip Shoultz, III. Philip Brunelle will be escaping to warmer quarters… Read More →
14 schools, 56 students, one groundbreaking choir. by Les Poling Posted February 13, 2018 “Together we sing.” That phrase, according to VocalEssence Associate Conductor G. Phillip Shoultz, III, is more than VocalEssence’s official tagline. It’s a hands-on philosophy the entire group takes to heart, especially the new VocalEssence Youth Choir. Creating community has been VocalEssence’s mission since the… Read More →
