In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Ina Boyle. Ina Boyle 1889-1967 The Irish composer Ina Boyle was the foremost female composer in Ireland before 1950. She lived her entire life in her family home in Enniskerry, a village in County Wicklow,… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer C. Hubert H. Parry. Philip is joined by mezzo-soprano Lisa Drew. C. Hubert H. Parry 1848-1918 Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry was a highly influential British scholar, teacher, and composer. He was raised at Highnam… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer William Grant Still. William Grant Still 1895-1978 The African American composer William Grant Still was known for his prolific and influential career as a commercial arranger and composer. In 1911 he entered Wilberforce University (Ohio),… Read More →
This weekend: Juneteenth celebrations, online Midsommar festival, Electric Fetus sale, Father’s Day Motor Show, and more By Tally Shaver | Minnesota Monthly Published: JUNE 17, 2020 https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/health-covid-19/culture-2/weekend-best-bets-june-18-21/ Melanie DeMore, a song leader for Sunday’s Father’s Day SingalongKYNDELL HARKNESS Minnesota Arboretum Hosts Weekly Storytime & Crafts What: Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Storytime & Crafts at Home When: Every… Read More →
MAY 7, 2020 — 10:58AM https://www.startribune.com/virtual-entertainment-picks-huge-theater-vocalessence-musician-s-benefit/570274862/ VocalEssence Virtual Projects Ongoing: Leave it to ever-enterprising Philip Brunelle, founder of the Twin Cities ensemble VocalEssence, to provide some pandemic music even without his award-winning choir. Every weekday at noon, he offers a “Musical Moment” in which he highlights a composer — Friday’s program will feature Mexico’s Gerardo… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Daniel Kantor. Daniel Kantor b. 1960 As a composer, Daniel Kantor is best known for his beloved and widely popular piece “Night of Silence”. Additionally, Kantor is very active outside of the music world. Kantor… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Steve Heitzeg. This episode includes a world premiere written by Steve called Water on Rocks Waltz, which was composed in honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and is dedicated to Will Steger. Steve… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Aaron Copland. Aaron Copland 1900-1990 Prolific and beloved American composer Aaron Copland was born into a family of Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, New York. He studied piano, music theory, and composition from his sister Laurine,… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Undine Smith Moore. Undine Smith Moore 1904-1989 American composer Undine Smith Moore composed in a variety of different forms and genres, but is best known for her arrangements of spirituals and other choral compositions and… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer David Evan Thomas. David Evan Thomas b. 1958 The music of Minneapolis composer David Evan Thomas, born in Rochester, New York, has been described as playful, warm, expressive, and radiant. Thomas has degrees from Northwestern… Read More →
By Pamela Espeland | MINNPOST Published: FEBRUARY 18, 2020 — 9:17AM ‘Twelfth Night’ at the Guthrie is pure joy; Russian Renaissance at Aria Photo by Dan Norman Emily Gunyou Halaas, Sun Mee Chomet and Michael Hanna in “Twelfth Night.” The Guthrie’s new production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Twelfth Night” is pure joy. Filled with live music, movement and color,… Read More →
by Tom Weber weber@postbulletin.com | PostBulletin Published: December 10, 2019, https://www.postbulletin.com/life/lifestyles/twin-cities-ensembles-offer-christmas-concerts-in-rochester/article_08f28392-16ab-11ea-ad07-978e1f6ac6f9.html The Rose Ensemble will perform a concert of early American music Saturday in Rochester. (Contributed photo) Two of Minnesota’s iconic music groups, the Rose Ensemble and VocalEssence, will perform back-to-back holiday concerts this weekend in Rochester. In the case of the Rose Ensemble, which… Read More →
Purchase your tickets to Divine Light on Sunday, October 13, 2019 by clicking here! A Silence Haunts Me In 2017, Jake Runestad travelled to Vienna and found himself in the Haus der Musik Museum in Vienna, where he encountered a facsimile of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament. It was the first time he had read… Read More →
The Oxford Times (UK) has declared that the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers “have a blend that could—and should—be the envy of every choir in the business.” Founded in 1991, the Ensemble Singers are acclaimed for their “superbly blended sound” (Birmingham Post, UK) and “exemplary technique” (Minneapolis Star Tribune). Lauded by the Times of London as “polished, bright and brilliantly balanced,” this… Read More →
by Basil Considine | Twin Cities Arts Reader March 18, 2019: https://twincitiesarts.com/2019/03/18/interview-soprano-liv-redpath-on-singing-in-the-best-of-all-possible-worlds/ Opera is seemingly everywhere in the Twin Cities in March, with productions and concerts by the University of Minnesota, Minnesota Opera, Skylark Opera Theatre, and more. Into this tangled period leaps the choral music ensemble VocalEssence, which has chosen “The Best of All Possible… Read More →
