In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Brian Holmes. This episode features Tenor Dan Dressen. Brian Holmes b.1946 The American composer and horn player, Brian Holmes, has been commissioned for over thirty pieces that have been performed throughout the United States. Holmes… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Heinrich von Herzogenberg. This episode features Tenor Dan Dressen. Heinrich von Herzogenberg 1843-1900 Heinrich von Herzogenberg was an Austrian composer and conductor best known for his sacred works for choir and organ. The son of… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Camille Saint-Saëns. Camille Saint-Saëns 1835-1921 Camille Saint-Saëns was a French composer, pianist, organist and writer known for brilliant craftsmanship, versatility, and prolific compositions contributing to every genre of French music. He was taught the piano… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Francis Grier. Francis Grier b.1955 Francis Grier is an English composer, organist, pianist, and psychoanalyst, best known for his compositions for choir and voice. He was a chorister at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, music… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Gian Carlo Menotti. This episode features Tenor Dan Dressen. Gian Carlo Menotti 1911-2007 Gian Carlo Menotti, the Italian-American composer and librettist, became the most-performed contemporary opera composer of his era. At age 7, under the… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Daniel Kallman. Daniel Kallman b.1956 Daniel Kallman, an American composer, is known for his steady stream of commissions that includes music for worship, theater, and the young musician. His musical training included studies at Luther… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Rollo Dilworth. Rollo Dilworth b.1970 Rollo Dilworth is an American choral composer, arranger, conductor, and music educator best-known for his contemporary choral arrangements of African American spirituals. As a young boy growing up in St.… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Charles-Marie Widor. Charles-Marie Widor 1844-1937 Charles-Marie Widor was a French organist, composer and teacher known primarily for his organ symphonies. At age 11 he became the organist at the lycée in Lyons. Upon the recommendation… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Dale Trumbore. Dale Trumbore b. 1987 Dale Trumbore is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer whose music features soaring melodies and beguiling harmonies. Trumbore holds a dual degree in Music Composition and English from the… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Morten Lauridsen. Morten Lauridsen b. 1943 Morten Lauridsen is a National Medal of Arts recipient and the most frequently performed American choral composer in modern history. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Lauridsen worked as… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Janika Vandervelde. Janika Vandervelde b. 1955 Janika Vandervelde is an American composer, pianist, and music educator, whose work, notable for its feminist and ecological themes, has won numerous awards. Born in Ripon, Wisconsin, she began… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Franz Schubert. Franz Schubert 1797-1828 Franz Schubert is best-known as the Austrian composer who bridged the worlds of Classical and Romantic music, and the melody and harmony in his songs and chamber music. Born into… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Antonín Dvořák. Antonín Dvořák 1841-1904 Antonín Dvořák, the Czech composer, was the first Bohemian composer to achieve worldwide recognition, noted for turning folk material into 19th-century Romantic music. He came to know music early and… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Katherine K. Davis. Katherine K. Davis 1892-1980 Katherine K. Davis, an American pianist, composer, and educator, is best-known for her Christmas tune, Little Drummer Boy. Davis took her first piano lesson as a first grader,… Read More →
In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Virgil Thomson. Virgil Thomson 1896-1989 Virgil Thomson was a many-faceted American composer of great originality as well as a music critic of singular brilliance. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, his early connection to music came… Read More →
