Stories & Results

VocalEssence Choralia is a Smashing Success!

What a wonderful world! The VocalEssence Choralia fundraiser on Sunday, May 1, 2016 broke so many records that VocalEssence is overcome with gratitude. We sold out the Radisson Blu Mall of America with 500 attendees. Guest artist Melanie DeMore encouraged all of us to “hold up” one another through song, while singers from the Sabathani Vintage Voices…  Read More

Be In “Musical Bliss” at Listeners’ Choice LIVE

You voted, and now VocalEssence and Classical MPR are preparing to reveal the listeners’ choice top 25 choral countdown. Whether you are a soprano, alto, tenor or bass, the VocalEssence Listeners’ Choice LIVE performances this April will wrap you in one big choral blanket of warmth. Our singers cannot hold in their excitement: “Both I…  Read More

Older Adults Benefit From the Power of Song

How do you stay healthy as you age? Just ask anyone in the VocalEssence Vintage Voices program—singing. This spring, Vintage Voices conductor Rob Graham and piano accompanist John Jensen are rehearsing choirs at Sabathani Senior Center and Ebenezer Park Apartments in Minneapolis in preparation for their performances this May. Rehearsals bring seniors together, to socialize…  Read More

VocalEssence Choralia Almost Sold Out!

Time is running out to purchase tickets to VocalEssence Choralia—a singing celebration to benefit the VocalEssence Community Engagement Programs. We are nearly sold out! Do you have your ticket yet? Because of our limited availability, tickets are only available by calling 612-547-1473. VocalEssence Choralia Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 4:30 pm Radisson Blu Mall of America…  Read More

VocalEssence ReMix Seeks Songwriters

How do you make sure that choral music stays relevant? Mix it up—VocalEssence style. 2015 was the launch of VocalEssence ReMix, a program breathing new life into choral music by encouraging break-out musical artists—whether you sing in a rock band or play classical music—to write for choirs. And we just received funding to create a…  Read More

Meet Our Music Makers: Ensemble Singer Eric Meyer

The VocalEssence Chorus is an exceptional group of 90 talented, committed volunteer singers from many walks of life—doctors, lawyers, nurses, educators, homemakers, business people and others—most with college-level or higher training in classical music and voice. Our 32-voice professional choir, the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, is known as one of Minnesota’s most highly trained and experienced group…  Read More

Four Saints Breaks the Boundaries of Opera

Imagine a moment in time when a Gertrude Stein opera so roused the public that it became the longest running opera in the history of Broadway. An opera so influential that fashionable Manhattan stores rushed to create window displays inspired by its language and design. Come see this opera brought to life by VocalEssence and…  Read More

Lullaby Project Connects Teenage Moms with Their Babies

Longfellow Alternative High School in Minneapolis has been filled with song this March with visits by special musical guests from VocalEssence. ¡Cantaré! Composer Francisco Zúñiga Olmos, Associate Conductor G. Phillip Shoultz, III, and members of the Ensemble Singers are working with six teenage moms to help them write a lullaby for their babies. This is…  Read More

Meet Our Music Makers: Chorus Members Jenny Kisner & Jonathan Pinkerton love WITNESS

The VocalEssence Chorus is an exceptional group of 90 talented, committed volunteer singers from many walks of life—doctors, lawyers, nurses, educators, homemakers, business people and others—most with college-level or higher training in classical music and voice. Our 32-voice professional choir, the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, is known as one of Minnesota’s most highly trained and experienced…  Read More

River Songs & Tales in Moorhead Is “Sheer Delight”

900 audience members in Moorhead experienced “eighty minutes of sheer delight” last Friday night, according to River Songs & Tales with Mark Twain attendee Dr. René Clausen, conductor of The Concordia Choir. As part of an Arts Tour grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, members of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, Associate Conductor G. Phillip…  Read More

WITNESS: Morehouse College Glee Club will blow you away

VocalEssence WITNESS will blow you away this February with the sound of not one, not two, but four separate groups on stage. In total, 365 voices will be celebrating male singing and Morehouse College, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s alma mater—a sight (and sound) that will rock you to your core and leave you clamoring for…  Read More

See the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers on ‘A Prairie Home Companion’

  The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, conducted by Philip Brunelle, were a big part of the sold-out A Prairie Home Companion show with Garrison Keillor on Saturday, December 26. If you missed it, you can listen to the entire program and watch video segments online, including this rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”  

At Thanksgiving, Enjoy a Bit of ‘Summer’

As you celebrate Thanksgiving, take a break from the chill of fall and enjoy this video. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, conducted by Dale Warland, performed “Summer” from Seasons by Dominick Argento at the VocalEssence Made in Minnesota concert on Sunday, October 26, 2014 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Happy Thanksgiving!