Stories & Results

Music Making and Relationships Flourish for VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! Composers and Students

“There is nothing like seeing the face of a composer who hears his or her music sung for the first time,” says Kimberly Meisten, VocalEssence director of community engagement. VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! composers Julio Morales and Jean Angelus Pichardo returned to the Twin Cities in March for a two-week stay to help teach their newly composed…  Read More

Gather at the River with Mark Twain Performance and Raffle Raised Funds and Spirits

Saturday, May 2, 2015 was a beautiful day to be on the Mississippi River aboard the Minnesota Centennial Showboat, enjoying cocktails and appetizers on the Victorian Deck, followed by river songs and tales with Don Shelby as Mark Twain, fiddler Sara Pajunen, and the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers conducted by Tesfa Wondemagegnehu. Visit our Facebook album…  Read More

VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! Composer Proposes to Girlfriend

On Tuesday, April 21, 2015, VocalEssence had the honor of participating in a true love story—a marriage proposal delivered via the VocalEssence Chorus with a piece composed by Mexican composer Novelli Jurado, a composer-in-residence for our ¡Cantaré! in Rochester school program. Novelli met Michelle Eng, his now-fiancé, while working with the 2012-2013 season of VocalEssence…  Read More

Gather at the River with Mark Twain—and Win Tickets to the Rolling Stones, Mill City Opera, the Wild and More

As if you didn’t already have enough great reasons to join us for the Gather at the River with Mark Twain fundraiser for VocalEssence music education programs on May 2, here are five more: The fabulous raffle prizes described below offer the winners another evening of top-tier entertainment—and four seasons of wine! So make plans…  Read More

This Weekend: Radio Hour concerts dial back to the past, and tune in to a new genre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otO1BYz_i6o When you attend one of the two VocalEssence Radio Hour concerts this weekend, you are sure to be stirred by something you haven’t experienced before—and treated to some old favorites, too. The first half of the program reaches back to the early days of radio in a tribute to Fred Waring and the music…  Read More

VocalEssence WITNESS School Program instructs and inspires

This year, 49 partner schools are participating in the VocalEssence WITNESS School Program, which began with the annual Teacher Orientation Seminar in September and continues through workshops and residencies with our Teaching Artists. The theme, “Let Freedom Ring,” focused on the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his lifelong promotion of racial equality through…  Read More

Sanford Moore receives VocalEssence Reatha Clark King Award

Congratulations to pianist, composer, arranger and producer Sanford Moore, who received the Reatha Clark King Award on Sunday, February 8 at the VocalEssence WITNESS: Let Freedom Ring concert at Orchestra Hall and was presented with a one-of-a-kind work of art created by past WITNESS Teaching Artist Ta-Coumba Aiken.  The Reatha Clark King Award for Excellence…  Read More

Thank you for joining us on Arts Advocacy Day; voice your support for music education

On Arts Advocacy Day, February 19, VocalEssence staff members gathered with like-minded art lovers and shared with legislators the importance of the arts to our lives, communities and economy. Senator Bill Weber from southwestern Minnesota was one of many legislators visited by arts advocates including Katrina Wallmeyer, director of development and communications at VocalEssence, pictured…  Read More

Videos featuring Dessa with VocalEssence have national debut

Two videos featuring hip-hop artist Dessa performing with VocalEssence at the Made in Minnesota concert in October have debuted on the National Public Radio website. “Skeleton Key” was written by Dessa, and “The Good Fight” was written by Dessa and Andy Thompson; both were conducted by Tesfa Wondemagegnehu. “When Dessa reworks her songs with the…  Read More

Introducing VocalEssence ReMix: Dessa, Tim Takach urge music makers to apply for mentorships

  Dessa and Remix Composer-Mentor Tim Takach share their excitement about VocalEssence ReMix, a new program that offers up to four talented composers/songwriters a six-month one-on-one composer mentorship as they each write a choral work suitable for high school and college-level choirs. “If you make music, you compose, and you should consider applying for one…  Read More

REVIEW: Welcome Christmas new work and traditional carols are ‘highlights of the Christmas choral season’

If you are wondering what you missed during the first weekend of Welcome Christmas concerts, these two reviews will fill you in and inspire you to attend one of this weekend’s performances. “The highlight of this holiday season’s choral concerts will likely be A Light in the Stable, by English composer Alan Bullard, written expressly…  Read More

Folk Fiddler Sara Pajunen Invites You to a Welcome Christmas Alight with Nordic Theme and Premieres

Sara Pajunen, who describes herself in this video as a “violinist and fiddler of Finnish-American ancestry,” shares why she is excited to be part of the upcoming Welcome Christmas concerts. It should come as no surprise, since the program celebrates Scandinavian and Nordic yuletide traditions with carols from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. You can…  Read More