We always look forward to our Welcome Christmas concerts for the joy and warmth that this music brings to everyone. In 2017 we wanted to celebrate some of the many, many composers living in our Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota): what an abundance of marvelous talent we have here! Some of the music…  Read More →

VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers Philip Brunelle, conductor In 1998, VocalEssence and the American Composers Forum joined forces to offer an annual contest encouraging the composition of new carols. Over the years hundreds of worthy carols have been submitted. “Behold This Heavenly Night” presents the world premiere of some of these contest-winning carols alongside outstanding arrangements…  Read More →

Eiddwen Harrhy, soprano; Janis Hardy, alto; Dan Dressen, tenor; James Bohn, bass; Chorus of the Plymouth Music Series with orchestra; Philip Brunelle, conductor. British feminist Ethel Smyth’s epic Mass in D (1891, revised 1925), Mrs Waters’ Aria from her comic opera The Boatswain’s Mate, and her anthem to the suffragette movement, “March of the Women.”…  Read More →

Thought-provoking and moving music by eight modern composers spans the range of expression from solo cello to chorus, from jazz ensemble to woodwind quintet. Anthony Elliott, cello; Yolanda Williams, Dan Dressen, Maria Jette, soloists; VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Chorus with orchestra; Philip Brunelle, conductor. “Beautifully sung with fine choral balance.” —Gramophone

Please note: This is a download card, not a CD. Hear the world premiere of Eric Whitacre’s Nox Aurumque on this uniqute live recording of the complete “Eric Whitacre Extravaganza” concert. Choral superstar Eric Whitacre conducts the VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers, joined by The St. Olaf Choir and the 160-voice Minnesota Honors Choir, in…  Read More →

In 2011, the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers criss-crossed Minnesota via historic Highway 23 to share with the state’s citizens the music of its choral composers, its singer-songwriters and the songs being sung by the people who have made Minnesota their home over the past 150 years. Enjoy the voices of VocalEssence as they explore the state’s…  Read More →

Vibrant music from the crossroads — South and North, African and American, church and street — characterizes the era between 1914 and 1930. Jearlyn Steele, soprano; Michael Forest, tenor; Paul Shaw, piano; VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Chorus with orchestra; Philip Brunelle, conductor. “The works on this excellent recording [by VocalEssence] capture the spirit of the…  Read More →

Storyteller Garrison Keillor and conductor Philip Brunelle lead a harmonious celebration of all things Thanksgiving with the melodious voices of the VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers and their special guests, singer Jearlyn Steele and pianist Richard Dworsky. Along the way we learn that Thanksgiving really isn’t all about the turkey — it’s actually all about…  Read More →

Hymn to Potatoes (and other choral masterworks from A Prairie Home Companion) featuring Garrison Keillor and the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers Who knew a choir could be this funny? Garrison Keillor, Philip Brunelle and the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers dish up a generous helping of Potatoes a la Schubert, run away to Europe to indulge their “Shenandoah”…  Read More →

It’s time for another mashup of Minnesota musical genres, as Minnesotan choral legends VocalEssence and bluegrass quintet Monroe Crossing team up for a new recording, Mortals & Angels: A Bluegrass Te Deum. Mortals & Angels: A Bluegrass Te Deum is an original work by Minnesota composer Carol Barnett and librettist Marisha Chamberlain, and is an…  Read More →

Up-and-coming Norwegian composer Kim André Arnesen considered a few different factors when he sat down to choose the pieces that would become Nordic Christmas. “I looked at works that have been personal favorites in my life and those I thought had the greatest potential in this larger setting,” said Arnesen, “but I also hunted for…  Read More →

VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers Sara Pajunen, fiddle Philip Brunelle, conductor Released in October 2015, Nordic Nativity is a wonderful exploration of beautiful music from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark—some of it familiar and some of it new. The Nordic composers have a marvelous way of spinning a melody that gets inside you and stays there!…  Read More →

VocalEssence, Garrison Keillor and The Hopeful Gospel Quartet On November 23, 2004, the Hopeful Gospel Quartet — Garrison Keillor, Mollie O’Brien and Robin & Linda Williams — traded musical moments with the VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers in a concert at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis. The evening seamlessly blended American folk traditions with choral masterpieces old…  Read More →

Benjamin Britten, W. H. Auden James Lawless, Pop Wagner, Elisabeth Comeaux, Dan Dressen, Vern Sutton, soloists; Plymouth Music Series Festival Chorus with orchestra; Philip Brunelle, conductor. Winner of the 1988 British Gramophone Award for Best Opera Recording.

William Grant Still’s music for chorus, orchestra and organ brings the blues into the concert hall, ragtime to the ballet stage and the Old World into a new era. William Warfield, narrator; Hilda Harris, Yolanda Williams, soloists; VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Chorus with orchestra; special guests Leigh Morris Chorale: Philip Brunelle, conductor. “I found much…  Read More →