Biography
Minnesota's VocalEssence Ensemble Singers earned widespread national recognition through nine recordings while sustaining deep community ties in their Minneapolis base. Since its origins, the ensemble has supported the creation of more than 300 new compositions, encompassing both choral pieces and operas.
Established in 1969 under the name Plymouth Music Series, the organization began as a community music initiative linked to Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. In 1979 the church established it as an independent nonprofit entity governed by its own board of directors. The ensemble adopted the VocalEssence name in 2002. Its structure includes the 130-voice VocalEssence Chorus together with the smaller 32-member VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, a mixed-gender core group. Philip Brunelle has served as director since the founding, while managing director Mary Ann Aufderheide belongs to the organization's staff of ten full- and part-time employees. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers issued their first recording, Dance Like the Wind: Music of Today's Black Composers, on the Collins Classics label in 1997; Clarion reissued the album in 2004, and the group has continued to record for that label.
An annual concert series has been presented since the organization's inception, reaching roughly 20,000 people each year. VocalEssence created the WITNESS educational program to examine music by African American composers, through which more than 120,000 students have participated. The choirs are particularly noted for their commissioning initiative, which has produced more than 300 new works, among them two operas: Cary John Franklin's Loss of Eden, co-commissioned with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Libby Larsen's Barnum's Bird, co-commissioned with the Library of Congress. In all, VocalEssence has presented some 500 world premieres. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers have released nine albums, four of them under the WITNESS Collection heading focused on African American composers and two featuring Garrison Keillor, longtime host of the St. Paul-produced radio program A Prairie Home Companion. Two of the albums contained world premieres, Carol Barnett's The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass and Conrad Susa's Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers also appear on the 2023 release Tina Davidson: Hymn of the Universe, drawn from performances recorded between 2000 and 2005.
Established in 1969 under the name Plymouth Music Series, the organization began as a community music initiative linked to Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. In 1979 the church established it as an independent nonprofit entity governed by its own board of directors. The ensemble adopted the VocalEssence name in 2002. Its structure includes the 130-voice VocalEssence Chorus together with the smaller 32-member VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, a mixed-gender core group. Philip Brunelle has served as director since the founding, while managing director Mary Ann Aufderheide belongs to the organization's staff of ten full- and part-time employees. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers issued their first recording, Dance Like the Wind: Music of Today's Black Composers, on the Collins Classics label in 1997; Clarion reissued the album in 2004, and the group has continued to record for that label.
An annual concert series has been presented since the organization's inception, reaching roughly 20,000 people each year. VocalEssence created the WITNESS educational program to examine music by African American composers, through which more than 120,000 students have participated. The choirs are particularly noted for their commissioning initiative, which has produced more than 300 new works, among them two operas: Cary John Franklin's Loss of Eden, co-commissioned with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Libby Larsen's Barnum's Bird, co-commissioned with the Library of Congress. In all, VocalEssence has presented some 500 world premieres. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers have released nine albums, four of them under the WITNESS Collection heading focused on African American composers and two featuring Garrison Keillor, longtime host of the St. Paul-produced radio program A Prairie Home Companion. Two of the albums contained world premieres, Carol Barnett's The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass and Conrad Susa's Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers also appear on the 2023 release Tina Davidson: Hymn of the Universe, drawn from performances recorded between 2000 and 2005.
Albums