annual2008–2009 report 40th Anniversary Season The Mission of VocalEssence 2008-2009 Board of Directors VocalEssence champions choral music of all genres, Dorene Wernke, President celebrating the vocal experience through innovative concerts, David L. Mona, President-Elect commissions, and community engagement programs. David F. Durenberger, J.D., Vice President VocalEssence Kent E. Eklund, Ph.D., Treasurer 1900 Nicollet Avenue Jan McDaniel, Secretary Karen A. Humphrey Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403 612-547-1451 Warren Beck Arthur W. Kaemmer, M.D. www.vocalessence.org Bruce W. Becker Nicolai A. Lewis VocalEssence is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Jo Michelle Beld, Singer Liaison Mike McCarthy Philip Brunelle Robert Muschewske Uri Camarena Paul Pribbenow Steve Fox Mary Ann Pulk P. Gayle Fuguitt Debra Sit John Geelan Peter Spink Cay Shea Hellervik Julie Zelle Honorary Directors Dominick Argento James Earl Jones MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION Dave Brubeck Garrison Keillor FOR CHORAL MUSic William Bolcom Donald Mitchell Aaron Copland* Helmuth Rilling Håkan Hagegård John Rutter Eskil Hemberg* Peter Schickele Betty Hulings* Eric Whitacre *In remembrance Artistic Staff Philip Brunelle, Artistic Director and Founder Sigrid Johnson, Associate Conductor Charles Kemper, Accompanist Administrative Staff Mary Ann Pulk, Managing Director Jennifer Bauer, Director of Marketing and Public Relations Katryn Conlin, Communications Manager Laura Holst, Development and Marketing Associate Kimberly Meisten, Director of Community Engagement Paul D. Olson, Director of Development Nick Peter, Director of Operations Patricia Starks-Faggétt, Accounting Manager Katrina Vander Kooi, Institutional Relations Manager Elissa Weller, Chorus and Volunteer Manager Julie Worden, Education Program Manager 2 annual2008–2009 report Dear Friends, Our 40th anniversary season started strong and finished GHT September 14, 2008 LI Garrison Keillor hosts the VocalEssence stronger! From the University of Minnesota Marching Band to GH I 40th Birthday Party at Orchestra Hall— H a 90-school Minnesota High School Honors Choir to a grand including a performance by the University of Minnesota Marching Band. finale concert with six other professional choirs, VocalEssence offered something for everyone this year. Look for many of our SEASON season highlights scattered throughout the annual report. Rather than present a retrospective of previous successes, this season we commissioned and premiered new music for every concert. These commissions included not only American composers, but also three composers from Mexico and one GHT October 17, 2008 from Ecuador. Our Mexican friends helped us inaugurate a LI Sold out days in advance, a line GH I forms hours before the performance groundbreaking new program – ¡Cantare! – by exploring the H to purchase standing room tickets to music and culture of Mexico and bringing it into schools and the Musique de France at the Cathedral of Saint Paul. community. SEASON Despite the sharp economic downturn in the fourth quarter of 2008, strong audience attendance and robust ticket sales helped us end the year in a solid position. We especially want to recognize our donors — corporate, foundation and individual — who, through their generosity, have allowed us to move optimistically into the coming year. While financial gifts and ticket sales are important to the health of our organization, we also want to recognize our 200-plus volunteers who provided GHT December 2008 countless hours of support to VocalEssence throughout the year. LI El Nino de los Andes GH (The Child of the Andes) by We are proud to acknowledge ALL our supporters this year! I H Ecuadorian composer Diego Luzuriaga premieres at What a year VocalEssence has had – 40 years strong and still Welcome Christmas. engaging audiences and the community in exciting ways. Here’s SEASON to many, many more! — Dorene Wernke, Board President 2008-2009 GHT June 2009 LI The VocalEssence/Eric Whitacre GH I weekend of events made the H cover of “The Voice,” Chorus America’s nationally-distributed magazine. SEASON 3 VocalEssence celebrates 40th anniversary with a wealth of world premieres In 1969, VocalEssence was founded with the idea that there was so much more choral music to celebrate than just the “top 10” well- known masterpieces. Over the past 40 years, VocalEssence has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to today’s composers, commissioning an astounding 117 new works. Our audiences have made history attending first performances of music that has come to life at concerts with more than 130 world premieres to date. In celebration of our 40th Anniversary Season, we made a special effort to commission new music, working with marvelous composers, soloists, and our friends in the choral music community in the creation of six world premieres. Kitty Brazelton, a past participant in our Essentially Choral program for composers wrote the jubilant “O JOY!” for the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, which premiered at our 40th Anniversary Birthday Party with Garrison Keillor in September. The VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers remembered the Holocaust in November with Lawrence Siegel’s uplifting Kaddish, utilizing the experiences of sixteen survivors interviewed for the project. The centerpiece of our Welcome Christmas! concerts was the world premiere of El Niño de los Andes (The Child of the Andes), written for VocalEssence by Ecuadorian composer Diego Luzuriaga, a past winner of the annual Welcome Christmas! Carol Contest. With music inspired by Andean melodies, this semi-staged Above: Philip Brunelle conducted the world premiere of Kaddish: Christmas cantata called for six soloists and choir with instrumental Music of Remembrance and Hope. accompaniment by native Andean instruments. Below: Eric Whitacre directed the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and The St. Olaf Choir in the premiere of his Nox Aurumque. In March, choral music superstar Eric Whitacre joined VocalEssence for a sold-out weekend of events, culminating with the Eric Whitacre Extravaganza at Orchestral Hall. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers joined by special guests The St. Olaf Choir, performed the much anticipated world premiere of Nox Aurumque (Night and Gold), a companion piece to the composer’s famous Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold). GHT May 3, 2009 LI Everybody sang to conclude With over 500 voices on stage, the VocalEssence 40th Anniversary the season with over 500 GH I singers on stage performing Season concluded in May with Everybody Sing! Our friends from H the world premiere of Kantorei, Magnum Chorum, Minnesota Chorale, National Lutheran Dominick Argento’s “The Choir, The Singers, and Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus joined the Choirmaster’s Burial.” SEASON VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers for the world premiere of Dominick Argento’s The Choirmaster’s Burial. The Minnesota native and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer was the very first composer ever commissioned by VocalEssence — with the 1974 premiere of Jonah and the Whale. 4 annual2008–2009 report 2008-2009 Commissions & Premieres Kitty Brazelton O JOY! Garrison Keillor The Runaway Choir 2008 Richard Rodney Bennett My Dancing Day Lawrence Siegel Kaddish: Music of Remembrance and Hope Scott Ethier A Mother’s Carol (Welcome Christmas Carol Contest winner) Peter Hilliard Christ’s Nativity (Welcome Christmas Carol Contest winner) Diego Luzuriaga El Niño de los Andes (The Child of the Andes) Eric Whitacre Nox Aurumque Dominick Argento The Choirmaster’s Burial Dominick Argento gathered with the leaders of seven choirs, who ¡Cantaré! Premieres premiered his piece, The Choirmaster’s Burial, in May 2009. From left to right: Jorge Córdoba Valencia Aleluya! Christopher Aspaas (Magnum Chorum) Jorge Córdoba Valencia Imágenes del Quinto Sol Matthew Culloton (The Singers) Jorge Córdoba Valencia Encontrarás a Dios Stan Hill (Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus) Sabina Covarrubias La Ofrenda Kathy Saltzman Romey (Minnesota Chorale) Sabina Covarrubias The Cloud Forest Axel Theimer (Kantorei) Sabina Covarrubias La Cumbia Nieve Dominick Argento, composer Jorge Cózatl Trabalenguas David Cherwien (National Lutheran Choir) Jorge Cózatl Tu Nombre Philip Brunelle (VocalEssence) Jorge Cózatl Stiidxa Binni Záa Jorge Cózatl Xtoles/K’ay yum K’in/Canto al Sol /Song to the Sun ¡Cantaré! celebrates Mexican culture New this season, VocalEssence launched ¡Cantaré! to engage the community in the discovery, celebration, and creation of music from Mexican traditions of the past and present. During the 2008- 2009 school year, Mexican composers Jorge Córdoba Valencia, Sabina Covarrubias, and Jorge Cózatl were in residence with Jorge Córdoba Valencia, Sabina Covarrubias, and Jorge Cózatl select elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and community organizations. Each composer visited Minnesota three times, and wrote new music specifically for their choral groups. A teacher resource guide helped classroom teachers address the social, historical, and cultural contexts of Mexican choral music. GHT May 12, 2009 LI Composers bow to a standing- GH I ovation crowd at the inaugural The resulting May concert at Orchestra Hall was a rousing success H VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! with nearly 600 singers on stage and 2000 community members in Community Concert the audience. The Honorable Mexican Consul Ana Luisa Fajer Flores Celebration at Orchestra Hall. commented on the concert, “It was so wonderful; words are really not SEASON enough to express my gratitude, and Mexico’s and Mexicans’ gratitude to what you have accomplished.”