Concert: VocalEssence Ensemble Singers April 8, 2005

The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, a world-renowned choral group directed by Philip Brunelle and Sigrid Johnson, will give a concert titled ?The Sounds of Spring? at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 8 at the Carleton College Skinner Memorial Chapel. They will be joined by the Carleton Choirs under the direction of Lawrence Burnett, professor of music, as well as special guest narrator President Robert A. Oden Jr. The event is free and open to the public.

The program will feature ?Shenandoah Variations,? a light-hearted piece written by Garrison Keillor and narrated by Oden. The Ensemble Singers also will perform selections from ? ??Nets to Catch the Wind,? Witticisms and Lamentations No. 2? by Phillip Rhodes, Carleton?s composer-in-residence. The rest of the program contains a diverse mix of composers, from classical Schubert and romantic Brahms to the 20th century sounds of Aaron Copland and the modern works of George Harrison. A wide range of musical styles will be showcased, from Renaissance-style madrigals to gospel tunes.

The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers are the professional core of the larger VocalEssence Chorus, standing apart in their musicianship, vocal qualities and flexibility in singing many styles of music. The Ensemble Singers have toured Europe four times, most recently in 2001, singing to capacity audiences in Germany, France, Austria and the Czech and Slovak Republics. The group also was invited to perform at both the Fifth and Sixth World Choral Symposia, held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Minneapolis. They commission and premier works by top-tier composers and have appeared on many recordings, including four volumes of music by African American composers titled ?The WITNESS Collection.? They are heard by radio audiences worldwide on Minnesota Public Radio?s ?Saint Paul Sunday? and as frequent guests on Garrison Keillor?s popular show ?A Prairie Home Companion.?

Brunelle, artistic director and conductor of the Ensemble Singers, is an internationally renowned conductor, choral scholar and performer. He has conducted groups all over the world, and in 2002 served as the president of the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music. Two years later he served on the judging panel for the prestigious Béla Bartók Choral Competition in Hungary. His numerous awards include honorary doctorates from St. Olaf College, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. John?s University and United Theological Seminary, as well as Chorus America?s prestigious Michael Korn Founder?s Award for Development of the Choral Art in 2003.

Johnson, the Ensemble Singers? associate conductor, is a member of the music faculty at St. Olaf College and the director of the Manitou Singers, the 100-voice first-year women?s chorus. She has been on the music faculty of Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Minnesota, conducted the National Lutheran Choir of Minneapolis in 1999 and served as music director for the Dale Warland Symphonic Chorus and associate conductor for the Dale Warland Singers. She has conducted workshops worldwide and has prepared symphonic choruses for conductors Neemi Järvi, Sir Neville Mariner, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Gerard Swartz and Leonard Slatkin, among others.

Charles Kemper, the group?s accompanist, has taught at St. Olaf and Northwestern colleges and is currently an instructor at Bethel University. He has earned several degrees in piano performance, including a doctor of musical arts from Yale University. He began his performance career at age 17, playing Rachmaninoff?s Second Piano Concerto with the Houston Symphony, and has performed all over the United States.

For more information or disability accommodations, call the Carleton music department at (507) 646-4347.