VocalEssence
[Image:VocalEssence Chorus.jpg|right|thumb|250px| Members of the VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers in Concert.]VocalEssence is a non-profit choral music organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Each year the organization presents a series of concerts featuring the 130-voice VocalEssence Chorus and its core group, a 32-voice professional mixed chorus called the Ensemble Singers, along with guest soloists and instrumentalists.
VocalEssence was founded in 1969 under the name Plymouth Music Series as a community music program of Plymouth Congregational Church and incorporated as a separate 501 organization with its own board of directors in 1979. The organization changed its name to VocalEssence in 2002. It has 10 full- and part-time staff members including artistic director Philip Brunelle and Executive Director Amy Jaine Wielunski.
Repertoire
VocalEssence has commissioned over 130 new works ranging from brief a cappella pieces to full scale choral and symphonic works. VocalEssence has co-commissioned operas with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Library of Congress.The ensemble's history is filled with notable performances, often included new works by composers from far-off countries and other regions; in some cases, Brunelle simply cold-called composers to get permission to do new works. A notable local tie-in were 1996 and 2024 productions of ABBA pop group members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' musical Kristina'', about a family migrating from Sweden to Minnesota.