 |
|
E-newsletter July 2011
|
Did you know... Choral Arts Ensemble has been producing the Rosemary and Meredith Willson Harmony for Mayo Program since its inception? ...Choral Arts Ensemble has an extensive music library? ... Choral Arts Ensemble has performed hundreds of choral works over its existence? Read on to find out more!
|
 |
Photo by AB-Photography
|
|
First, we want to thank singers, audience and orchestra who participated in our third annual Community Sing on July 14. We had a great time singing choruses from Handel's Messiah.
|
|
Music on Mondays
|
|
|
The Rosemary and Meredith Willson Harmony for Mayo Program, a music series of free noon concerts held every Monday on the Mayo Clinic campus, is produced through our office by Sarah Monson. Sarah books the artists, liaises with the Mayo Clinic Center for Humanities in Medicine, and is on the spot each Monday to make sure the concerts run smoothly. We talked with Sarah about this popular music series and she was happy to give a few fast facts.
- Average attendance at each of these free Monday noon concerts is approximately 110, although the summer concerts on Peace Plaza will average up to 500. Indoor concerts the remainder of the year are in Lips Atrium (Charlton Building) or the Hage Atrium (Siebens Building).
- Bluegrass and folk are popular genres, with repeat performers such as Monroe Crossing, Claudia Schmidt, Bill Staines perennial crowd favorites. Other genres that Sarah programs include jazz, Americana, acoustic singer/songwriters, classical vocal and instrumental, roots rock, choral, youth ensembles.
- About 80% of the musicians contact Sarah for a performing opportunity; 20% are artists she pursues as a possible good fit. For example, April Verch, a hugely popular Canadian folk artist (she was one of the performers representing Canada at the recent Olympic Games) coming here on August 8th, and Ruth Mackenzie, a Minnesota vocalist who'll be partnering with MInnesota composer Elizabeth Alexander here in December.
- Sarah also works with Mayo Center for Humanities in Medicine on their Music at the Bedside series, a division of the Bedside Arts program.
Visit the Rosemary and Meredith Willson Harmony for Mayo program website for upcoming concerts.
|
The library is open!
|
|
|
Since its very beginning, Choral Arts Ensemble has made a significant investment in sheet music in order to prepare and perform the high caliber, varied repertory that we do. Together with our sister organization, Honors Choirs of Southeast Minnesota, we maintain a joint music library of over 1,650 choral titles, as well as instrumental scores and orchestra parts for various choral/orchestral major works (for example, Messiah, that we just used for our Community Sing earlier this month). To help keep music costs down, we "shop" in our music library all season and borrow or rent music when possible to fulfill programming needs. Of course, we also make our library available to friends in the choral world, lending music out to church, school and community choirs all over the region.
|
Repertoire history
|
|
|
Speaking of our varied repertoire, we do keep track of all the songs Choral Arts Ensemble does through the seasons and the most recent concert at which they were performed. As of the close of this last season, we have presented 781 different choral works over the course of 26 years of concerts. Of those, more than forty, or about 5%, are commissions or premieres of new works. This repertoire history can be found on our website.
|
Choral Arts Ensemble
1001 14th St. NW, Suite 900
Rochester, MN 55901
(507) 252-8427 ◊ www.choralartsensemble.org
|
|
|
