Minnesota Chorale

Join our chorus of supporters!

Your donation helps the Minnesota Chorale and our family of choirs to present concerts that enrich and inspire audiences with beauty, and enable us to offer programs that educate and unite people in Minnesota and beyond. In the ten days of our fall campaign, starting October 09, we’re hoping to raise $20,000.

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The Minnesota Chorale’s symphonic chorus is comprised of some 240 of the finest singers in the region. One of them is Celia McCoy, who is starting her first season with the Chorale this year:

10 Days of Giving

October 09-19, 2018

“Growing up, music was abundant in my household; I was immersed in music and singing on a daily basis. As I moved into adulthood, the opportunities to make music became few and far between. I felt the loss of music in my life, and decided it was time to return. I am thrilled to be a new member of the Chorale this season, and to make music again! Singing, and being in community with like-minded musicians, has been wonderful. Even better, however, is that my daughter was accepted into the Chorale’s Minneapolis Youth Chorus, and she is beginning her own life in music. Thanks to the Chorale, and MYC, my household is filled with singing again!”

Your donation helps the Minnesota Chorale and our family of choirs to present concerts that enrich and inspire audiences with beauty, and enable us to offer programs that educate and unite people in Minnesota and beyond.

The Voices of Experience choir for seniors is operated jointly by the Minnesota Chorale and MacPhail Center for Music. Husband and wife Phil and Marlene Kachelmyer met while singing in a choir, and married soon afterwards. Together, they joined VoX in its first year

"We’re grateful to be part of the Minnesota Chorale’s family of choirs and so grateful to be supported by both the Chorale and MacPhail. This unique intergenerational experience has given us the opportunity to be role models for youth as we aspire to ever higher levels of quality in our own music-making.

"Since its founding, Voices of Experience has grown by offering many classes to supplement and enhance our rehearsal experience. As our skills have been sharpened, we've seen remarkable progress in performing more challenging music.

"We cherish the friendships we've developed through VoX’s ministry of interconnecting and blessing each other."

10 Days of Giving

October 09-19, 2018

Your donation helps the Minnesota Chorale to offer VoX to singers like Phil and Marlene for an enriching experience of choral music-making and mentorship.

"As a horn player in both the Minnesota Orchestra and the SPCO, I have had the great fortune to sit directly in front of the Minnesota Chorale during their performances with both of these fine ensembles. The musicians of the Minnesota Chorale perform at the absolutely highest level of their art and are some of the friendliest folks you would ever want to meet. On our recent trip to South Africa, their performances with us in Soweto and Johannesburg stand out for all of us as highlights of the tour. My wife sat next to and visited with a family in Soweto who had never attended an orchestra concert before. She explained to them what would be taking place during the concert. At the intermission, one of the members of the family remarked how much she had enjoyed the orchestra, but she asked, “When will the singing begin?" When the singing did begin on the second half, the audience became electrified, moved by the finale of the Beethoven 9th Symphony, and the singing and dancing with South African songs. To see the connection between our two cultures take place in such a demonstrative fashion brought tears to the eyes of many of us. And the singing continued after the concert was over and the Chorale members were leaving the hall. It seemed as though their joy of singing could not be stopped by a formal conclusion of a concert. Those were special performances that will live in my heart forever! The Minnesota Chorale is a true gem in the Twin Cities arts community and represents the best of Minnesota to the rest of the world!"

Herbert Winslow
Associate Principal Hornist of the Minnesota Orchestra
Gordon C. and Harriet D. Paske Chair

10 Days of Giving

October 09-19,

2018

Your donation helps the Minnesota Chorale to be one of the nation’s leading symphonic choruses. Contract income from performances with the Minnesota Orchestra covers a portion of our operating expenses; gifts from individuals like you make up the difference.

The Minnesota Chorale’s symphonic chorus is comprised of some 240 of the finest singers in the region. One of them is Deb Carbaugh, an elected singer representative to the Chorale’s board of directors:

“During my twenty five years of singing in the Chorale, I have attended hundreds of rehearsals, sung in at least two hundred concerts, and have had the opportunity to sing under dozens of conductors. From concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, to Bridges programs, collaborative concerts with our Minneapolis Youth Chorus and Voices of Experience choir, collaborative concerts with other choral ensembles here and around the world, citizenship ceremonies and so much more, we get to share our voices and bring the joy of music to a huge variety of audiences. To me, the Chorale is a family of dedicated and talented singers who join together to share in the universal language of music. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to support the Chorale in any way that I can; through singing, volunteering, and through financial support. I'm proud to call myself a member of the Minnesota Chorale!”

10 Days of Giving

October 09-19, 2018

“Besides their awesome sound and music-making, one of the biggest things I have admired about the Minnesota Chorale is their love for other people. The Chorale members have a special gift of reaching out to people to make them feel at home. The members of 29:11 will be forever grateful to the Minnesota Chorale. They gave us unconditional love through a time we needed it most. They embraced a small group of singers and musicians from South Africa and we salute them. We love the Minnesota Chorale!”

One of the ensembles with which the Chorale collaborated during last summer’s South Africa tour was 29:11, which is led by Brendon Adams. He writes:

10 Days of Giving

October 09-19, 2018

The nearly 100 singers of the Minneapolis Youth Chorus and the Prelude Children’s Chorus live in neighborhoods throughout Minneapolis, and are drawn from more than 20 different Minneapolis public schools. Chorale board member Christine Zuchora-Walske is the mother of two of our youth singers.

“It would be hard to overstate the impact MYC and Prelude have had on our family. Our children, Tony and Maria, have gained a wealth of musical knowledge and skills. They’ve learned what it takes to work hard, together with many other people, to create a complex and beautiful piece of art. They’ve traveled to fascinating places. They’ve made friends and had experiences that will stay with them—and us—forever.”

10 Days of Giving

October 09-19, 2018

Your donation helps the Minnesota Chorale to cover all the costs of operating these two youth choruses, which provide singers like Maria and Tony with enriching and life-changing experiences. Making music with children from all over the city broadens their horizons, and helps them to experience the impact that music has on the people of our community.

The Minnesota Chorale’s symphonic chorus is comprised of some 240 of the finest singers in the region. One of them is Scott Chamberlain,
former Chorale board president.

10 Days of Giving

October 09-19, 2018

“The Chorale’s recent tour to South Africa with the Minnesota Orchestra encapsulated everything I love about the Chorale. The tour vividly showed our dedication, work ethic, and commitment to excellence as we threw ourselves into this project from top to bottom. We put in hours of extra time to capture the nuances of such unfamiliar languages as Xhosa and Zulu, including their various tongue clicks. The project also gave us a chance to show that we don’t just make music for music’s sake, but to engage communities, to connect with people, and to deal with real-life issues. Our residency with South Africa’s Gauteng Choristers and the Cape Town ensemble 29:11 built friendships that continue to resonate, and professional partnerships that will shape our music-making for years to come. But we’re not just reminiscing or daydreaming about this experience—we’re thinking in practical terms how we can build on it and bring these lessons back to the community. This is who we are: world-class musicians who seek to use music to build community. I know of no group that does it better, and that’s why I’m proud to be part of the Minnesota Chorale.”