Minnesota Chorale 2025
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  • Our 24-25 Season
  • Our Programs
    • Bridges
    • Emerging Conductor
    • InChoir
    • Side By Side
  • Our Choirs
    • Symphonic Chorus
    • Minneapolis Youth Chorus >
      • MYC and Prelude Videos
    • Prelude Children's Choir
    • Voices of Experience
    • AUDITION INFO
  • Our People
    • Symphonic Chorus Roster
    • Artistic Staff
    • Administrative Staff
    • Boards
  • Our Story
    • Our Mission, Vision and Values
    • Our Music
    • Our History
  • Your Support
    • Continuo Society
    • Testimonials
    • Sponsorships
    • Financial Info
    • Funders
  • Contact Us
Minnesota Chorale 2025
Minnesota Chorale Bridges Series Logo

2024-25 Season

Bridges: Expanding the Canon is a series of concerts designed to reimagine the canon of choral music: guest conductors of color will lead singers from the Minnesota Chorale and Border CrosSing in works by composers whose music has historically been underrepresented on the concert stage.

Bridges: Expanding the Canon with guest conductor, Dr. Shekela Wanyama, brings us WaterSongs : The Ripple Effect. 

Water is an endangered resource, even in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Join community artists, elders, and culture bearers for an intergenerational exchange of music and ideas about how we can care for one of our most precious resources. The concert includes the regional premiere of Reena Esmail’s Malhaar: Requiem for Water, a work for Hindustani vocalist, tabla, Western classical percussion, and chorus.  Featuring Pooja Goswami Pavan, A. Pavan, Eri Isomura, Indigenous elder Sharon Day, the Ikidowin Youth Theater Ensemble, students from Minneapolis South High School, Border Crossing, and the Minnesota Chorale. 
Photo of Dr. Shekela Wanyama
Shekela Wanyama builds community through crafting meaningful and innovative choral experiences. A freelance conductor-educator, Shekela serves on the faculty of Hamline University and the music staff at Unity Church Unitarian. Recent engagements have included guest conductor of Singers in Accord and assistant conductor for the Minnesota Chorale and Vocalpoint. Shekela taught middle and high school choir for over ten years and has performed with choirs in the United States and Germany. She holds a DMA in conducting from the University of Minnesota, an MM in choral conducting from Temple University, a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Minnesota, and is a proud graduate of the Minneapolis Public Schools. ​

Photo of Kathy Saltzman Romey
In May 1995, Conductor Kathy Saltzman Romey was named the Minnesota Chorale's fifth artistic director, after serving as associate artistic director of the Minnesota Chorale from 1990 to 1994 and as acting director during the 1994-95 season. She has prepared the Chorale for performances with both the Minnesota Orchestra and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra under the baton of such conductors as Edo de Waart, Eduardo Mata, Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, Hugh Wolff, John Harbison, Helmuth Rilling, Bobby McFerrin, Eiji Oue, and Robert Shaw. She also developed and coordinates Bridges, the Chorale's nationally recognized community engagement program. 

​Romey graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the University of Oregon. She continued her studies in Frankfurt, Germany under internationally known Bach scholar and conductor Helmuth Rilling, receiving an artistic degree in choral conducting from the Frankfurt State Conservatory of Music in 1984. During her five years in Germany, she assisted Dr. Rilling at the Memorial Church in Stuttgart, was a member of Rilling's professional choir, the Gaechinger Kantorei, and worked on the staff of the International Bach Academy. 

Romey has been a staff member of the Oregon Bach Festival since 1984 and is principal chorus master of the 54-voice professional Festival Choir, which she prepares for annual Festival concerts, commissions, and recording projects. American and world premiere performances presented at the Oregon Bach Festival include major choral works by Tan Dun, Arvo Pärt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sven David Sandström, and Mozart reconstructions by Robert Levin. Romey has assisted with ten recordings, including the Oregon Bach Festival’s 2001 Grammy Award–winning CD of Penderecki’s Credo under the direction of Helmuth Rilling, and the 2008 Grammy-nominated CD of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony conducted by Osmo Vänskä with the Minnesota Orchestra and Minnesota Chorale. ​


From 1992 - 2023, Romey was a member of the faculty at the University of Minnesota, where she served as director of choral activities and oversaw the graduate program in choral conducting and conducted choirs. From 1985-1992, she was director of choral activities at Macalester College, conducting the Macalester Concert Choir and the Macalester Festival Chorale. She is active regionally and nationally as a guest conductor and clinician at music conferences and festivals. 

2024-25 Bridges
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Program Partners

Border CrosSing Logo
MN Chorale Logo
Previous Bridges Programs:
  • Expanding the Canon: The Ripple Effect with Border CrosSign
    • October 2024 - Dr. Shekela Wanyama, guest conductor
      • Link to Program
      • Link to Recording
  • Expanding the Canon: In this Lan' with Border CrosSing
    • March 2024 - Dr. Anthony Trecek-King, guest conductor
      • Link to Program
      • Link to Recording
  • ​Expanding the Canon: A Recording Project
    • October 2023 - Kathy Saltzman Romey, Paolo Debuque, Dr. Shekela Wanyama, conductors
      • Link to Recordings
  • Expanding the Canon: Singing Truth: An American Conversation with Border CrosSing
    •  October 2022 - ​Dr. Alexander Lloyd Blake, guest conductor
      • Link to Program
  • Expanding the Canon: Puentes: Creer/Bridges : Believe with Border CrosSing
    • April 2022 - Anaida Carquez-Soler, guest conductor
      • Link to Program
  • Expanding the Canon: Black Voices Amplified  with Border CrosSing
    • October 2021 - ​Dr. Adrian Davis, guest conductor
      • Link to Program
  • United in Song - Better Times will Come - March 2021
    • Choral partners: Minneapolis College, Roosevelt and Minneapolis South High Schools​​
    • Spring Live Streamed concert - March 29th - LINK
  • Our Community in Partnership - November 2020
    • Choral partners: Minneapolis College, Roosevelt and Minneapolis South High Schools
    • ​​Fall Live Streamed concert - November 23rd - LINK
  • A Million Dreams in Minneapolis - February 2020
  • A Million Dreams in Minneapolis - October 2019
    • Link to Youth Concert Media Presentation/Program
    • Adult Concert Media Presentation/Program
  • Minnesota - Our Home - November 2018
    • Link to Program
    • Link to Concert Media Presentation
  • Minnesota : A Place Called Home - October 2017
    • Link to Program
    • Link to Concert Media Presentation
  • The Body Singing - October 2016
  • Women in Music - April 2016
  • YouthWorks - April 2015
  • Rise Up! Singers Transforming Community!   - November 2014
  • A Community Choral Showcase Concert - October 2013
  • A Gift of Song - November 2012
  • Join the Dance! - November 2011
  • Sing On! - November 2010
  • Sing With Me - November 2009
  • Ashes Into Light - November 2008
  • African Voices - May 2008
  • Sing Me A Home - May 2007
  • Flour Power: A Choral Crawl through the Mill City Museum - May 2006
  • Bridges10: Celebrating 10 years of award-winning programs - February 2005
  • Musical Chi – East/West Convergences - May 2004
  • Adventures of the Black Dot – The Island of Music (revised) - March 2003
  • North Meets South – A Musical Celebration of the Americas - April 2002
  • Adventures of the Black Dot – The Island of Music (Premiere) - May 2001
  • International Bridges – North Meets South - April 2000
  • Music & Meditations: A Peace Concert for the Millennium - November 1999
  • God's Trombones - November 1998
  • The Many Faces of Women - March 1998
  • Lift Every Voice - November 1997
  • Winona Choral Festival and Concert - October 1996
  • Service of Remembrance and Peace - November 1995
  • Earth Day Family Concert - April 1995
  • A Russian Night - November 1994
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