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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.
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.
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.
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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