Choral Stream

All three ensembles from the Minnesota All-State Choir from last summer are represented in this week's Regional Spotlight.

MPR's 2011 Artists-in-Residence Cantus have been sharing the microphone with Alison Young each month, taking your questions and requests and sharing some of their favorite music. There's never enough time to answer all the questions on-air, so they've kindly agreed to do so online. Check it out, and send another if yours was missed for this Tuesday at noon's session.

Singing in a choir is about love, love of the music, love of singing "together," and loving the audience. The Choral Arts Ensemble from Rochester demonstrate why they are one of the best choirs in the region from a performance given earlier this season. The sound the ensemble produces in two works by Handel and Mozart is full and round and joy filled. It is a pleasure to feature the Choral Arts Ensemble and director Michael Culloton in this week's Regional Spotlight.

He led one of the finest choirs around - and set the bar in sound and blend that vocal ensembles everywhere try to reach: Dale Warland. He still conducts, consults, teaches and writes music and took a few moments out of his busy day to share a few of his favorites for the season, including a not-oft heard work by Arvo Part and a spectacularly atmospheric setting of "Lo, How a Rose" with a Swedish Choir.

He's one of the great choral conductors and program innovators in our midst - Philip Brunelle. He shares his favorite pieces for the season - a couple that will make you feel misty-eyed and one he plays with Garrison Keillor guaranteed for a lot of laughs!

When Brahms mother died, he arrived too late to say goodbye. In his grief, he wrote one of the greatest expressions of loss and letting go - his German Requiem. Listen online to excerpts from a performance by the National Lutheran Choir.

One of the finest choirs in the world came to Saint Paul last month. Their sparkling rendition of music from the Anglican tradition is online.

"Never Stop Singing" - the public television documentary celebrating Minnesota's choral legacy - was honored with an Emmy Award at the Upper Midwest Regional Emmy Awards gala last month. Their award was in the "Arts and Entertainment Program" category.

The old and the brand new from a recent St. Olaf Choir concert.

One of the new pieces heard on this year's St. Olaf Christmas festival was written by a student composer, Stanford Scriven, class of '11. It's a sparkling setting of a familiar text and you can hear it today on regional spotlight.