Let’s face it: History lessons aren’t always fun. Too often, an artistic event that strives toward historical accuracy leaves you feeling educated but not really entertained. Shoring up some cracks in your knowledge base can be worthwhile but seldom extremely enjoyable.

However, one of those infrequent occurrences happened Sunday afternoon when St. Paul-based early-music group the Rose Ensemble welcomed the Music in the Park Series back to its home neighborhood, the freshly repaved St. Anthony Park. But the chamber choir didn’t perform the music on which its reputation is based — motets and madrigals of the medieval and Renaissance eras — instead focusing upon 19th-century American folk hymns and carols, many of them rooted in the Shaker and shape-note traditions.

It may not have been right up the group’s stylistic alley, but it turned out to be a lot of fun, a combination of uplifting church service and holiday hootenanny. Performing in a venue ideally intimate for this music — the woody St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ — the group let reverence segue into celebration, unleashing their accompanying instrumentalists on tunes that sounded increasingly country, Celtic and Cajun as the concert went on.

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Thank you for supporting The Rose Ensemble! Read more

The Greater Minnesota Rose Ensemble Tour will soon be upon us and I could use your help to make this tour a success.  Since these concerts are self-produced, we do not have the luxury of a presenter to market and publicize these concerts on our behalf.

If you have family members, friends, or other contacts in or around those cities that the concerts will be performed in, please encourage them to come and hear this exquisite concert.  Ticket prices are extremely reasonable: only $12 for adults and $9 for students/seniors, with free admission for children under 10 years.  Plus, you’ll get the chance to hear my foot-stompin’ Pretty Home live and in person!

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Last Saturday evening I was priviledged to attend a wonderful choral concert, something that I’m not given much opportunity to do.  When you are a professional singer, you are usually booked with concerts of your own and so many times concerts overlap your collegues concerts.  So when I happened to have a Saturday night free, I attended the VocalEssence British Invasion concert at The Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

The ‘British Invasion’ in this case was none other than Simon Halsey, a celebrated choral conductor from across the pond and friend of VocalEssence’s Philip Brunelle.

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by Daniel Hathaway

In an era accustomed to sensory overload, when stage productions are hard put to compete with the technological wizardry available to film makers, it’s refreshing to spend a couple of hours in a vivid world created simply through the interaction of words and music.

The Rose Ensemble

The Rose Ensemble, founded in Minneapolis-St. Paul by Jordan Sramek in 1996, specializes in themed programs of extraordinary variety. The group produces a season of four to five subscription concerts every year, and tours programs exploring such wide-ranging repertory as ‘Voices of Ancient Mediterranean Christians, Jews and Muslims’, ‘Slavic Wonders: Feasts and Saints in Early Russia, Poland and Bohemia’, ‘Music from the Soul of the Hawaiian Saga’, and ‘A Mexican Baroque Christmas’. Their latest production explores the life of Francis of Assisi during the 800th anniversary year of the saint’s birth.

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A wonderful weekend of concerts celebrating the release of our new CD “Il Poverello: Medieval & Renaissance Music on the life of St. Francis of Assisi”

Francis was born Giovanni Francesco Bernardone and gave up a life of privilege for the materially impoverished life of a monk. He later founded an order of friars known as the Franciscans.

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I’m back home.  It’s was kind of a bittersweet tour for me this time.  I loved the Festival, seeing old friends and meeting new ones, singing with new Rosies and making some really fantastic music.  The churches were glorious and Piggy gave everyone a great smile.  Jordan from The Rose Ensemble has written a couple of blog posts that are a great read, and I’m including a few excerpts here:

“Ciao everyone – It’s another beautiful but hot day here in Legnano. The wisteria has started blooming and the hedges of jasmine are so fragrant (especially at night). There are red and blue hydrangeas everywhere (they’re HUGE) and in spite of the heat, everyone you see rarely actually looks hot (except for us, the Brits, the Norwegians and the Bulgarians; obviously the Cubans are doing fine). People here look good even when they’re going to the grocery store and there are more shops for shoes, purses and suits than one can imagine. Clothing is pretty darn pricey here, but the simple things seem to be cheaper. For example, a really great latte costs a mere 1.2 Euros (an espresso is only 85 cents) and you can get a decent bottle of Prosecco at the grocery store for about 3 Euros.

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What an amazing evening.  We weren’t sure at first how things were going to go.  Our bus was due to leave Legnano at 6:30pm, but there was no sign of our guide or our guest instrumentalist.  Around 7pm, Issaco arrived explaining that our guide was with the Norway choir and that our packet lunch and programs were left at the other hotel, so he had to swing by to pick them up on the way.  The sack lunch was there, but the water was missing and the programs were actually with us at our hotel.

On the bus another discovery was made – the programs were printing with the wrong show.  Not a problem – we  just didn’t pass them out and announced from the stage what we would be singing. 

We arrived in Missaglia to a wonderfully restored 16th century chapel and convent – the building was started in 1492 and completed in 1560.  On the chapel walls frescos remain that will be in the process of complete restoration.  The chapel itself was decommissioned and is now run by the town.  We are actually the first to give a concert in this space since the restoration.

And what a space!  It reminds me of why I sing the music I choose to sing.  Read more