VOCALESSENCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director of Donor Impact, Clean Air Task Force
Job Titles:
- Director of Marketing and Communications
Amanda Timmer joined VocalEssence in 2014. As the Director of Marketing and Communications, Amanda plans and oversees communication strategies that promote all that VocalEssence creates.
Prior to joining the VocalEssence staff, Amanda earned a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from Minnesota State University, Mankato. She also received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Flute Performance and Music Management Studies from Luther College. Amanda enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters, coloring, and supporting the Green Bay Packers.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Senior Vice President Human Resources, Best Buy
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Associate, Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Ex - Officio Non - Voting )
Azure Anderson joined the VocalEssence team in October 2021 as the Executive Assistant. Azure provides direct administrative support to VocalEssence leadership, facilitating the success of the artistic and administrative goals of the organization. She works with the Artistic Director, Associate Artistic Director, and Executive Director to ensure effective organization wide operation.
Prior to joining the VocalEssence staff, Azure worked in administration and hospitality fields for over a decade, most recently as the office manager for a nonprofit focusing on neighborhood revitalization in Iowa. While in Iowa, she sang alto with the Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale, where she was also the music librarian, and played French horn in various small ensembles. Azure is also an artist in her spare time, creating digital pieces for her husband Satish's fantasy novels, as well as book binding and drawing. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two cats, Mouse and Myles. Azure earned a B.A. in Art Education and Music from Luther College.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Ex - Officio Non - Voting )
Job Titles:
- Business Advisor
- Consultant
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- President
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- HR Director Global RD & E & CDS, Ecolab
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Associate Provost, St. Olaf College
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- Secretary / Senior Development Officer, Let 's Encrypt
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Composer and Business Developer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Independent Director, Audit Committee Chair, Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc
Elissa Weller is Director of Development for VocalEssence, overseeing all philanthropic efforts for the organization including individual, corporate, foundation, and government funding sources, major gifts, special events and fundraisers. In her role, she oversees the Development and Gala committees.
Elissa joined VocalEssence in 2007 as the Chorus and Volunteer Manager. In addition to her work managing the Chorus and Ensemble Singers and overseeing organization volunteers, in 2010 she began managing the VocalEssence WITNESS Community Engagement Program. In 2012, Elissa was promoted to Institutional Giving & Events Manager, and promoted to Director of Development in March of 2021.
Prior to joining the VocalEssence staff, she spent several years managing events, and overseeing institutional and corporate sales as a Community Relations Manager for Barnes & Noble. Elissa has also done contract work as a part-time Administrative Associate for the Oratorio Society of Minnesota and a Stage Manager for One Voice Mixed Chorus in Saint Paul. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hamline University with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Flute Performance and Political Science Public Policy. She has a certificate in Fundraising from the University of St. Thomas - Opus College of Business. She has two children and enjoys running with Moms on the Run and going on adventures with her family, and volunteers as a troop leader and day camp director for Girl Scouts.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Allina Heath
Job Titles:
- Learning and Engagement Manager
Emma Jirele joined the team at VocalEssence in the summer of 2023. As Learning and Engagement Manager, Emma provides operational leadership and logistical support to community and school initiatives, such as VocalEssence Singers Of This Age, WITNESS, the Longfellow School Program, and additional school partnerships.
Emma was first exposed to the learning and engagement programs of VocalEssence through her participation in the 2011 ¡Cantaré! program as a student at Worthington Senior High School. During this program, she performed music by Jesús Echevarría and Diana Syrse Valdés. This early experience left a lasting impression on Emma, fostering her passion for music education and community engagement.
Working with teachers, youth, teaching artists, and community partners is particularly rewarding for Emma, given her prior years of experience as a high school and middle school choir teacher in Southern Minnesota. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in Vocal Music Education, followed by a master's degree in Organizational Leadership from Rider University. While attending the U of M, she participated in a number of internships with nonprofits ComMUSICation, Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs, MacPhail Center for Music, and Luverne Street Music. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the nonprofit Mid West Music Fest, where she promotes music and art in the region and creates opportunities for performing artists.
A native of Worthington, Minnesota, Emma enjoys traveling to new places, hiking and kayaking the many beautiful Minnesota trails and rivers, and playing strategic board games with friends. She resides in Crystal, Minnesota with her husband, Parker, and cat, Sammy.
Job Titles:
- Director of Artistic Operations
Ethan Johnson joined the team at VocalEssence in the summer of 2019. As the Director of Artistic Operations, Ethan oversees the process of planning and executing the behind-the-scenes details of VocalEssence artistic programs, including concert production and Learning & Engagement programmatic events. Working with VocalEssence artists and guest artists from all over the world, Ethan loves to dive into the work making programs come together without a hitch. He also works as the administrative liaison and manager of the two adult ensembles, the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers & Chorus, coordinating the 150+ singers at rehearsals, concerts, and everything in-between.
Prior to joining the VE staff, Ethan spent time as an English Teaching Assistant in northern France, working with high school students in their oral proficiency. He graduated magna cum laude from St. Olaf College with a degree in Music, Political Science, and French. While there, he played and worked for the St. Olaf Orchestra, gaining his first experiences in arts management as the student manager of the ensemble.
A native of Austin, Minnesota, Ethan enjoys getting to travel to places new and old with family & friends, spending time outside reading a good novel, and practicing viola when he gets the chance.
Job Titles:
- Associate Artistic Director
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Ex - Officio Non - Voting )
Known for fostering community and inspiring action among people of all ages and abilities, G. Phillip Shoultz, III, enjoys a multifaceted career as artist, educator, consultant, speaker and pastoral musician. Phillip is the associate artistic director of VocalEssence where his most visible impact is seen through his visionary leadership as founding conductor of the VocalEssence Singers Of This Age and through his engaging Take 5 with GPS daily livestream and series of instructional videos.
Phillip serves Westwood Lutheran Church as Cantor for Music, Worship, and the Arts. He is the principal Host for Young People's Concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra and frequently appears throughout the U.S. as a guest clinician, adjudicator, and consultant.
Expanding boundaries and creating wider access to the choral arts is one of Phillip's passions. Each year, he serves as mentor to educators through classroom visits and as an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate Music Education program at the University of St. Thomas. Additional post secondary teaching experiences include work at the University of Minnesota, Georgia State University, and the University of Georgia while he completed his studies.
The winner of the 2015 American Choral Directors Association Graduate Student Conducting Competition, Phillip appeared as a Conducting Fellow with the Oregon Bach Festival, Chorus America, Choral Music Experience Institute and several other summer programs. He has prepared choirs for performances in Canada, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Mexico, and Russia. In 2017, he was named as an ACDA International Conductors' Exchange Program Participant.
His service as a public school educator in Georgia garnered multiple Teacher of the Year honors. While there, he also served as Artistic Director to an adult community choir (Gwinnett Choral Guild) and a youth organization (Atlanta Institute for Musicianship and Singing), founding director of the Georgia Young Men's Ensemble, a part of the Grammy Award-winning Gwinnett Young Singers, and the Assistant Director for the professional chamber choir, Coro Vocati.
In the summer of 2020, Phillip created "Table for More," a consulting and conversation platform to help arts organizations, schools, and churches consider ways to create more belonging through equitable and inclusive practices. Phillip enjoys biking, boxing, and all things related to sports and food and believes in the transformative power of shared singing experiences. He lives in St Louis Park, Minnesota with his wife, Michelle and their two children (Malachi and Lydia Grace).
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance and Operations
Jeff Bina comes to VocalEssence with a background in arts administration and finance as well as radio production and music performance. Prior to VocalEssence, he spent four years with the professional men's vocal ensemble, Cantus, serving as their Operations and Finance Manager. Here, he grew in his role as a nonprofit arts administrator, eventually managing all the business operations and financial aspects of the organization. Before Cantus, Jeff served as a radio producer at Minnesota Public Radio, particularly for the nationally distributed program Performance Today. As a radio producer, he curated hundreds of live concert performances from North America and Europe and produced various segments of each daily Performance Today episode. He has also gained much experience in box office management and live concert production through the above roles as well as working for The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra at their 12 Twin Cities venues.
Jeff maintains an active performing schedule as an orchestral percussionist, a chamber musician on both piano and percussion, and a drummer for various jazz and big band ensembles. He performs regularly with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and also serves on the board of directors and finance committee of the MSO. He is the drummer for the brass band, Brio Brass, a stylistically versatile group performing unique arrangements of jazz and pop standards. In 2011, Jeff premiered a commissioned piece for percussion and electronics at La Poisson Rouge in New York City. He also frequently works as a clinician for Rochester middle school and junior high music students. Jeff attended St. Olaf College, majoring in Music and Management Studies.
Jeff enjoys Twins baseball, home improvement projects, annual visits to the North Shore, and running marathons.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Vice President - Philanthropy and Advocacy, Vista Prairie Communities
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Vice President and Managing Counsel, Thrivent Financial
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Chief Inclusion Officer, Augsburg University
Job Titles:
- Essence Vintage Voices Accompanist
John Jensen received his music degrees in Southern California, where he attended Occidental College and University of Southern California. While there he free-lanced as a studio musician, playing on the Andy Williams show and touring the country with prominent singers through Columbia Artists Management. He moved to Iowa and taught for 15 years at Grinnell College as an artist-in-residence. In 1990, John moved to St. Paul and has played with VocalEssence, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He plays jazz and classical piano around the area, including performances with the Bloomingtones, a traveling senior choir based in Bloomington, MN. In November 2022, John will appear with the Yale Symphony Orchestra at Yale University to play and record a piano concerto by the late Paul Reale, for Naxos records (to be released in 2023).
Job Titles:
- Instructor / Dancer / Choreographer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- Treasurer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Senior Vice - President, Business Banking Segment Strategy, U.S. Bank
Job Titles:
- Development and Marketing Associate
Laura Holst, Development and Marketing Associate, has been on staff at VocalEssence since August 2006. She received a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from St. Olaf College and a Master of Arts degree in arts administration from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. In addition to her work at VocalEssence, Laura's nonprofit arts experience has included internships at The Minnesota Opera and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Retired Vice President and Chief Counsel of the Employment Law Group in the General Counsel 's Office, Ameriprise Financial, Inc
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Professional Photographer
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Managing Director
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Ex - Officio Non - Voting )
Mary Ann Aufderheide joined VocalEssence as managing director in 2003. Under her leadership she has firmly established the VocalEssence brand name as representing excellence in choral music and community engagement programs. During her tenure the organization has expanded its core of professional singers who tour regionally and internationally; released seven recordings on the Clarion label; expanded the WITNESS School Program and created ¡Cantaré!, a new exploration of the music of Mexican composers; and mounted a major festival celebrating the music of William Bolcom.
Before her move to Minnesota, she had served as the executive director of the Grammy Award-winning Phoenix Boys Choir since 1996. Her accomplishments with the Phoenix Boys Choir included managing an international search for a new artistic director, implementing an expanded cultural diversity program focused on the Latino community and founding an all- alumni Men's Choir. During her tenure, a $1.2 million endowment fund was established. The Boys Choir received a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance in 2001 for its recording of Penderecki's Credo with the Oregon Bach Festival Choir under the direction of Helmuth Rilling.
Mary Ann served as general manager of the Mesa (Arizona) Symphony Orchestra and taught music in the public schools. In the early 1990s, she served as director of education for the Phoenix Symphony, coordinating programs to reach over 30,000 students annually through an innovative music video project, developing an open rehearsal program to introduce secondary students to commissioned composers and guest artists, and implementing a collaborative program bringing together the music of Native Americans and Western classical music.
A free-lance professional oboist and teacher, Mary Ann received a bachelor of fine arts in music education from Ohio University; master's work has included studying music history and literature at Florida State University. At Stanford University, she participated in the inaugural class of the national Executive Nonprofit Leadership training program for arts administrators.
Mary Ann is active as a leader and mentor in the national choral music scene, serving as a regular member of Chorus America's Choral Management Institute faculty. In 2007 and 2009 she served as a music panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Active in the Minnesota arts community, Mary Ann is a member of the board of the Minnesota Women's Economic Roundtable, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Boychoir advisory board. She served on the Advisory Committee of the Minneapolis Plan for Arts and Culture and performs as a member of the oboe section of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Immigration Attorney / MCO Legal Consultants LLC
Job Titles:
- Dance Instructor / Choreographer
Job Titles:
- Artistic Director
- Director
- Founder
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Ex - Officio Non - Voting )
Philip Brunelle, artistic director and founder of VocalEssence, is an internationally renowned conductor, choral scholar and visionary. He has made his lifelong mission the promotion of the choral art in all its forms, especially rarely heard works of the past and outstanding new music. Under his leadership, VocalEssence has commissioned more than 300 works to date. Philip has conducted symphonies (New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra among others) as well as choral festivals and operas on six continents. He is editor of two choral series for Boosey & Hawkes and chairman of the review committee for Walton Music. Philip is also Organist-Choirmaster at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.
For two decades Philip was deeply involved with the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM). He served as president of the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music, held in Minneapolis in 2002. He was a Vice President of the IFCM Board and served as Executive Director for the 2014 World Symposium on Choral Music in Seoul, South Korea. Philip served as Artistic Advisor for the 2017 World Choral Symposium in Barcelona, Spain and later that summer was Artistic Director of the 2017 China (Qiandongnan) International Folk Song Choral Festival in Kaili, China. He also served on the national boards of the National Council for the Arts (NEA), Chorus America, the American Composers Forum and the American Guild of Organists.
For more than 40 years he served as a guest conductor and pianist on American Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion, appearing on the very first and the final broadcasts and many in between. Since January 1982 he has written "Choral Old and New", a column for The American Organist. This year, 2021, he celebrated his 52 nd anniversary with VocalEssence and at Plymouth Church and looks forward to his 53 rd season with both organizations. In 2020 he was awarded The American Prize in Choral Conducting in the community division and was presented with the Honorary Member Award by the Society for American Music.
Philip is the recipient of the Weston H. Noble Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the North Central American Choral Directors Association; the F. Melius Christiansen Lifetime Achievement Award, American Choral Directors Association-Minnesota Chapter's highest honor; and the Michael Korn Founder's Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art, Chorus America's highest lifetime achievement award.
Philip holds five honorary doctorates and has been recognized for his commitment to choral music by Norway (Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit), the United Kingdom (Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire), Hungary (Kodály Medal), Sweden (Royal Order of the Polar Star) and Mexico (Ohtli Recognition Award).
Job Titles:
- Learning and Engagement Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Superintendent, Hopkins Public Schools
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- President, Neuner Consulting
Job Titles:
- Learning and Engagement Manager
Robert J. Graham joined the VocalEssence team in August 2012 as both a member of the administrative staff and as a second tenor in the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers. Robert oversees the operations of the acclaimed VocalEssence WITNESS School Program. In 2015, Robert also became the conductor and manager of the VocalEssence Vintage Voices program, an exciting choral program that integrates the arts into the everyday lives of older adults by fostering the creation of choirs in assisted and independent senior living communities and senior centers.
Prior to joining the VocalEssence staff, Robert earned the Master of Music degree in the dual concentrations of Vocal Performance and Pedagogy, and Choral Conducting from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He also earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance and Business Administration from Xavier University of Louisiana. He also currently serves as one of the tenor section leaders of the Westminster Choir at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis. A Minneapolis native, Robert spends his free time painting impressionistic scapes and practicing piano, in addition to exploring the great outdoors.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- District Court Judge, Hennepin County District Court
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- Vice President
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- HR and DEI Practitioner, Robert Half International