Joe Osowski, Choir Director of STMA Music Boosters, highlights Voces8, a vocal group from London that enhanced the organization’s educational and performance programming for students in the St. Micheal-Albertville School District.
Transcript
Opening: This is Minnesota’s Legacy: A look at the organizations and people who have benefitted from Minnesota’s unique Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment
music fromVoces8 with STMA Choir’s Nunc Dimittis
Amira Warren-Yearby: A grand church sanctuary. Wooden pews filled to capacity. Red-stained glass windows and a color-filled mural of prominent biblical figures as a symphony of voices fills the air, each note weaving into the next to create a tapestry of harmony. At the front of the stage stands the choral director leading 800 vibrant voices in a commanding song that penetrates the soul.
Joe Osowski: They really just surrounded the audience in sound, which was pretty remarkable.
Warren-Yearby: That’s Joe Osowski, Executive Director of St. Michael Albertville Music Boosters, STMA for short! Mr. Osowski is describing a moment from their music program's concert performance, led by Grammy-nominated British vocal ensemble Voces8
Osowski: they're one of the best vocal ensembles in the world.
Warren-Yearby: STMA Music Boosters supports the music program at St. Michael and Albertville High School, providing concert series, bringing in world-class vocal groups like Voces8 to enrich and diversify students' music education experience.
Osowski: I want my kids to get world class experiences, [...] but we open this up to all students, not just students at St. Michael Albertville […] We [..] provide scholarships for any schools that can't afford for their students to come.
Warren-Yearby: Support from the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund helped to make this unique opportunity possible! Members of Voces8 spent an entire day with students, leading their vocal rehearsal, teaching a master class and of course, performing for students
Osowski: education is at the heart of their mission. And that for me as a teacher, that's the win, right?
Warren-Yearby: The STMA Music Boosters even had the opportunity to commission a member of Voces8 to compose a brand-new choral piece for the students of St. Michael-Albertville High School to sing and perform. The entire day culminated in a concert performance that evening at a Church in St. Michael, featuring both the students and members of Voces8
music fromVoces8 with STMA Choir’s Nunc Dimittis
Osowski: I've had students come up to me after our concerts and say, now this is the reason I'm going into music for a career
Warren-Yearby: Find more information at stmachoirs dot org.
Closing: Minnesota’s Legacy is a production of AMPERS, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, more at ampers dot org.