Philip Brunelle on Weekend Edition!

Philip Brunelle, the VocalEssence director was interviewed by Liane Hansen on
NPR’s Weekend Edition!

Brunelle will be discussing Christmas carols with Liane Hansen,prompted by VocalEsssence’s new release on Clarion, Behold This Heavenly Light. 

“Behold This Heavenly Night” presents the world premiere of new, contest-winning carols alongside outstanding arrangements of more familiar melodies. Also included is the U.S. premiere of John Rutter’s new “Carol of the Magi” and a unique arrangement of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” translated into Latin by Philip Brunelle and his son Christopher.

Please Click to read the full story and listen to the interview on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday.

Have a VocalEssence Christmas!

It's Christmas time, and that means that VocalEssence is making headlines galore! Recently, they teamed up with the American Composers Forum and held a "Christmas carol contest", something they've been doing for the past 12 years! Each year, two winners are chosen and VocalEssence performs their carols!

Check out John Birge of Minnesota Public Radio talking about it last week:

Listen to the winning carols:
"Come Join Their Song" by Mark Shepperd

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" by J. David Moore

You might recognize J. David Moore's name. He is also an arranger for "Jingle Bells" which appears on VocalEssence's new Clarion Records recording "Behold This Heavenly Night"!

Behold This Heavenly Night

Last week we offered our newest Christmas release "Behold This Heavenly Night" as a prize for our Christmas Contest, so today we thought we would tell you a little more about the album!


Behold this Heavenly Night
VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Chorus
Sigrid Johnson, associate conductor
Philip Brunelle, conductor

In 1998, VocalEssence and the American Composers Forum joined forces to offer an annual contest encouraging the composition of new carols. Over the years hundreds of worthy carols have been submitted. “Behold This Heavenly Night” presents the world premiere of some of these contest-winning carols alongside outstanding arrangements of more familiar melodies. Also included is the U.S. premiere of John Rutter’s new “Carol of the Magi” and a unique arrangement of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” translated into Latin by Philip Brunelle and his son Christopher.

1. Ding Dong! Merrily on High — arr by Malcolm Williamson
2. What Child — Paul W Lohman
3. The Piping Carol * — James Sclater
4. Un Nacimento (A Nativity Scene) * — Diego Luzuriaga
5. A Mother’s Carol * — Scott Ethier
6. I Wonder as I Wander — John Jacob Niles, arr Martin Neary
7. Sweet Was the Song * — Matthew Brown
8. Night of Silence — Daniel Kantor, arr John Ferguson
9. See Amid the Winter Snow * — Robert Sieving
10. In the Bleak Midwinter * — Alan J Higbee
11. The Shepherd and the King * — Brian Holmes
12. Carol of the Magi — John Rutter
13. Calm on the Listening Ear * — John Christian Rommereim
14. The Darkest Midnight in December * — Stephen Main
15. Jingle Bells — James Lord Pierpont, arr J David Moore
16. Welcome the King * — Michael Glasgow
17. The Virgin’s Cradle Hymn * — Richard E Voorhaar
18. Behold the Dark and Bitter Night * — Thomas Fielding
19. It Fell Upon the High Midnight * — Paul Gibson
20. Rudolphus Rubrinasus * — Johnny Marks, arr Philip Brunelle

List Price: $18.98 
Our Price:$15.98 
You save $3.00!


Want this album in time for Christmas? Click to check out our Holiday Shipping Schedule!

Christmas Contest!

We have lots to celebrate! This is our 200th post on the blog, it's the Christmas season, and we have some fantastic new Christmas releases! So, how do we celebrate? Glad you asked! We're doing a Christmas album contest!

We have three "riddles" involving the titles of three of our Christmas albums. The first 5 people with the correct album titles and artists will win our newest Christmas album - "Behold This Heavenly Night" featuring the VocalEssence choral ensemble!

The Riddles:

"Play this album during your Christmas celebrations, and you'll have a Grand old time!"

"This Christmas album has programming that can't be called "fluff", but you could call it flowery!"

"We love Christmas sweets; they bring us pure jubilation!"

Okay, now all you have to do is answer these questions, and you'll win "Behold this Heavenly Night" featuring the VocalEssence ensemble.

To make it easy for you we have a direct link to all of our Christmas albums. So click here, and start figuring out our riddles!

Give us your answers in the comments section of this blog, or on our Facebook Page, or via Twitter.