Artistic Director Rick Kvam holds music degrees from Harvard and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Rick founded the Rochester Men’s Capella in 1982, the Choral Arts Ensemble in 1985, and the Honors Choirs of SE Minnesota in 1992. He won the Sally Ordway Award for arts initiative, the Mayor’s Award for artistic excellence and is a member of the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame. Fortunate to collaborate all these years with life partner and accompanist Jan Kvam, Rick retired from his ‘other’ job in 2019 after thirty-four years in emergency medicine.

Matthias Maute joined Bach Society of Minnesota as Artistic Director in 2016. The Montreal-based conductor, composer, and recorder and flute soloist is founder of Montreal-based Ensemble Caprice, an orchestra he formed in 1993 that performs throughout the world. The award-winning artist was honored with two JUNO Awards and in 2020 received the OPUS Award for Musical Event of the Year in recognition of the Mini-Concerts Sante he created during the pandemic, delivering 9,000 Mini-Concerts to 70,000 people in Montreal, Quebec, and Canada while providing 3,000 hires of professional singers and musicians during difficult times.

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In 2019 Matthias was named Artistic Director of Ensemble Vocal Arts-Quebec. He has earned international praise for his artistic approach, presenting lush, vibrant performances and recordings of Early Music, and occasionally weaving other musical genres into his work. The New York Times described Ensemble Caprice as being “an ensemble that encourages the listener to rehear the world.” Matthias’ recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos juxtaposed with his own arrangements of Preludes from Shostakovich’s Op. 87 was praised by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross as standing out “for its fleet, characterful approach” and “its fresh, vibrant colors.”

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In October 2022, Matthias and the Bach Society of Minnesota presented the U.S. Premiere of Vivaldi’s Four Nations, a suite of concertos created for the recorder that were lost after the composer’s death and reconstructed by Matthias. His compositions are published by Breitkopf & Hartel, Amadeus, Moeck, and Carus. Forty-nine movements of Matthias’ compositions are featured in 49 videos on noncerto.com. Matthias has made more than 20 recordings on the Analekta, Vanguard Classics, Bella Musica, Dorian, Bridge, and ATMA Classique labels. He is regularly invited to perform at major international festivals and in 2023, his Ensemble Caprice orchestra performed in South Africa, Finland, and Norway as well as Canada and the U.S.

Choral Arts Ensemble has been inspiring audiences throughout southeast Minnesota with performances of outstanding choral music since its founding by Rick Kvam in 1985. The auditioned singers of CAE are active community members from various professions, including teachers, doctors, medical students, business people, computer technicians, and church leaders, all drawn together to create excellent music and contribute to the artistically thriving life in and around Rochester.

Our repertoire includes a cappella works from the Renaissance to the present day and a variety of choral/orchestral works ranging from J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor to Beethoven’s Mass in C to Honegger’s King David. We are proud to have commissioned and premiered more than 70 new choral works.