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. Brunelle 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. He is also Organist-Choirmaster at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.

Two-time JUNO Award winning conductor, composer, recorder, and flute soloist Matthias Maute has achieved an international reputation. In 2016 he was named artistic director of the Bach Society of Minnesota and in 2019 of the professional choir Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec. The New York Times described the orchestra he conducts in Montreal, Ensemble Caprice, as “an ensemble that encourages the listener to rehear the world.” Maute’s recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos juxtaposed with his own arrangements of Preludes from Shostakovich's Op. 87 was hailed by The New Yorker as standing out “for its fleet, characterful approach” and “its fresh, vibrant colors”. Maute’s compositions are published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Amadeus, Moeck and Carus. He has made some twenty recordings on the Analekta, Vanguard Classics, Bella Musica, Dorian, Bridge and ATMA Classique labels.

Heralded by the Washington Post as “dulcet and exciting,” Nicholas Chalmers, tenor, has sung with The Bach Society of Minnesota, The Rose Ensemble, the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, Glorious Revolution Baroque, and Transept. Recent solo engagements include the Oratorio Society, the Bach Roots Festival, the Schubert Club, the St. Mark’s Cathedral Concert Series, Minnesota Center Chorale, Border CrosSing, and Lyra Baroque. Chalmers received a B.M. in music from St. Olaf College and an M.M. in Choral Conducting at the University of Minnesota. He is the Director of Choirs at Chesterton Academy in Hopkins, Director of Music at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, and Artistic Director of the Mirandola Ensemble. During the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years he piloted a high-school choral residency program in collaboration with Minnesota Public Radio.

The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers have established an international reputation because of their extensive catalog of recordings and broad range of unique repertoire. This chamber choir, whose members hail from a wide variety of professions, is bound together by their skilled artistry to create what The Times of London has described as a “flawless” sound.