Two Choral Supergroups, One Magical Concert

Submitted by Brian Newhouse, Host, Managing Director, Classical ProgrammingOn Monday, October 3, I was thrilled to host the first-ever joint concert between two choral supergroups: Cantus (based in Mpls) and Chanticleer (based in San Francisco). Classical MPR broadcast the sold-out concert live from Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on a number of platforms including a Facebook live stream.This was exciting for several reasons:

• They’d never done this before, as they are essentially competitors. (Imagine if Infiniti and Lexus decided to make a really cool car together – in our backyard!)
• The groups were inspired to collaborate after a chance encounter last February. They happened to find themselves touring in the same area and agreed to go into a bar and sing together; a grainy five-minute iPhone video of that night went wildly viral, drawing nearly one million views in 24 hours.
• Orchestra Hall was sold out for the October 3rd concert; so Classical MPR was the only way anyone else could enjoy this concert.
• With huge credit to our colleagues managing the broadcast and technical details, we fed video/audio of the concert directly into Facebook Live, via our Choral Stream page. This was in addition to our live radio broadcast on Classical MPR and the classicalmpr.org stream.
• We asked both choirs to share Choral Stream links to their networks of fans around the country, and the world.
• And we created an audience engagement piece to support our connections goals, too.

 It was such an honor for me to host this historic event, but what was especially cool was watching the Facebook Live action while I tried to keep one eye on what was going on, onstage! We averaged 1500 viewers at any time during the concert. And about 20,000 people viewed the live feed for some length of time, and another 15,000 have watched the on-demand video excerpts. (Sadly, we’re going to have to take the videos down due to the rights agreements we abide by.)It was so gratifying to see comments stream in during the concert from Australia, Japan, Germany, the UK, and dozens of States here in the US. The very best thing, though, were how heartfelt the comments were, one after another, that thanked Classical MPR for offering this service to those who couldn’t make it to Minneapolis.https://youtu.be/oJGckjXoS40   

Unity, Healing and Gratitude: The Work of Classical MPR's Bridge of Song

There's a culture of gratitude at APMG.It often shows up in the form of an all-staff email from one of our leaders, calling out a team or an individual's great work. While many of us have a love/hate relationship with email, our employees are spread all over the U.S. (and beyond). We work 24/7. We can't always connect in-person, so we use the available tools.Below are two great examples, highlighting Classical MPR's Bridge of Song, an evening of song and reflection after recent violence in the Twin Cities, Dallas, Baton Rouge and other communities. Our work touches many lives... and of course, our own. We are emotionally involved and we hope this translates to the audience.

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All-Staff Email From Dave Kansas, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer on July 15, 2016:  Earlier this week, Brian Newhouse, head of our Classical Music group, saw that Dallas planned to do a community sing July 14 to bring people together as that city tries to come together following the recent shooting of police officers. He immediately imagined that our own community, grappling with the police shooting of Philando Castile, could potentially join up with Dallas and create an event that connected two places and their people at a crucial time. Brian wrote: “Music and beauty are powerful agents of unity. And if enough of us make that so, if enough of us declare that we seek to make the world a better place with the tools at hand... that's what we need now. So...”Following that “So…” Brian and many others across the organization came together to pull off a great event in short order. Similar to how we responded to the untimely passing of Prince, we moved nimbly to provide an important space and moment for our community.All that effort culminated when Classical MPR packed Westminster Presbyterian last night with nearly 1800 people who wanted to join our “Bridge of Song” event. The event provided time in these tumultuous days for our community to rest, grieve, seek hope, and connect through singing. We fed it to Facebook Live as well, and thousands from all over the country and beyond joined in via that feed.All this to get at the essence of the MPR mission:

“…to enrich the mind and nourish the spirit, thereby enhancing the lives and expanding the perspectives of our audiences, and assisting them in strengthening their communities.”

The magic moment in the evening was a literal ‘bridge of song’ in which the Westminster crowd – linked via audio/video – sang the same song of hope with the crowd gathered at the companion event in Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. If you missed it, it’s all here:  http://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2016/07/15/bridgeofsong-helps-create-community-bonds

Along with thanking Brian, I want to thank and recognize for extraordinary, high-speed work:

• Classical: Vaughn Ormseth, Tesfa Wondemagegnehu
• The entire Operations team, especially Zack Rose, Erik Stromstrad, and Corey Schreppel
• Digital: Brett Baldwin, Luke Taylor, Dan Nass, Nate Ryan
• Marketing and PR: Jen Keavy, Angie Andresen, Jill Weflen; and Creative Services for design work
• Legal and Business Affairs: Christie Healy, Char Arends
• Live Events: Jeff and Ellie, Rose Martin
• Community Engagement: Ka Vang

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All-Staff Email from Randi Yoder, Chief Development Officer on July 15:  It was a remarkable evening, full of beautiful music, harmony and surprise appearances – all made possible because we have deep relationships in the community that give us the opportunity to call on short notice and make wonderful things happen. 

Imagine the joy of singing in concert with an equally engaged group in Dallas.  I was so proud to see Brian, Tesfa, Dessa and others attached to us, at the front of the room.  And the applause for these folks who are highly recognized in our community went on and on. Thank you, team, for making this very special event possible for so many to enjoy and be a part of it.  On the way out I heard someone say: “ these days, we need one of these every day!”