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The American choral scholar, conductor and organist, Philip Brunelle, began studying the piano at the age of 4, showing the same enthusiasm for music as his mother. His father, an Evangelical United Brethren minister, died when Philip was 13, leaving the family of six in difficult circumstances. Brunelle, bolstered by his mother's determination, managed to forge ahead with his musical education, studying with Harry Opel at the Minnehaha Academy, with Theodore Bergman (piano) at the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis, and with Dominick Argento at the University of Minnesota. He also studied organ with Arthur B. Jennings.
While still in his teens, Brunelle worked as a professional church organist, and at the age of 19 he became a full-time member of the Minnesota Orchestra as a pianist and percussionist for five years (1962-1967). In 1969 he became director of the Minnesota Opera, then known as Center Opera. During his 17-year tenure there (1969-1985), he introduced many new operas, including three by his teacher Dominick Argento, among them The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe. He succeeded his organ teacher Arthur B. Jennings as organist and choir director at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, a position which he has held since 1969. In 1969, he also founded the Plymouth Music Series, which would become known as VocalEssence in 2002.
In 1974 Philip Brunelle began appearing on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio program. He ended his tenure with the Minnesota Opera in 1985, in part because of differences with management over his preference for local artists. His regular appearances on the Keillor radio show ended in 1987, but Brunelle continued to perform with Keillor on concert dates with major orchestras in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco.
Though Philip Brunelle has held no major post since 1985, he has continued to regularly conduct the chorus and orchestra of VocalEssence and make guest appearances throughout the world. For two decades he was deeply involved with the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM). He served as president of the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music, held in Minneapolis in 2002. He was a Vice President of the IFCM Board and served as Executive Director for the 2014 World Symposium on Choral Music in Seoul, South Korea. Philip served as Artistic Advisor for the 2017 World Choral Symposium in Barcelona, Spain and later that summer was Artistic Director of the 2017 China (Qiandongnan) International Folk Song Choral Festival in Kaili, China. He also served on the national boards of the National Council for the Arts (NEA), Chorus America, the American Composers Forum and the American Guild of Organists. In the new century he also conducted Stockholm's Royal Opera. He also maintained a schedule that included regular organ recitals and contributing a monthly column to The American Organist. Since January 1982 he has written “Choral Old and New”, a column for The American Organist. In 2021, he celebrated his 52nd anniversary with VocalEssence and at Plymouth Church and looks forward to his 53rd season with both organizations.
Philip Brunelle has also made a number of recordings for various labels, including RCA, Virgin Classics, and Angel Records. Brunelle's opera recordings include Benjamin Britten's Paul Bunyan, Copland's The Tender Land, Argento's Postcard From Morocco and Lawrence Siegel's Kaddish, and he has made numerous choral recordings with VocalEssence.
In the course of an international career as a choral and opera conductor Philip Brunelle has been awarded Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit and made an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire as well as receiving Hungary's Kodály Medal, the Ohtli medal from Mexico, and Sweden's Royal Order of the Polar Star. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. John's University (Collegeville, Minnesota), St. Olaf College, United Theological Seminary, and the University of Minnesota. In 2020 he was awarded The American Prize in Choral Conducting in the community division and was presented with the Honorary Member Award by the Society for American Music. He is the recipient of the Weston H. Noble Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the North Central American Choral Directors Association; the F. Melius Christiansen Lifetime Achievement Award, American Choral Directors Association-Minnesota Chapter’s highest honor; and the Michael Korn Founder’s Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art, Chorus America’s highest lifetime achievement award. |
