Sonomento

Sonomento, MacPhail’s premiere adult choral ensemble, is a 50-member auditioned chamber choir that specializes in performing the great classical choral works of the past and present. The group performs regularly around the Twin Cities, often collaborating with other choirs and orchestras. Under musical director Craig Fields, artistic excellence and the development of each individual’s singing voice are top priorities, as well as a strong emphasis on singing in a full, open-throated, ‘bel canto’ vocal style. The group regularly performs the major works of Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Bernstein, Bloch, Menotti, Paulus, Lauridsen, and many more. We also firmly believe that dedication to quality choral singing enriches lives, fosters lasting fulfillment and creates meaningful friendships within the group.

Highlights and tours include, the 2013-14 collaborations with Minnesota Concert Opera’s production of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Duluth Festival Opera’s Dido and Aeneas. In 2015, the choir toured Munich, Berlin and Prague and garnered two competitive Silver Medals at the International Brahms Choral Festival in Wernigerode, Germany. In 2017, the choir presented the inaugural All Beethoven concert for the new $20 million Ives Auditorium in Bloomington, MN, which culminated with Beethoven’s Ninth Choral Symphony. In July 2018, the choir was invited to the prestigious Eisteddfod Music Festival in Llangollen, Wales, where they also concertized at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and St. Johns Church of Wales in London. In 2018-19, the ensemble sang the American premier of Slovak composer Eugen Suchon’s dramatic 1938 cantata, The Psalm of the Sub-Carpathian Lands with the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota premier of the complete orchestral version of Avodath HaKodesh by Ernest Bloch in collaboration with the Adath Jeshurun Congregation Choir.