Conspirare brings its holiday choral collage to town

Devotees of choral music (and in Minnesota, that might be most of us) will get a chance to hear an innovative, Grammy Award-winning ensemble when Texas-based Conspirare comes to the Twin Cities.

The group’s journey northward came about when Joe Osowski, choir director at both St. Michael-Albertville High School and Minneapolis’ Central Lutheran Church, hatched the plan. Osowski has a reputation for bringing top-flight talent to the Twin Cities to perform and interact with his students.

He said he reached out to Conspirare after his recent appointment at Central Lutheran. “Head Pastor Peter Nycklemoe and [Conspirare founder/director] Craig Hella Johnson were roommates at St. Olaf College,” Osowski said. “Peter and I are both big fans of Craig and his beautiful company of voices.”

An email to Johnson resulted in the scheduling of concerts at Central Lutheran Dec. 11 and St. Michael-Albertville High School Dec. 12. It was a fortuitous connection for Johnson, a Minnesota native now based in Austin, Texas.

“Honestly, Minnesota is home — personally my home, but also such a choral-rich place,” Johnson said. “I was raised in that beautiful and dynamic choral culture, there are so many people I respect and love there, and I owe so much to it.

“Joe has reached out for several years, and we finally worked out a schedule and I’m so happy about it.”

Conspirare (which, in Latin, means “to breathe together”) is a somewhat unusual ensemble that gathers singers from not only the Austin area but all over the country for short rehearsals in preparation for concerts and tours. Johnson conceived of the idea in the early 1990s after studying in Germany and working with International Bachakademie founder Helmuth Rilling.

 “I watched the model of how they worked, bringing in singers for 3 to 8 days from not just Germany but the neighboring regions,” Johnson said. “Of course, they had the advantage of the [European] train system; it was much easier than here in the big old United States.”

But he was determined to replicate that model here. He observed that many musicians had rigorous training but few outlets for their talents. “I was seeing over and over again choral musicians with advanced degrees and the unique set of skills that one develops as a keenly refined ensemble singer — all these skills, and there wouldn’t be many places for them to go.” Opera and teaching were two paths, he said, “and of course those are beautiful options, but I thought, boy, there’s a whole niche of different musicians who don’t have a track to make a professional living.

“So that was a part of the vision. I had a deep desire to make music at the highest level, to develop this kind of professional level of expertise and build that kind of ensemble,” Johnson said. He said he “needed to get creative.”

By bringing together musicians from different locales and experiences, Conspirare embodies the notion inherent in its name. “It’s a living model of people coming together, individuals from different everythings, of all stripes, sharing a common breath,” Johnson said.

He’s made a stunning success of this experiment. Since the ensemble began performing regularly in the late 1990s, it has won a Grammy for its recording The Sacred Spirit of Russia; has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and has commissioned works from such renowned composers as Eric Whitacre, Nico Muhly, Mark Adamo and Jocelyn Hagen.

Johnson’s own full-length concert work, Considering Matthew Shepherd, was Grammy-nominated and featured in a 2018 PBS documentary; the ensemble performed it in a previous trip to Minnesota.

This year’s Twin Cities concerts have a theme of remembrance; “We call back who we are individually and who we are as a broad human family,” Johnson said. The programs will incorporate Conspirare’s signature “collage” style, which joins music and poetry, and blends sacred and secular, classic and contemporary works. “I never went into it calling it a collage concert, but that term works as good as any,” Johnson said. “We do take a bit of a journey.”

Adding to the collage is a guest musician, which the group highlights each year (often drawing across musical genres) to keep the experience fresh. But this year the “guest” comes from Conspirare’s own ranks: Alto Lianna Wimberly Williams.

“Once in a while we’ll feature one of our own. Each singer is a soloist in their own right,” Johnson said. “Minnesota is so choral-rich, we have to bring some real singing.”

For his part, Osowski says, “What I think is unique about the concerts with Conspirare is the way in which [Johnson] weaves a tapestry of musical offerings … his collage style is innovative and fresh, yet traditional and familiar.

“Craig is a Minnesota native and his musical roots are deeply embedded here. However, this program will be unlike anything you will hear in the Twin Cities this holiday season.”

Indeed, Johnson relishes the chance to come “home.” “I’m grateful more than anything to share, across all these miles, with everyone in Minnesota who supports and engages in this kind of thing — singer, performer, patron, listener — keeping this vibrant culture alive.

“We in the arts are front-line workers. We’ve always been influential, but now we are on the front lines of maintaining a soul connection with our deepest selves. We are at risk of losing so much,” he said. “We are essential workers.”

Johnson hopes audiences will come away with the feeling of having had a communal and yes, essential encounter. “We want people to come and be in the experience of being together in that sense of shared breath,” he said. “I think of this thing as a circle.

“Even in a big concert hall, I want to keep that sense of sitting in a circle, letting our breath and imaginations talk to each other.”

Event details

What: Conspirare in concert
When & Where: 7 p.m. Dec. 11, Central Lutheran Church, 333 12th St., Mpls.; 7 p.m. Dec. 12, St. Michael-Albertville High School, 5800 Jamison Av. NE., St. Michael.
Tickets: $20-$35.