The Mirandola Ensemble, established in 2011, is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based professional choral ensemble dedicated to promoting the highest standards of choral music, the idea of choral music as ‘high art’ in the Western tradition, and the aesthetics of the Renaissance. The ensemble is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization, and has served multiple years as a Class Notes Artist-in-Residence for Classical Minnesota Public Radio. The group’s three studio albums – “The Infant King: Advent and Christmastide”, “Unquiet Thoughts: The Lute Songs of John Dowland”, and “Nymphs & Angels” – are all available via iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, and other streaming music services.
The Mirandola Ensemble is led by Artistic Director and tenor Nick Chalmers.
OUR NAME
Our name comes from the esteemed Renaissance philosopher, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463 – 1494), who wrote in his seminal treatise “Oration on the Dignity of Man”: “[Adam,] to you is granted the power, contained in your intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine.”
In the Mirandola Ensemble, we aim to take the spirit of Mirandola’s philosophy seriously, just as our favorite Renaissance composers did. Vocal music should be not only entertaining and fun, but also enlightening and even moral. It has the ability not only to amuse us, but to make our lives better.
The Mirandola Ensemble aims to represent the highest standards in vocal music performance, utilizing the most recent scholarship and the very best professionals in the field today.
ENSEMBLE MEMBERS & GUEST ARTISTS, 2024-2025 SEASON
ALYSSA ANDERSON, mezzo soprano
Dr. Alyssa Anderson is a specialist in chamber music, both as a soloist and as part of small vocal ensembles. In addition to a busy schedule singing with The Mirandola Ensemble, Alyssa also performs regularly in the Twin Cities area with a number of other ensembles such as La Grande Bande, Border CrosSing, Consortium Carissimi, 113 Composers Collective, Zeitgeist, RenegadeEnsemble, Bach Society of Minnesota, and Bach Roots Festival. In 2010 she co-founded a voice and guitar duo, The Dream Songs Project, and performs lots of new and a little bit of old music nationally with the ensemble, including headlining new music festivals in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and St Paul. Alyssa also performs experimental music as part of a saxophone-voice duo, The Poem is Done. In addition to singing, Alyssa can also be seen and heard playing keyboard instruments and percussion and is a darn good jaw harp player.
KRISTINA BOERGER, soprano
Dr. Kristina Boerger received her formative teaching from pianist Annie Sherter and holds a choral doctorate from the University of Illinois. Now Augsburg University’s Schwartz Professor of Choral Leadership, Boerger has served the DePauw School of Music, the University of Illinois School of Music, Carroll University, Barnard College and the Manhattan School of Music. Her professional conducting engagements include invitations from Chanticleer, The Rose Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound and the Madison Early Music Festival. Her devotion to choral singing in communities is captured in the PBS documentary The Amasong Chorus: Singing Out, which documents her work as Founding Director of Amasong: Champaign-Urbana’s Premier Lesbian/Feminist Chorus. Her students have toured France and Italy in site-specific programs, entertained at the Obama White House, shared the stage with ETHEL and Nine Horses, studied in residence with Black South African choral communities, and initiated a choral project with the men of Putnamville Correctional Facility. Her three Manhattan-based choirs earned acclaim in the New York Times for performances of early music, Baroque opera, 19th-century symphonic works and new commissions. As a chamber singer, Boerger has toured and recorded with The Rose Ensemble, Pomerium, Western Wind, Early Music New York and Bobby McFerrin. For more information, please visit: http://www.kristinaboerger.com.
NICHOLAS CHALMERS, tenor and Artistic Director
Nicholas was a founding member of the Mirandola Ensemble, and has been its Artistic Director since 2016. Heralded by the Washington Post as “dulcet and exciting,” Nicholas has sung with The Bach Society of Minnesota, The Rose Ensemble, the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, Glorious Revolution Baroque, Transept, The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists, and the Minnesota Chorale. Recent solo engagements include VocalEssence, the Oratorio Society of Minnesota, the Bach Roots Festival, the Schubert Club, the Church Music Association of America, the St. Mark's Cathedral Concert Series, and Border Crossing. Nicholas received a B.M. in music from St. Olaf College, as well as an M.M. in Choral Conducting at the University of Minnesota. He is the Director of Choirs at Chesterton Academy in Hopkins and is Director of Music at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. Sought after as an educator and clinician, during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years Nicholas piloted a high-school choral residency program in collaboration with Minnesota Public Radio.
RYNE CHERRY, baritone
Praised for his “gripping performances” by The New York Times, baritone Ryne Cherry regularly performs with various professional Opera, Baroque and Choral ensembles. Ryne’s recent highlights include performances with Handel and Haydn Society including Handel's Israel in Egypt and Messiah with Jonathon Cohen at Symphony Hall in Boston, Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion with Bernard Labadie and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall and Mozart's Requiem with La Chapelle de Quebec and Bernard Labadie at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada, a national tour of Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spaulding’s jazz-opera Iphigenia, regular appearances Miami-based Choral Ensemble Seraphic Fire and locally with period instrument ensemble La Grande Bande. Ryne was a 2022 Virginia Best Adams Vocal Fellow at Carmel Bach Festival, a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow from 2016-2018, and 3rd prize winner of the 2020/2021 Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Competition in New York City. Ryne is currently in his 3rd year as Vocal Director of Just Bach Concerts, a Baroque ensemble based in Madison, WI.
MATTHEW CULLOTON, bass
As Artistic Director and Executive Director of fellow Twin Cities ensemble The Singers, Culloton has led the world premiere performances of over 100 works, including Timothy Takach’s Helios (2019), Craig Carnahan’s Ghost Camp (2015), Joshua Shank’s He Was Singing (2012), and Jocelyn Hagen’s amass (2012). He is also an active classical recording producer, collaborating in that role with the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, the National Lutheran Choir, the Concordia Choir, and the Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorale (Dale Warland, conductor). As a composer, Culloton has been commissioned by The Singers, the Dale Warland Singers, Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester (MN), Ames Chamber Artists, Chanson, the Minnesota MMEA All-State Choir, and numerous professional, community, school, and church choirs. Based in the Minneapolis area, Culloton has also been Choirmaster at The House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul since 2010. He earned degrees from the University of Minnesota (M.M. in Choral Conducting; D.M.A. in Conducting) and Concordia College, Moorhead (B.M. in Music Education). For his full bio, visit his page on The Singers website.
JULIE ELHARD, cello
Julie Elhard appears regularly as a soloist and chamber musician and has made several appearances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, including the St. Matthew Passion by Bach under the direction of Nicholas McGegan. Ms. Elhard was awarded a 2016 and 2012 Artist’s Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board and a Jerome Foundation grant in 2002 to study with Margriet Tindemans. She received a Performing Artist Certificate from the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, Netherlands and has taught at workshops across North America. She teaches viola da gamba at Macalester college and has published a series of books for viola da gamba called, the Passamezzo Method. She currently serves as Conclave Music Director for the Viola da gamba Society of America’s annual workshop.
ANDREW KANE, baritone
Andrew Kane has been singing consort, choral and oratorio repertoire locally, nationally and internationally since 2007. He has extensive experience in many chamber ensembles, including the Mirandola Ensemble, the Rose Ensemble, La Grande Bande, Transept out of Sioux Falls, and the Minnesota Bach Society. He has also appeared with larger ensembles including the Oratorio Society, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, Rochester Symphony and the Oregon Bach Festival. Andrew appears regularly in many Twin Cities music series, including those of St. Mark's Cathedral, Holy Family, Mount Olive, and House of Hope. He holds a degree in voice performance from Augsburg College.
BRUCE JACOBS, continuo organ
Bruce Jacobs is heard frequently in the Twin Cities. Since his debut at First Avenue, he has performed with the Mirandola Ensemble, Eglantine Consort, Bach Society of Minnesota, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, The Rose Ensemble, Consortium Carissimi and the National Lutheran Choir. He was a founding member of Banchetto Musicale, a leading baroque ensemble in Fargo-Moorhead. Jacobs studied pipe organ performance with Ruth Berge at Concordia College in Moorhead and continuo through the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute.
CONOR O’BRIEN, violin
Since moving to Minnesota from his native Ireland, Conor O’Brien has built an eclectic professional portfolio that covers almost every facet of the music business. As a modern violinist, he was a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra for 18 years, has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has concertized on three continents, including a tour of South Korea with the World Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with artists in many diverse genres, including recording for Taylor Swift and Celine Dion, and performing live with Dessa. As a baroque violinist, he has performed with the Mirandola Ensemble, Bach Society of Minnesota, Christ Church Baroque (Ireland), Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and La Grande Bande, amongst others. Conor has been a faculty member/guest clinician at myriad schools and colleges, including Luther College and Gustavus Adolphus College. His entrepreneurial spirit complements his work as performer and teacher; he is artistic director of the Loring String Quartet, and music contractor/consultant for many local and national music organizations.
MAJA RADOVANLIJA, classical guitar
Maja Radovanlija was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and completed her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Belgrade, as a student of Prof. Srdjan Tosic. She has been awarded several academic and competition prizes including 1st prize at the International Competition in Kjustendil, Bulgaria. Maja has performed extensively as solo and chamber musician, touring Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Macedonia, Greece, Tunisia, Switzerland and other European countries. As a graduate student (M.M and D.M) at Indiana University, she studied guitar with Ernesto Bitetti and early music with lutenist Nigel North. Maja’s eclectic musical background includes performances with Mu Daiko Japanese Theater and improvised concerts with guitarist/composer Alex Lubet. In 2011, she was appointed to the guitar faculty at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Maja joined the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet in 2012.
JENNY UBL, soprano
Jenny Ubl holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree with concentrations in choral conducting and vocal performance from the University of Notre Dame Program of Sacred Music. Upon completing her degrees, Ubl worked for the University as a vocal coach and cantor at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and editor of the Notre Dame Newman Hymnal. She subsequently served on the music staff at the Cathedral of St. Paul and the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica as a choral section leader, soloist, and cantor. She maintains an active performance schedule as a soloist and chorister. Appearances include the Rose Ensemble, the Mirandola Ensemble, First Readings Project, the Apollo Master Chorale, the Bach Society of Saint Louis, the Arcangeli Chamber Chorus, and the South Bend Chamber Singers. Ubl leads workshops and cantors at churches throughout the Twin Cities. She also serves as the Director of Sacred Music at Transfiguration Catholic Church in Oakdale, MN.