The choral arts ensemble begins its 40th season with a new conductor

Oct. 23 — ROCHESTER — Ryan Deignan didn’t aspire to become artistic director of a choral arts ensemble.

It’s not that he wouldn’t be qualified after earning a doctorate in musical arts from the University of North Texas and a master of arts in music education from the University of Iowa. Nor was it a lack of interest in such a position that prevented him from mentally aiming for such a job.

At the risk of sounding pessimistic, Deignan did not expect to find a position like that of artistic director of the Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester.

“It’s so rare that you don’t really expect to find yourself in a position in an organization like that,” Deignan said.

As CAE enters its 40th season, Deignan succeeds longtime artistic directors of CAE and the Honors Choir, Rick and Jan Kvam, who retired in spring 2024.

Deignan comes to Rochester from Duluth where he was assistant professor and interim director of choral activities at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He directed the University Singers and the Lake Effect vocal jazz ensemble. Although academia had its own rewards and challenges, Deignan said he jumped at the chance to lead Rochester’s community-supported organizations.

“These organizations are so strong,” he said. “It’s also pretty unique for a town of this size to have a choral ensemble that has the kind of support from the community.”

At UMD, Deignan led the Twin Ports Choral Project, a group similar to Rochester’s CAE, but smaller and more volunteer. Deignan said he was happy to work with a supporting team here and added that he was impressed by the depth of Rochester’s talented and dedicated singers.

“It’s kind of a high intensity – the commitment that we’re asking of these people,” he said.

The depth of talent prompted Deignan to put in additional work months before the start of the 40th season. Reluctant to refuse certain auditioned singers, Deignan created a new triple choir.

“I just didn’t want to turn them down,” he said.

The 16-member group will perform alongside the mixed-voice ensemble.

“So far it’s going well,” he said. “There is a vitality in this group.”

Deignan has organized a theme season that will include a return of the Christmas concert to Assisi Heights. The theme of this show will be motherhood. The opening concerts of the season, on October 26 and 27, 2024, will be explorations of the relationship with ourselves and the people we were in our childhood.

This concert will include new compositions commissioned by the CAE. Deignan said he was touched by CAE’s tradition of hiring professional composers for concerts.

“There is music now because of this organization,” he said.

Deignan said one of his long-term goals is to make choral music more engaging and visual. The first step is to bring artists closer to the public.

“I want these to be productions and not just concerts,” he said.

Deignan said he’s not sure how exactly he will accomplish this in future seasons, but that it will be an ongoing effort that will require collaboration, brainstorming and resources.

“These stories that we tell through vocal music also have a visual component,” he said. “Each piece has a text.”

When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, October 26; 3 p.m., Sunday October 27.

Where: United Methodist Church of Christ, 400 Fifth Ave. SW.

How much: Adult tickets start at $15; $10 for students.