Philip Brown
Cantanti Singers
Director:
Philip Brown is the director of choral activities at Thomas Jefferson Senior High School in Bloomington and conductor of the Treble Singers and Cantanti Singers with Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs. He graduated summa cum laude from Bethany College (KS), majoring in K-12 music education. He received his M.M. degree in music education from Northern Arizona University.
Before arriving in Minnesota, Philip started his public school teaching in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado (Arvada West High School). After teaching for one year in White Bear Lake, Minnesota (North Campus High School), Philip taught for 11 years at Hopkins High School. At Hopkins he conducted seven choral ensembles and coached the JV tennis teams. At Bloomington Jefferson he conducts all choir ensembles and oversees the show choir program.
His choral groups have been selected for performances at CMEA Conference, CU-Boulder Madrigal Festival, MMEA Mid-Winter Conference, ACDA-MN Fall Conference, NC-ACDA Conference, MSU-Mankato Choral Festival, ACDA-MN Choral Arts Finale, St. Olaf College Choir Festival, Concordia College Choir Festival, and the Northern Voice Festival. Choirs under his conducting have collaborated with the Minnesota Oratorio Society, Minnesota Choral Artists - The Singers (Morten Lauridsen Festival), Great Northern Union, VocalEssence (!Cantare!), Northern Lights Chorale, and Cantus. While on tours to New York, Florida, Wisconsin, and Illinois, his choirs have consistently received superior ratings, best in class awards, and grand sweepstakes awards.
Philip was honored as the 2011 ACDA-MN Young Director of the Year. He was selected as the Director of Note for Minnesota by Choral Director Magazine in 2012. In 2013 he received the VocalEssence/ACDA-MN Creative Programming Award for his repertoire philosophy and programming. Philip was named the Bethany College Gold Award recipient for 2015 and was the Winner of the Youth Choir Conducting Division for The American Prize 2016. Philip is an active clinician and professionally affiliated with ACDA and NAfME.
In February 2019, Philip conducted the ACYC Treble Singers at the National ACDA Conference in Kansas City, MO.
Philosophy:
The Cantanti Singers, a group of SATB voices, through the study and performance of a wide variety of literature, will strive to perform choral music to the highest artistic standards. This includes works of many genres: sacred, secular, classical, pop; other cultures and works of many styles: accompanied, a cappella, major choral works, shorter motets/art songs etc. Through the intense study and performance of our art, our primary goal is to share our hearts and minds with each other and our audience, ultimately making a positive impact on the world in which we live.