Episode 127: Philip Brunelle, artistic director of VocalEssence, leads Kristina

The musical Kristina is based on a series of four novels by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg detailing a family's poverty-driven migration from Sweden to America in the mid-19th century.  On October 12, 1996, a concert version with the original cast was presented, in Swedish, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as an opening event of the Plymouth Music Series  (now Vocal Essence) 1996–1997 season in Orchestra Hall, and the next day in Chisago Lakes High School in Lindstrom, Minnesota – the area where much of the events in Moberg's books took place and where the statue of the books' two main characters stands on the main street of the town.  In this episode, Philip discusses this milestone in the history of VocalEssence