St. Thomas hired Albert Pinsonneault as the interim director of choral activities at St. Thomas for the 2019-20 school year, replacing Angela Broeker, who left last spring after 20 years in the position to pursue other opportunities in Washington State.

The responsibilities of the director of choirs include teaching Chamber Singers and Concert Choir and working with Festival Choir, the combination of all the student singers that want to participate.

“He really is very similar to Dr. Broeker in the sense that he seems driven by his values and really wants us to do the same,” said Ben Levandowski, a junior concert choir member.

Pinsonneault applied for the job because he grew up in St. Paul and had been “keeping his eye open for a place in the Twin Cities.” He has made a point to “learn the culture” of St. Thomas’ choir program.

“(I want) to keep and maintain all the good work that’s been happening,” Pisonneault said.

Pisonneault graduated high school from St. Paul Academy and completed his undergraduate degree at St. Olaf. He has a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and completed his doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

Most recently, he spent six years at Edgewood College in Madison where he was director of the college choir.

“It’s the same kind of vibe where you have all kinds of students,” Pisonneault said.

Madison acts as a home base for Pisonneault. He travels back and forth from him and his wife’s home in Wisconsin to St. Paul a few times a week.

The dedication to being a director has been a constant in Pisonneault’s career. He also did a long-distance commute while he was associate director of choral organizations at Northwestern University for four years.

The concert and chamber choir’s first concert will be on Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas.

“We’re doing music by a bunch of leading, living composers, which is pretty cool,” Pinsonneault said. “It’s gonna be fun; it’s pretty meditative music.”

Pinsonneault hopes the concert music will provoke a sense of inner peace for audience members. He said the concert is “based on the theme of what’s called ‘The Fruit of Silence,’ which is a text by Mother Teresa, which basically says we need to cultivate silence in our lives in order to find our inner peace.”

Burke Spizale can be reached at spiz8477@stthomas.edu.
Abby Sliva contributed to this report.