Verdigris Ensemble is a dynamic and innovative choral group known for transformative performances and groundbreaking programming. Led by Artistic Director Sam Brukhman, the ensemble's 16 singers have been acclaimed as the finest professional choral voices in the area. We are dedicated to pushing the boundaries of vocal music by commissioning new works, collaborating with diverse artists and organizations, and embracing technological innovation. With a mission to create a new music movement, Verdigris Ensemble captivates audiences with powerful storytelling and the mesmerizing power of the human voice.
Last season's SHAMS marked a historic milestone in our journey to bring high-impact, diverse, and life-affirming art and artists to the region.
Verdigris Ensemble works in collaboration with leading arts and culture institutions, including TACA, Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Crow Museum of Asian Art, AT&T Performing Arts Center (ATTPAC), Dallas Contemporary Museum of Art, Arts Mission Oak Cliff (AMOC), Texas Trees Foundation, Sammons Center for the Arts, Avant Chamber Ballet, Interabang Books, Moody Performance Hall, Dallas Arts District, Pegasus Contemporary Ballet, and more.
The 2023/24 Season, entitled "Regrowth," is set to tackle diverse issues surrounding Environmental Justice here at home and beyond. With new works and commissions from local artists dominating the season, Verdigris is set to celebrate and elevate the unique voices that define our community and its needs with a focus on endangered and indigenous bird species, a historical reflection on wildflowers and how it shaped Texas' conservation conversation for generations, a return to one of Verdigris' first immersive concert experiences, and an unprecedented partnership between journalism and commissioned compositions bringing focus to West Dallas' dark history of water inequity.
By supporting Verdigris, you are:
Verdigris Ensemble’s 7th Season commences next month, with each performance telling a Texas-based story focused on both challenges and opportunities for ecological and community renewal, ultimately offering hope for the future.
Through innovative storytelling that engages multi-sensory immersive experiences, the forthcoming performance year inspires ecological awareness within Dallas’ cultural and historical relationship to its natural environment. It invites meaningful involvement in sustainable cooperation that might regenerate and preserve natural harmony in our geographical home.
We are Verdigris. Our Vision is to [transform] our world through the alchemy of stories and the power of the human voice.
Our Mission is to:
[create] a new music movement by commissioning works and incorporating various genres to tell compelling stories;
[invest] in diverse vocal musicians through music education and community infrastructure development;
[redefine] vocal music through creative programming and technological innovation.
"At Verdigris Ensemble, we recognize the systemic racial and other inequities in our society and our industry and believe it is our duty to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility for all people and to combat racism, injustice and inequality.
As we continue to have conversations both internally and within the community at large, we will aim to move forward to reach this goal in the most effective ways possible.
We make the following commitments for our organization:
We will make every effort to develop a more diverse and inclusive audience and community base. This will include enhancing our outreach throughout all segments of our community.
We will be intentional about partnering with organizations that represent BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities to bring the highest quality and most honest art, creating cultural exchange and appreciation, not appropriation.
Our programs will reflect relevant issues that bring attention to the historic and current stories and concerns of our community.
We will make efforts to program existing works by BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women composers and, wherever possible, will commission and encourage new compositions by them.
Our W. E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy residency will continue to promote a more diverse choral ecosystem in Dallas by maintaining student mentorship and music opportunities even after students graduate from the program. We will try to enhance our outreach through similar programs in other schools within our community.
We will advocate other thought-leaders to follow suit through content media and further engagement.
We realize that combating inequity requires thoughtfulness, sensitivity, and the willingness to listen and learn. We commit, as a board and as a community, to adapt our strategic planning to prioritize diversity of the Board of Directors, staff and ensemble and to constantly strive to integrate education into the fiber of our organization, to advance racial healing, equity, and diversity to learn how to most effectively address, program, and promote BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women composers, musicians, and artists."
Approved by the Verdigris Ensemble Board of Directors
December 7, 2020 (Renewed September 11, 2023)
Organization name
Verdigris Ensemble
other names
Verdigris
Causes
Arts, Culture & Humanities, Education - K-12
Operating Budget
$250,000 - $499,999
Counties Served
Dallas
Equity Statement
Equity Statement
Address
3630 Harry Hines Blvd, Box #45