Joel Rinsema,'92, has been the executive director for the Phoenix Chorale, a professional chamber choir, since 1998, and he is also one of the group's tenors. In February, the chorale took home its second Grammy award, for Best Small Ensemble Performance for its 2008 recording, Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary.
"The Grammy certainly has given us a little taste of celebrity status, which has been fun," Rinsema says. "More important, though, is the fact that when we say ‘Grammy Award Winning' to people who aren't familiar with our art or with classical music in general, it immediately creates an appreciation for what we do." He continues, "I guess we can thank Coldplay, Alison Krauss, Kanye West, U2, Justin Timberlake and the rest of the pop/rock artists for helping elevate our art because of the stamp of approval the world gives Grammy winners."
The Phoenix Chorale, formerly known as the Phoenix Bach Choir, has been nominated for a total of eight Grammys. In 2008, the chorale won Best Engineered Album: Classical, for its 2007 album, Gretchaninov: Passion Week.
Founded in 1958, the chorale originally focused on music of Renaissance and baroque style music, but it is now equally dedicated to combining the creation of new music with traditional concert literature.
Since leaving Whitworth, Rinsema has performed as tenor soloist in Mozart's Requiem and Haydn's Theresienstadt Messe, in Vienna and Eisenstadt, Austria, and also was a masterclass conductor with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. With the Phoenix Chorale, he has performed in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center - the first a cappella choral group to do so since the hall was renovated recently.
 Eric Moe, '95, performed at Carnegie Hall this spring, thanks to YouTube.
After an online audition, the trumpeter was one of 90 musicians selected from among 3,000 applicants to make up the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Participants earned an all-expenses paid trip to New York City and performed at Carnegie Hall on April 15.
"The closer it gets to the event, the more I see that this is a bigger deal than I realized," Moe said before the performance. "The glimpses I get of the people involved look like really quality, creative people, who are amazing musicians from all over the globe. I'm really humbled to be invited to perform with them."
Billed as the first collaborative music project of its kind, the YouTube orchestra includes musicians from 12 states and 30 countries.
After graduating from Whitworth, Moe won a one-year position with the Colorado Symphony and made seven recordings with the Denver Brass Group. Locally, he has performed as a substitute with the Spokane Opera, the Spokane Symphony and the Spokane Jazz Symphony.
To view the YouTube Symphony Orchestra performance, visit www.youtube.com/user/symphony.
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