About

Founded in 1992 by Artistic Director Deborah Jenkins Teske, the Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble is dedicated to traditional choral works and new, innovative programming. While remaining primarily an a cappella chamber ensemble, CVAE performs with other organizations on a regular basis. Past collaborations have included work with the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale, the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, The Denver Brass, Ormao Dance Company, and the Colorado Youth Ballet.

Dedicated to educational outreach, CVAE has shared the choral art with thousands of community members. CVAE was honored to serve a year-long appointment as Visiting Ensemble-in-Residence at Colorado College for the 2008–2009 academic year. The ensemble returned to the college again for the months of October and November, 2011, to present a collaborative concert with the Colorado College Chamber Chorus. Voice, Verse and Vision, a multimedia arts collaboration involving singers, poets, visual artists, and composers, received Chorus America’s Education Outreach Award for 2003. This prestigious award brought CVAE national recognition for a highly effective program at minimal cost. In addition, CVAE’s successful high school residency program, Gateways, mentors secondary choral programs throughout the area.

CVAE was the recipient of the Pikes Peak Arts Council’s Arts/Business/Education award for 2003, the Arts Council’s award for Best Concert by a Small Ensemble, first in 2005 for Wintersong, in 2010 for The Color of Grace, a Taylor Memorial Series concert, and most recently for Voices of Light in 2011 with the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs.

In addition to regular concert performances, CVAE has established a wide range of community outreach programs, including their popular The Mysterious Musical Machine, and the award-winning Voice, Verse, and Vision, a multimedia arts collaboration involving student poets, and professional artists and composers. A new high school residency program, The Art of Chamber Singing, allows CVAE members to serve as mentors to outstanding high school choirs in the Colorado Springs area.

Deborah Jenkins Teske
Artistic Director

is founder and artistic director of the Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble, a chamber choir of 26–30 auditioned voices with a national reputation for excellence in performance and educational outreach. She is Director of Choirs at Colorado College, where she conducts the Colorado College Choir and Chamber Chorus and teaches conducting. Ms. Teske has served as guest conductor and clinician for high school level honor choirs, and also as an adjudicator with the Heritage Music Festivals. Her opera and musical theater credits include guest conductor with the Colorado Opera Festival for productions of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and Handel’s Semele. She serves regularly as Chorus Master for Opera Theatre of the Rockies. Ms. Teske holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Pomona College and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Colorado at Boulder.