Arts Empowering Life

Arts Empowering Life (AEL) is a nonprofit foundation from Cape Cod, MA, dedicated to the pursuit of beauty, truth, and faith in the Arts, sharing inspiration and education with peoples across many nationalities, cultures, and traditions. Through the centuries, the arts have been a guiding light for mankind, elevating their thinking and bringing joy and inspiration to the world. Arts Empowering Life continues this mission, bringing beauty and truth to a hurting world, crossing barriers, and offering hope through the language of music and the arts.

AEL is the parent organization for seven performing ensembles: Gloriæ Dei Cantores, Gabriel V Brass Ensemble, Creare Symphonia, Spirit of America Band, Elements Theatre Company, Chara Percussion, and Gaudete Baroque Ensemble, as well as the Mount Tabor Ecumenical Centre based in Italy. For over forty years, the resident ensembles of Arts Empowering Life have toured across the globe performing at the highest levels, leading workshops, and fostering cultural exchange. Close to the heart of the mission is a passion for inspiring and educating youth in the Arts, sharing the joy of music and the performing arts, and offering them outlets for creativity, growth, and exploration.

With over seventy different events hosted annually, Arts Empowering life offers an exciting array of programming at home on Cape Cod, both at the “architectural wonder” (Cape Cod Travel Guide) of the Church of the Transfiguration in Orleans, as well as the new state-of-the-art AEL Performing Arts Center in Brewster. Described as a “beacon of possibility” (Cape Cod Life), this new center provides a vibrant space for education, inspirational work, rehearsals, performances, and community engagement. The Center expands AEL’s educational offerings and community outreach, including these:

• Arts Speak: Engaging Arts & Entertainment Lectures
• Guest Artist Concert Series
• Artist Retreats and Residencies
• Master classes and Workshops
• Youth Outreach: Free concerts, summer camps, and ticket access
• Outer Cape Winds: Community Band for all ages

Through these initiatives, AEL deepens its commitment to enriching lives through the arts, cultivating creativity, and building community.

Arts Empowering Life’s founding ensemble, Gloriæ Dei Cantores, has toured 23 countries: Albania, Belgium, Bermuda, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia/Siberia, Scotland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Wales, and across the United States, performing sacred music from Gregorian chant to the 21st century.

Under the batons of Richard K. Pugsley and Director Emeritus Elizabeth Patterson, they have sung in churches and concert halls across the globe, including notable venues such as New York City’s Town Hall, Rockefeller Center, and St. Thomas Cathedral; Boston’s Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall; Crystal Cathedral (CA); Saint John Smith Square and Westminster Abbey in England; Glasgow Cathedral in Scotland; the Siena Cathedral, San Marco, and the Florence Baptistry in Italy; in Russia, the Great Hall of Columns, Kapella Hall, Conservatory Hall, and Tchaikovsky Hall, among others.

They have studied with renowned scholars including Dr. Stephen Cleobury, Dr. George Guest, Margaret Hillis, Dr. Mary Berry, Professor Achai, Vladimir Minin; they studied Byzantine chant at the Greek Orthodox Academy in Crete; and they studied with renowned vocal pedagogist Richard Miller.

Performance highlights include three invitational tours to Russia; opening the 900th anniversary of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy; live radio and television broadcasts with the BBC; film soundtracks; the tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Plaza; and mounting the New England Premiere of Vaughan Williams’s opera, The Pilgrim’s Progress. They have received honors including American Prize Awards and reaching #5 on the Classical Billboard Charts. Collaborations with artists have included John Williams; 10 tours with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops; a US tour with Philippe Entremont and the Munich Symphony; and work with American composers including Samuel Adler, Dominick Argento, Mark O’Connor, and others. Their discography of over fifty albums now reaches millions each year in over 150 countries.

Gabriel V Brass Ensemble presents fanfare and chamber music from the Renaissance to modern works, including jazz and holiday selections. They have toured to 49 of the 50 states, and to 23 countries alongside the choir, including to the UK, Europe, and Russia, and by invitation performed works by Gabrieli with the choir for the 900th anniversary celebration of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy. Known for their “gorgeous sounds and the power of faith” (Fanfare), their recordings have received critical acclaim.

Creare Symphonia, AEL’s resident orchestra (formerly Vox Caeli Symphonia), performs major classical works and collaborates closely with Gloriæ Dei Cantores. Performances with the choir have included Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Requiems by Brahms and Mozart, J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and fully staged performances of Handel’s Saul, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.

The ensemble has been praised for “gorgeous music… played beautifully” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). They can be heard on a number of albums with Gloriæ Dei Cantores, including Mozart: Rare Choral Works, hailed as “finely executed, energetic, vibrant…” with an “…equally dynamic and tightly knit orchestral accompaniment” (Classics Today).

Spirit of America Band has inspired audiences from across the US to Australia, Canada, South Korea, and South Africa with its dynamic performances and outreach. They have taken the streets, stadiums, and stages, offering high-energy performances to stadiums full of people, conducting workshops with students in music and marching, and uplifting thousands along parade routes across the nation with the sounds of patriotism. They have brought field shows of music and marching to stadiums and American military bases across the globe, and to a competitive world Championship arena, placing Second in Calgary, Canada, in 2000 and First in Jeju, South Korea, in 2006. The band pioneered a unique and new performance genre to share with the youths of South Korea and South Africa—Instrumental Theatre: In Motion!, a fully staged and costumed production with each character speaking through their instruments.

Paramount to the ethos of Spirit of America is the gift of sharing enthusiasm for the Arts with students they meet, encouraging young people to stretch beyond their reach, discover a new world of personal and corporate pride, and gain friends along the way.

The band has had numerous divisions over its 45-year history including a Marching Band, Field Band, Wind Ensemble, Fife & Drum corps, and an indoor competitive Winter Percussion Ensemble. They worked with the renowned Ray Cramer, President of the American Bandmasters Association, for the album Call to Freedom: The Music of a Great Nation. Additional performance highlights include Parliament House in Sydney; Inkamana Abbey, Umlazi Stadium, and Mandela Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa; Daegu and Seoul Opera Houses, and Olympic Stadium in South Korea; performing for heads of state in Washington, DC, performances at Gillette and Giants Stadiums, and on Boston Common, as well as countless performances and workshops at schools and Hole in the Wall Gang Camps.

Spirit Winter Percussion provided youth ages 10–22 a dynamic creative outlet in the competitive world of indoor percussion. WGI, the “Sport of the Arts,” is a growing activity that combines music, marching, dance, and theatre, in an explosively energetic art form that pushes the boundaries physically, emotionally, educationally, and creatively, opening new worlds of discovery for the young people who participate. A consistent World Championship finalist and medaling in eight out of fifteen seasons, the group was lauded for their innovation and impact to the activity. In addition to teaching the rudiments of music and marching, the experience at Spirit offered young people a place to develop essential life skills of leadership, teamwork, discipline, empathy, and respect.

Chara Percussion Ensemble (Greek for “finding joy despite circumstances”) evolved from Spirit Winter Percussion and now brings expressive percussion works—from classical transcriptions for keyboard percussion, to contemporary works—to diverse audiences at a professional level.

Members of Chara have performed globally with AEL ensembles and other world-class organizations, and in venues ranging from stadiums to concert halls, churches, and theatres. They have taught workshops and hands-on clinics for students of all ages. Performance venues range from concert halls and museums to orphanages and special-needs schools, with a mission to inspire joy and hope, especially to the youth of America.

Elements Theatre Company is known for stirring minds and hearts through performances of classical and modern works. The Company’s commitment to the integrity of language and context, devotion to the transformative work for each actor to become the text, and courage to explore the scope of humanity in all its horror, loveliness, and humor, has resulted in high acclaim for their performance authenticity and honesty.

The company has performed in the US and abroad, with tours to Italy and major US cities. Productions have included King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, The Cherry Orchard, and original mystery plays in Latin. Their Arts in Conversation series engages leaders across disciplines in dialogue on the power of the arts to shape culture.

Gaudete Baroque Ensemble performs authentic Baroque chamber music using period instruments and bows, celebrating the joy of this rich musical era in both worship and concert. Their repertoire spans music of the royal courts to rustic folk dances, and they regularly engage youth in AEL’s educational programs.

Impact Around the World

Arts Empowering Life touches lives across the globe. (Click on a pin to find out more)