January 22, 2023, will be the final concert for Artistic Director Jane Ramseyer Miller!

In her 27^th year conducting One Voice Mixed Chorus, Jane Ramseyer Miller is retiring from her role as Artistic Director.  “Jane has been the driving force behind One Voice's creative programming and the organization’s commitment to social justice and we are grateful for her longevity, vision, and leadership,” stated Earl Moore, One Voice board chair.

Jane’s tenure with One Voice began in 1995 with an organizational budget of $16,000 and 50 singers. In her nearly three decades with the chorus, the organization has grown to include 4.5 staff, a nearly half million-dollar budget, 50 Fifth-Section volunteers, and now caps singing membership at 125 singers. 

“When I started with One Voice, I barely knew what I was doing. This chorus has shaped me as much as I have shaped them,” notes Jane. Indeed, in the late 90s Jane programmed her first set of concerts in schools, but she notes that the idea came from One Voice singers. It was exciting and terrifying to sing in a school 25 years ago and have no idea how an LGBTQ chorus would be received. Those school collaborations soon grew into One Voice’s pioneering OUT In Our Schools program. 

Under her leadership, One Voice also began an annual fall tour that has taken the chorus to over 70 communities in greater Minnesota. Singing in places where we are uncomfortable, became a mantra as well as a touchstone to the chorus’ mission of “building community and creating social change by raising our voices in song”. 

In the early 2000’s Jane was approached by transgender singers in One Voice who were experiencing voice transitions. With virtually no expertise in the choral world to draw on, she collaborated with transgender activists and voice coaches to produce the ground-breaking 2004 Transgender Voices Festival.

Jane’s concert programs are recognized by choruses nation-wide as vibrant, edgy and passionate. She was the recipient of VocalEssence’s Creative Programming Award in 2010 and again this fall 2022. “One Voice singers have been hugely influential in my programming,” remarks Jane. “I have worked with music committee members who unearthed music that I would have never discovered.”

Commissioning has been a hallmark of the Jane’s legacy. She has commissioned nearly 40 new choral pieces including a multi-movement work honoring Bayard Rustin, and the world’s first composition for choir and Taiko drums–When Thunder Comes by Mari Esabel Valverde. Mari notes, "Jane believed in me early on and commissioned two pieces for One Voice; I look back at that moment as the official launch of my career. One of those pieces, When Thunder Comes has become my single most performed work, including over 100 performances across the world in just 5 years."

While the pandemic struck a blow to choruses world-wide, Jane found creative ways to keep One Voice active through weekly Zoom events, a Sound Mind Podcast, and producing a choral film ReMembering: Singing Water. 

“When asked what has kept me conducting this chorus, the answer is always the same: I am awed and inspired by the passion and bravery of the people of One Voice. In this role, I have been given the freedom to explore topics that challenge the status quo, collaborations with dozens of community partners, and have designed concerts where singers memorized songs in 10 languages! And singers step up, giving their voices and hearts to the message that is One Voice. I am also hugely grateful to every One Voice staff person who has worked alongside me over the past three decades.”  

What is next for her career? “My first project is to conduct a North American GALA Chorus to sing at an LGBTQ Choral Festival in Australia, and then full steam ahead to plan GALA Choruses’ 2024 quadrennial Festival.” Planned for Minneapolis, the event is expected to host 7,000 LGBTQ singers from across the world. Jane serves as Artistic Director for GALA Choruses and for the upcoming festival. 

Executive Director Mitch Fantin notes, “Jane has been the driving force behind One Voice’s powerful programming, groundbreaking commissions, and commitment to sharing stories that are often overlooked or go untold. Equally important has been her vision and leadership offstage. She has guided the organization with unwavering purpose during critical periods and embedded social justice into the One Voice ethos.”

One Voice is launching a nation-wide search for a new Artistic Director and will hire an Interim Conductor for the chorus’ spring concerts. Jane’s last concerts with One Voice Mixed Chorus are scheduled for January 21 and 22, 2023 with a farewell concert at the Ordway Concert Hall in Saint Paul. 

Dear friends,

Last week One Voice launched its 34^th season with rehearsals for Generation, a concert exploring intergenerational relationships in the LGBTQ community and how the arc of change over time has shaped them. Exploring how change is simultaneously challenging and generative is particularly relevant for One Voice this year, in more ways than one.

After 27 years conducting One Voice Mixed Chorus, Jane Ramseyer Miller has decided to retire from her role as Artistic Director after our January 2023 concerts. To say we will miss her is an enormous understatement.

For nearly three decades Jane has been the driving force behind One Voice’s powerful programming, groundbreaking commissions, and commitment to sharing stories that are often overlooked or go untold. Equally important, though, has been her vision and leadership offstage. Jane has shouldered responsibilities unknown to most and far outside any Artistic Director’s job description. She has guided the organization with unwavering purpose during critical periods and embedded social justice into the One Voice ethos.

Jane’s tenure with One Voice began in 1995. Back then she was the only paid staff member, running on an annual budget of $16,000, and conducting 50 singers. Since then, the organization has grown to include four paid staff members, a nearly half-million-dollar budget, 125 singers, youth programs, local and international tours, and countless community collaborations.

As incredible as these milestones are, they do not come close to capturing the personal and transformational impact Jane has had and continues to have in many of our lives and throughout the communities we serve. It is, quite frankly, hard to imagine One Voice without her.

The truth is, there would never be a right time to learn of Jane’s decision to retire. And while news of her departure evokes personal sadness, I’m also happy that she is choosing to leave at a time that is right for her.

This transition will involve significant change and, understandably, there will be many questions along the way. But I am confident that together we can meet the moment and co-create a dynamic future in a way that honors Jane’s legacy and makes her proud. In addition to preparing for her final concerts as Artistic Director, Jane will be a key partner in the transition process in the months ahead.

More information and updates on the process are forthcoming and there will be several opportunities in the months ahead to celebrate and reflect on the incredible impact Jane has had on us and the many ways she has advanced our mission of building community and creating social change by raising our voices in song.

For now, I hope you will join me in embracing Jane’s decision and, more importantly, to say a hearty and heartfelt thank you.

Yours in song and community,
Mitch

Mitch Fantin
Executive Director
executivedirector@onevoicemn.org