By Justine Chahal

Daniel I. Paulson grew up with a musical family, singing since he was a child in his kindergarten classroom in Tracy. As he continued to perform in choirs, his love for choral music only grew as the years went on. 

Now, as an adult, Paulson who has lived in Sacramento for 25 years works as the choral director and founder of Vox Musica, a women’s vocal choir that has served the Sacramento community since 2006 in its own unique way by innovating and curating work that is paired with another art form that its audience would not have heard presented through choral music before. 

“We sing when words are not enough,” Paulson says. “And it’s a great way to be with each other, to share a message or to heal people, to enlighten them, to move them in some sort of way.” 

Paulson enjoys exploring the dichotomy between women’s choir and other art forms like taika drums or electronic music, he says, adding that he believes it’s important for arts organizations to reinvent themselves in some way. 

Paulson’s work as a choral director involves establishing trust between himself and the chorus. Vox Musica provides a space for chorus members to be creative and have a say, acting as co-authors in the work chosen as opposed to fostering the common master conductor-apprentice singer relationship, he says. 

Paulson also establishes trust with other artists that Vox Musica collaborates with, which is evident through its Nisenan Project. The project, originally established in 2016, is an ongoing partnership between the choir and Nisenan Tribe. It began when Paulson wanted to focus a project on the American River and, after doing some research, learned about the Nevada City Rancheria tribe. 

Paulson then reached out to Nisenan spokesperson Shelly Covert who gifted her own song about a sacred drum to the choir. The choir continued to collaborate with the Nisenan tribe and was given permission to perform their music, he says. 

“We just took really careful care about our relationship and honoring their music and telling their story was a really important part of that project,” Paulson says. “It’s a blessing and I don’t take responsibility of being gifted their music lightly.”

Whenever the songs are performed, members of the tribe are always involved, says Paulson, including Covert who is the only one allowed to sing a featured sacred mountain song. He also crafted instruments for these performances, including a bow-like instrument he fashioned out of a tree branch. 

Paulson continues to push the vocal envelope in its 19th concert season. It is currently preparing for its holiday concerts exploring the work of medieval composer Hildegard von Bingen, Paulson says Some of these performances will be performed in the Moaning Caverns. 

Paulson says he hopes that Vox Musica can find a new location to call home since it lost its previous space at Beatnik Studios, when the studio closed in 2021. He also wants to continue raising awareness of Vox Musica’s work and solidify its place in Sacramento. 

“I’m making music for people, not for myself,” Paulson says. “I do this work for our community and it’s not done selfishly.”

This story was funded by the City of Sacramento’s Arts and Creative Economy Journalism Grant to Solving Sacramento. Following our journalism code of ethics and protocols, the city had no editorial influence over this story and no city official reviewed this story before it was published. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Observer and Univision 19. Sign up for our “Sac Art Pulse” newsletter here.