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Cantus

“exalting finesse and expressive power”
— The Washington Post

 

  • Now in its 28th season, Cantus has come to prominence with its distinctive approach to creating music. Working without a conductor, the members of Cantus rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the entirety of the artistic process, creating programs that give voice to shared human experiences.

  • In the 2022-23 season, Cantus will perform Song of the Universal – a program exploring how people across time and geography experience the divine. Experiencing God is not exclusive to the historic or religious. Music, nature, and community can evoke holiness in our homes, spirituality in our surroundings, and the universal in our souls. Weaving together music and spoken word, Cantus touches on faith traditions across cultures, performing works from ancient chant by Hildegard von Bingen to Paul John Rudoi’s “Song of Sky and Sea.” Song of the Universal features a newly commissioned multi-movement work by three emerging composers: Mari Esabel Valverde, Yosvany Estepe Diaz and Mariana Sadovska that reflect on universal themes of humanity’s relationship to the great mystery: Creation, Life, and Afterlife. In Song of the Universal, Cantus offers a program simultaneously transcendent and deeply human.

  • Cantus will present their programs Song of the Universal, Alone Together, Christmas with Cantus, and My Journey Yours on tour in seventeen cities throughout the United States this season, including stops in New York, Indiana, Wisconsin, California, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Massachusetts.

  • Cantus records for the UK-based Signum Classics label which has released the popular COVID-19 Sessions and Manifesto, an album of world premiere recordings of works by Ysaÿe Barnwell, David Lang, Sydney Guillaume, Libby Larsen, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and others. In the fall of 2022, Signum releases Into the Light, the first new holiday album from Cantus in over a decade.

  • Cantus has a rich history of collaborations with other performing arts organizations, including the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Chanticleer, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Lorelei Ensemble, Theater Latté Da, and the James Sewell Ballet.

The “engaging” (The New Yorker) low-voice ensemble Cantus is widely known for its trademark warmth and blend, innovative programming and riveting performances of music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The Washington Post has hailed the Cantus sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power” and refers to the “spontaneous grace” of its music making. The Philadelphia Inquirer called the group nothing short of “exquisite.”

As one of the nation’s few full-time vocal ensembles, Cantus has come to prominence with its distinctive approach to creating music. Working without a conductor, the members of Cantus rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the entirety of the artistic process, creating programs that give voice to shared human experiences. As the Star Tribune has written, “The main hallmark of the Cantus sound has always been sheer quality and an unbroken belief in the special way that vocal music has of warming and invigorating the human spirit.”

Cantus enjoys a vigorous schedule of national and international touring, in addition to home concerts in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Cantus has performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, UCLA, San Francisco Performances, Tanglewood and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Cantus also makes all of their home concerts available online. This pandemic-prompted innovation has brought the ensemble’s programs to audiences spanning 50 states and ten countries.

  • Their 2023-24 season includes performances of Brave – a program examining what it means to identify as a man in a society that prizes conformity over personal authenticity. With works by composers from Fanny Mendelssohn to Sara Bareilles, Brave takes a nuanced look at evolving ideas of masculinity. The program also includes works by contemporary innovators like Mari Esabel Valverde and Sydney Guillaume, as well as a new multi-movement work by Griffin Candey. Other touring programs include A New World, a program celebrating the relationships of Antonín Dvořák and Leoš Janáček and two generations later American composer Margaret Bonds and poet Langston Hughes, and their holiday program Christmas with Cantus: Three Tales of Christmas. Upcoming performances include ones at Spivey Hall, Samford University, and the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ.

    Cantus records for the UK-based Signum Classics label which has released the popular COVID-19 Sessions and Manifesto, an album of world premiere recordings of works by Ysaÿe Barnwell, David Lang, Sydney Guillaume, Libby Larsen, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and others. In the fall of 2022, Signum releases Into the Light, the first new Holiday album from Cantus in over a decade. Cantus also has a deep catalog of recordings released on the group’s eponymous label.

    Committed to the expansion of the vocal music repertoire, Cantus actively commissions new music and seeks to unearth rarely performed repertoire for low voices. Cantus has received commissioning grants from New Music USA, the National Endowment for the Arts, Chorus America, American Composers Forum, and Chamber Music America. In line with Cantus’ ongoing commitment to fostering new works for tenors, baritones, and basses, the ensemble has partnered with composer and former Cantus bass Timothy C. Takach and Graphite Publishing on the Cantus Choral Series, distributing Cantus’ signature arrangements and compositions for ensembles everywhere to perform and enjoy.

    Cantus has a rich history of collaborations with other performing arts organizations, including the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Chanticleer, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Lorelei Ensemble, Theater Latté Da, and the James Sewell Ballet. The ensemble is heard frequently on both classical public radio nationwide and on SiriusXM Satellite Radio

    Integral to the Cantus mission is its commitment to preserve and deepen music education in the schools. Cantus works with more than 5,000 students each year in masterclass and workshop settings across the country and has visited 31 Minnesota high schools throughout the 14-year history of its award-winning High School Residency program. Cantus also presents a Young and Emerging Composers’ Competition, to encourage the creation of new repertoire through cash prizes, a performance, recording and potential publication of winning compositions.

    OUR MISSION & VISION

    Cantus engages audiences in a meaningful music experience and ensures the future of ensemble singing by mentoring young singers and educators. Cantus was founded on the ideals of collaborative music-making: artists and staff work together to reach new levels of artistic excellence, innovation and audience engagement. Our vision is to give voice to shared human experiences.

    June 2023 – Please do not edit without permission.

Videos

Programs & Repertoire

  • PROGRAM I - BRAVE

    Leland Sateren: Do You Fear The Wind
    Griffin Candey: From Protocol, I. Self-Made
    Alice Parker: Vive l'amour
    Scott Senko: grip
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, Snake
    Griffin Candey: From Protocol, II. The Men Who Wore Lions
    Chauncey Olcott: My Wild Irish Rose
    Gwen Stefani: I'm Just A Girl
    Craig Hella Johnson: Stray Birds / I Am Like You
    Mari Esabel Valverde: Darest, O Soul
    *****
    Edvard Grieg: Brothers, Sing On!
    Timothy Takach: From Helios, VII. Mars (Love Asleep and Waiting)
    Harry and Sandra Chapin: Cat’s in the Cradle
    Griffin Candey: From Protocol, III. Prayer for the Uncertain Animal
    Sydney Guillaume: Renmen Renmen
    Fanny Mendelssohn: Lass fahren hin
    Billy Joel: Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)
    Sara Bareilles: Brave


    It takes strength to be vulnerable. It takes courage to ask for help. It takes confidence to reach out and connect. In Brave, Cantus examines what it means to identify as a man in a society that prizes conformity over personal authenticity. With works by composers from Fanny Mendelssohn to Sara Bareilles, Brave takes a nuanced look at evolving ideas of masculinity. The program also includes works by contemporary innovators like Mari Esabel Valverde and Sydney Guillaume, as well as a new multi-movement work by Griffin Candey. Join Cantus for a powerful program that asks: Are you strong enough to be sensitive?


    PROGRAM II - A NEW WORLD

    Leoš Janáček: Veni Sancte Spiritus
    Antonín Dvořák: Píseń Čecha (Song of a Czech)
    Antonín Dvořák: Hostina
    Antonín Dvořák: Pomořané
    Leoš Janáček: From 4 Male Choruses, JW IV/17, Ach, Vojna, Vojna
    Leoš Janáček: Ave Maria
    Leoš Janáček: From 3 Male Choruses, JW IV/19, Holubička
    Leoš Janáček: From 3 Male Choruses, JW IV/9, Loučení
    Leoš Janáček: From 4 Male Choruses, JW IV/17, Ó Lásko
    Antonín Dvořák; arr. Diane Loomer: Goin' Home
    Traditional Spiritual; arr. H.T. Burleigh: Ezekiel Saw de Wheel
    *****
    Florence Price: Resignation
    Florence Price: Nod
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, Heaven
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, Snail
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, Big Sur
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, Moonlight Night: Carmel
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, Snake
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, New Moon
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, Birth
    Traditional Spiritual; arr. H.T. Burleigh: Deep River


    Czech composers Antonín Dvořák and Leoš Janáček maintained regular correspondence even after Dvořák moved to America. Two generations later, American composer Margaret Bonds and poet Langston Hughes established a strong friendship and artistic collaboration. Cantus celebrates these relationships and exchanges of ideas in A New World, which highlights rarely heard works by Dvořák and Janáček alongside Fields of Wonder, Bonds' recently rediscovered low-voice setting of Hughes' poetry.


    PROGRAM III - CHRISTMAS WITH CANTUS: THREE TALES OF CHRISTMAS

    English Traditional: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
    Abbie Betinis: The Mirthful Heart
    Dale Trombore: Threads of Joy
    English Traditional: Wassail
    David Dickau: Love Came Down at Christmas
    Ralph Blane and Hugo Martin; arr. Stacey Gibbs: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
    César Carrillo: Salve Regina
    G.F. Handel: Joy to the World
    Paul Williams: Thankful Heart
    *****
    Hal Moore and Bill Fredricks; arr. Jon Nicholas: Must Be Santa
    Christopher Harris: Hanalei Moon
    Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, arr. Justin Ka'upu: Palehua
    Na Leo Pilimehana: Kana Kaloka (Here Comes Santa Claus)
    Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg; perf. Braddah Iz; arr. Justin Ka'upu: Over the Rainbow


    In Christmas with Cantus, Cantus weaves together three holiday stories with time-honored carols and new classics. Blending narration and song, the program features Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and “The Hawai’i Snowman” by Christine Lê, alongside Mark Twain’s “A Letter from Santa Claus”, offering an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and joy of the holiday season. Join Cantus for its beloved holiday programming that the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune deemed "as joyful a celebration of the season's spirit as any caroling party you're likely to attend this year."

  • PROGRAM I – WANTING MEMORIES (FALL 2024)*
    Ysaÿe M. Barnwell: Wanting Memories
    Bob Thiele and George David Weiss: What a Wonderful World
    Tim Minchin: From Matilda, When I Grow Up
    Christopher H. Harris: I Would Live in Your Love
    A.R. Rahman (arr. Ethan Sperry): Wedding Qawwali
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, Moonlight Night: Carmel
    Hugo Alvén: Aftonen
    Traditional Russian folk song (arr. Tatiana Khurgel): Ach, ti steepe shirokaya
    Mariana Sadovska: The Gates
    *****
    Richard Strauss: Traumlicht
    Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe: From Gigi, I Remember It Well
    Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal: I'll Be Seeing You
    Sydney Guillaume: Gagot
    Stevie Nicks: Landslide
    Dolly Parton: Light of a Clear Blue Morning
    Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg: Over the Rainbow

    Why is it that we can recall the lyrics and melody of a song from our childhood, but we struggle to find our keys in the morning, or find ourselves unable to remember peoples’ names? Time and age can cause organized memories to gradually become a maze of fragments, but music often remains the one thing that helps us to remember who we are. As our memories fade, and life is transfigured for everyone around us, is music the final conduit for our memories, and the final connection to our past? In Wanting Memories, Cantus presents a multimedia show, exploring the unique and enduring relationship between music and memory in all of our lives. Through selections that include timeless tunes like "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World", and anchored by Ysaÿe M. Barnwell’s "Wanting Memories", this performance traverses the realms of nostalgia and family, loss and love, grief, laughter, fear and hope.

    PROGRAM II – FIELDS OF WONDER (FALL 2024)*
    Jean Cras: Dans la montagne
    L’appel de la cloche
    La Route
    Une jeune sapin se balance
    Soir
    Nuit
    Gavin Bryars: Edward Morgen Sonnets, Vol. II
    Post-Glacial
    Golden Age
    The Mirror
    Melissa Dunphy: N-400 Erasure Songs
    Form N-400 Erasures
    N-400 (an erasure)
    change [y]our country
    *****
    Griffin Candey: Protocol
    Self-Made
    The Men Who Wore Lions
    Prayer for the Uncertain Animal
    Margaret Bonds: Fields of Wonder
    Heaven
    Snail
    Big Sur
    Moonlight Night: Carmel
    Snake
    New Moon
    Birth

    Any personal change can appear trivial on the surface. Whether it’s the daily dedication of beating addiction or the effort invested to learn a new language, every meaningful journey requires hard work and struggle. In that spirit, Cantus offers a celebration of reinvention in Fields of Wonder, the concert version of their newly-released album featuring world-premiere, multi-movement works.

    Composed of five cycles of poetry from around the globe, each work reflects the challenges and joys inherent in the process of meaningful change — the struggle to find a new home, reflected in Melissa Dunphy’s gripping N-400 Erasure Songs, a re-examination of one’s own masculinity in Griffin Candey’s uncompromising Protocol, or discovering one’s identity in the raw, natural beauty of the Pacific Coast in Margaret Bond’s newly-rediscovered Fields of Wonder. Join Cantus for an evening of new and deeply moving music that seeks to engage, inspire, and transform.

    PROGRAM III – CHRISTMAS WITH CANTUS: LESSONS AND CAROLS FOR OUR TIME*
    Traditional French (arr. Saunder Choi): Angels We Have Heard on High
    Traditional Spiritual (arr. Marvin Curtis): Go Tell It on the Mountain
    John Duggan: O Babe, born bare
    Nikolai Kedroff Sr. (arr. Vladamir Morosan): Otche Nash
    Noël Regney, Gloria Shayne: Do You Hear What I Hear?
    Alexander Nishibun: The Oxen
    Hildegard von Bingen (arr. Chris Foss): Frondens Virga
    Mitchel Grassi, Scott Hoying, Audra Mae: Light in the Hallway
    Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman: Feed the Birds
    Kathleen Allan: The Close and Holy Darkness
    *****
    Traditional: Alilo
    Kim Gannon, Walter Kent: I’ll Be Home for Christmas
    Traditional (arr. Cantus): Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
    Dale Trumbore: Threads of Joy
    Ysaÿe M. Barnwell: Would You Harbor Me
    Sara Bareilles: Love Is Christmas
    Mari Esabel Valverde: Darest, O Soul
    Richard Strauss: Traumlicht
    Adam Jacob Simon: nunc dimittis
    Linda Kachelmeier: We Toast the Days
    Christian Onyeji: Amuworo ayi otu nwa

    Christmas with Cantus: Lessons and Carols for Our Time offers a modern reinterpretation of a timeless tradition. Blending poetry with sacred and secular song, Cantus reimagines the beloved format of Nine Lessons and Carols made famous by the Choir of King’s College at the University of Cambridge. With characteristic warmth and virtuosity, the low-voice ensemble weaves together such Christmas favorites as “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen'' and Saunder Choi’s incomparable setting of “Angels We Have Heard on High,” alongside signature arrangements of Sara Bareilles’ gently lilting “Love Is Christmas” and Pentatonix’s “Light in the Hallway.” The result is a nuanced program that speaks to modern audiences and spans a range of cultures and contexts, from 12th-century chant by Hildegard von Bingen to Christian Onyeji’s thrilling “Amuworo ayi otu nwa”. In Lessons and Carols for Our Time, Cantus offers an intricately crafted program that both celebrates tradition and speaks to the moment.

    PROGRAM IV – MY CANTUS VALENTINE (SPRING 2025)*
    Christopher H. Harris: I Would Live in Your Love
    Margaret Bonds: From Fields of Wonder, New Moon
    Christopher H. Harris: Hanalei Moon
    Smokey Robinson, Ronald White: My Girl
    Berry Gordy Jr.: Do You Love Me
    Joni Mitchell: River
    Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal: I’ll Be Seeing You
    Lykke Li: Unrequited Love
    Stevie Nicks: Landslide
    Sam Phillips: Where Is Love Now
    Bob Thiele, George David Weiss: What a Wonderful World
    John Lennon, Paul McCartney: When I'm 64
    Freddy Mercury (arr. Kohl Kitzmiller): Crazy Little Thing Called Love
    Consuelo Velázquez: Besame Mucho
    Jimmy Van Heusen: But Beautiful
    Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg: Over the Rainbow

    *Program orders and repertoire are subject to change.

  • PROGRAM I – LAND THAT I LOVE (FALL 2025)*
    Jean Sibelius: Finlandia
    Saunder Choi: Leron, Leron, Sinta
    Moises Simons; arr. Yosvany Estepe Diaz: El Manisero
    María Grever; arr. Raul Dominguez: Tipitin
    Tania León: La Guitarra from Rimas Tropicales
    Renee Esmail: TaReKiTa
    Zhou Tian: Fortuitousness from Trade Winds
    Chen Yi: Fengyang Song
    Carlos Cordero: Lejanas Voces
    Gloria Estefan: Mi Tierra
    *****
    Gaby Moreno: Ave que Emigra
    Melissa Dunphy: N-400 (an erasure) from N-400 Erasure Songs
    Regina Spektor: Us
    Vincent Ford; made famous by Bob Marley: Positive Vibration

    In commemoration of the United States’ Semiquincentennial, Cantus offers Land that I Love – a concert program exploring what it means to celebrate a national identity encompassing cultures from around the globe. Alongside our Indigenous peoples, we are a nation of immigrants. Land that I Love honors that diversity with captivating music by composers carrying their own immigrant stories. These composers are as wide-ranging and multi-faceted as the music they create, from Saunder Choi and Chen Yi to Gloria Estefan and Bob Marley. “A nation’s culture resides within the hearts and in the soul of its people” (M. Gandhi), and there can be no clearer means to express that collective heart and soul than through music.

    PROGRAM II – MOUNTAIN NIGHTS (FALL 2025)*
    Zoltán Kodály: Mountain Nights: I
    Veljo Tormis: Vastlalaulud: I. Vistel-vastel
    Zoltán Kodály: Mountain Nights: II
    Veljo Tormis: Vastlalaulud: III. Liulaskmise-laud
    Zoltán Kodály: Mountain Nights: III
    Veljo Tormis: Vastlalaulud: II. Lina loitsimine
    J.M. Førde: Bruremarsj
    Chen Yi: Chinese Mountain Songs
    Korean trad.; arr. Mark Templeton: Arirang
    *****
    Zoltán Kodály: Mountain Nights: IV
    Toru Takemitsu: Wind Horse: III. Vocalise II
    Zachary Wadsworth: Future Folk Songs: Mountain Song
    Zoltán Kodály: Mountain Nights: V
    Heitor Villa-Lobos: Chôros: III (Pica-pau)
    Gabriela Lena Frank: Two Mountain Songs: I. Envuelto por el Viento
    Gabriela Lena Frank: Two Mountain Songs: II. Picaflor
    Chris Foss: Fiddle Tune

    As sources of inspiration, challenge, and wonder, mountains have shaped human civilization as much as they’ve shaped our geography. In a program that showcases works by Zoltán Kodály, Chen Yi, and Gabriela Lena Frank, Cantus explores the far-ranging music of expansive skies and breathtaking summits.

    PROGRAM III – CHRISTMAS WITH CANTUS: THREE TALES OF CHRISTMAS*
    Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson; arr. Jay Giallombardo: Christmas Time Is Here from A Charlie Brown Christmas
    Paul John Rudoi: How You Are Made
    Mitchel Grassi, Scott Hoying, Audra Mae: Light in the Hallway
    Sam Phillips: Where Is Love Now
    Eden Ahbez: Nature Boy
    Traditional; arr. Alice Parker: O Tannenbaum
    Traditional; arr. Aaron Humble: Still, Still, Still
    Joni Mitchell: The Circle Game
    Billy Hill: The Glory of Love
    *****
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Overture and March from The Nutcracker
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Russian Dance from The Nutcracker
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Arabian & Chinese Dances from The Nutcracker
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Reed-Flutes from The Nutcracker
    Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker
    Jay Livingston, Ray Evans: Silver Bells
    Traditional Taiwanese; arr. Chien Shan-Hua: diu diu dang a
    Alan Silvestri: Spirit of the Season
    Loreena McKennit: The Bells of Christmas
    J.M. Førde: Bruremarsj
    Alan Silvestri: Believe

    In Christmas with Cantus, Cantus weaves together three holiday stories with time-honored carols and new classics. Blending narration and song, the program features Margery Williams’ “The Velveteen Rabbit” and “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg, alongside an abridged romp through “The Nutcracker” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, offering an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and joy of the holiday season. Join Cantus for its beloved holiday programming that the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune deemed "as joyful a celebration of the season's spirit as any caroling party you're likely to attend this year."