Byrd & Bells: an Eventide Holy Communion
Cantores are singing William Byrds Mass for Four Voices as part of a service of Eventide Communion at All Saints Church, Turkdean, at 6:30pm on Sunday 19th November 2023 to celebrate the return of Turkdean’s Bells.
All Saints is a beautiful 12th Century Norman church with a superb acoustic in a small village originally settled by the Romans. The Parish is now part of the Northleach Benefice and serves its loyal congregation with a traditional monthly service based on the Book of Common Prayer and with a growing musical and choral reputation.
The Service will be celebrated as a traditional BCP communion and led by Rev Gary Grady and Rev Alycia Timmis. There will be generous refreshments served in the Nave after the service.
Tickets (£15 donation suggested) can be obtained here
Ocean of Light: A Choral Celebration
Gorgeous choral music from the combined voices of Cantores Chamber Choir directed by Simon Harper and Wiltshire-based Cantamus Chamber Choir directed by Mike Daniels. The first half of the concert features performances by each choir, with Cantores presenting a set of pieces on the theme of music and singing: sacred and secular repertoire by Byrd, Monteverdi, Palestrina and Lassus, alongside partsongs by Finzi, Vaughan Williams and Skempton, exploring the beauty and joy of music and song. In the second half of the programme, the combined choral forces present a set of British music, including Stanford’s Three Motets, and anthems by Howells, Bairstow and Dove. The organist is Steven Hollas.
Saturday 14 October 2023 at St Matthew’s Church, Cheltenham (7:30pm) tickets
Sunday 15 October 2023 at Holy Trinity Church, Bradford on Avon (4pm) tickets
Tickets £15. U18 + students £5. Available from wiltshiremusic.org.uk using the ticket links above.
Abendlied
Cantores Chamber Choir, directed by Simon Harper and accompanied by organist Warwick Cole, presents a programme of Baroque and Romantic music by Schütz, Bach, Bruckner, Brahms and Rheinberger. Organist and composer Josef Rheinberger was born in Liechtenstein but spent most of his life in Bavaria, and the central work of the programme is his sumptuous Mass for Double Choir in E flat, and the programme will conclude with his glorious six-part anthem Abendlied. The concert will open with J.S. Bach’s motet ‘O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht’, based on a chorale melody, followed by three motets by Heinrich Schütz, who was regarded as the most important German composer before Bach. The programme will also feature four motets by Austrian organist and composer Anton Bruckner, and two pieces by Johannes Brahms, including his exquisite setting of words by the 16th Century poet Paul Flemming, ‘Geistliches Lied’.
Saturday 1 July 2023 at Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton (7:30pm)
Tickets £15 to include a programme. U18s free. Book online here or call Andrew on 07800 737078. U18s free – they don’t need a ticket.
As the year turns
Cantores Chamber Choir directed by Simon Harper presents an eclectic programme of music and readings on the theme of nature and the seasons, encompassing a broad spectrum of choral music from one of the earliest examples of polyphony to very recent compositions and arrangements. The entirely a cappella programme is bookended by classic English partsongs, opening with Finzi’s I praise the tender flower from his settings of texts by Robert Bridges, and concluding with Britten’s Five Flower Songs. The programme will also feature a varied selection of music reflecting each season, including pieces by Brahms, Othmayr, Morley, and movements from Hindemith’s Six Chansons and Moeran’s Songs of Springtime.
11 March 2023 at St Sampson’s Church, Cricklade (7:30pm) tickets
18 March 2023 at Church of St Peter & St Paul, Northleach (7:30pm) tickets
Tickets £15 to include a programme. Book online using the ticket links above or call Andrew on 07800 737078. U18s free – they do not require a ticket.
Severn Meadows
Music inspired by Gloucestershire
Programme to include:
Mass in G Minor Vaughan Williams
Requiem Howells
Severn Meadows Kerensa Briggs (commission)
Cantores Chamber Choir directed by Simon Harper presents a programme of Gloucestershire-themed music. In the 150th anniversary year of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth in the Cotswolds village of Down Ampney, we perform his resplendent Mass in G minor, scored for double-choir and solo quartet. Greatly influenced by the works of Vaughan Williams was Lydney-born Herbert Howells, and we perform his sublime setting of the Requiem, inspired by the glorious architecture and immense luminous vaulted spaces of Gloucester Cathedral, where Howells first began music lessons with the organist Herbert Brewer, alongside his close friend Ivor Gurney. It is Gurney’s profound love of the Gloucestershire countryside which completes our programme: Cantores is delighted to have commissioned a new work by Kerensa Briggs, a composer very much associated with Gloucester – Severn Meadows is a setting of Gurney’s famous poem, and pays homage to his musical setting of his own words.
12 November 2022 at St Mary’s Church Prestbury (7:30pm) tickets
19 November 2022 at Cirencester Parish Church (7:30pm) tickets
Tickets £15, to include a programme. U18s free – they do not require a ticket. Click here to book online or call Andrew on 07800 737078.
Image (c) 2016-2022 SuxxesPhoto
Cantores is 30!
Cantores Chamber Choir Choir formed in 1991 celebrated a belated birthday party at the GWSR at Winchcombe, with a steam train ride to Broadway.
Mystical Songs
Duruflé Requiem
Bernstein Chichester Psalms
Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs.
Cantores Chamber Choir and professional orchestra Central England Camerata collaborate to perform an exciting programme of 20th Century choral masterpieces. We celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams in a performance of his Five Mystical Songs, settings of texts by the 17th century priest and poet George Herbert, in a new chamber orchestration by Edward Pullin. This year also marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of French composer Maurice Duruflé, and we perform his exquisite reflective setting of the Requiem, inspired by the beauty and simplicity of Gregorian chant. The programme is completed with Leonard Bernstein’s colourful and dramatic Chichester Psalms, composed for the 1965 music festival at Chichester Cathedral, setting the texts of various psalms in Hebrew, in a three-movement work. The choir and orchestra will be joined by soloists Charlotte Sleet (mezzo soprano), Matthew Farrell (countertenor) and Robert Pritchard (baritone), and conducted by Simon Harper.
Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton
Saturday June 25th 2022, 7:30pm
Tickets £18, to include a programme, available here.
Under 18s free – no ticket required.
Choral Scholarship Scheme
Calling young singers!
Who Are We?
Cantores is a successful chamber choir based in the Cotswolds. We sing mainly a cappella, but occasionally perform with an accompanist, or an orchestra. We have a broad repertoire covering five hundred years of music, enjoying everything from Tudor Anthems to recent pieces from local composers, including our own commissions.
In an effort to support young singers whilst broadening our membership, we are excited to launch our choral scholarship scheme.
We invite all aspiring young singers (aged 16 – 22) to audition for a place in the choir. This could be to join us just for a term, or for up to a year.
What Are The Benefits?
- Vocal skills
- Ensemble musicianship
- Sight reading skills
- Knowledge and understanding of choral repertoire
- Listening skills Performance skills
- There will also be termly opportunities to perform with the choir.
Expectations and Application Process
Cantores is funding a number of places for young people in the choir and successful singers will receive a bursary of £100 per term. In return, we expect a good level of commitment, which will include practising the pieces in between rehearsals, weekly attendance at rehearsals, and all concerts.
If you know anyone who might benefit from this opportunity, please ask them to complete the form at https://forms.gle/52f4JYx7ggbCeoyZ7.
At the Water’s Edge
Cantores Chamber Choir directed by Simon Harper presents a varied programme of a cappella music on the theme of water, exploring its natural beauty in partsongs by Elgar, Stanford, Finzi, Delius and Whitacre, as well as British folksong arrangements by Vaughan Williams, Rutter and Willcocks; the power of water’s life-giving quality in Hildegard chant and sacred motets by Cardoso, Victoria and Walton; in contrast, the association of water with death in Gibbons’ madrigal The Silver Swan, alongside Bob Chilcott’s re-working of the same piece; and the significance of water and exile in Palestrina’s motet Super flumina Babylonis and Tippett’s arrangement of the spiritual Deep River.
19 March 2022 at St Peter’s Church Leckhampton, Cheltenham (7.30pm)
26 March 2022 at St Sampson’s Church, Cricklade (7.30pm)
Buy tickets in advance for £12 (U16 free) online or from Andrew on 07800 737078
Alternatively tickets are available at the door for £15 (U16s free).
Saints and Angels
Cantores Chamber Choir, directed by Simon Harper, presents an eclectic programme of music on the theme of saints and angels, spanning many centuries. We glimpse the choirs of heaven in plainchant and motets by Lassus and Weelkes, alongside Judith Weir’s depiction of the appearance of angels in My Guardian Angel, and two exquisite double-choir anthems – Harris’ Faire is the heaven, and Holst’s Nunc dimittis. Saints Michael, Peter and Mary are celebrated in music by Victoria, Palestrina, Dering, Parsons, Rachmaninov and Tavener. At the centre of the programme are two works commemorating the patron saint of music, St Cecilia – Cantantibus organis by Tudor composer Peter Philips is paired with Bernard Rose’s glorious Feast Song for Saint Cecilia, a setting of a text by his son Gregory.
13 November 2021 at Cirencester Parish Church (7.30pm)
20 November 2021 at St Mary’s Church, Prestbury, Cheltenham (7.30pm)
Buy tickets in advance for £12 (U16 free) online or from Andrew on 07800 737078
Alternatively tickets are available at the door for £15 (U16s free).