Versatility and a sense of discoveryare at the heart of Cantata Singers' 2022-23 season, 'Boundless'

New venues, a commissioned world premiere, and a side-by-side concert with students part of the season's offerings

BOSTON, MA - New England's celebrated Cantata Singers begins a new chapter in its history this fall with "Boundless." Provocative, emotional, and uplifting, the ensemble's 58th season offers new venues, ensemble premieres, an exciting commission and the debut of its seventh music director Noah Horn - all part of the ensemble's expanded direction.

"We see ourselves as one of the most versatile ensembles in Boston," stated Executive Director Nick Adams. "No genre or venue is really off limits. Our aim is to provide a space for people to gather around good music, share it with others, and to come away glad that they made the effort.

"Our new season, "Boundless," reflects this - and not only in title. At Cantata Singers, particularly under the direction of Noah, our new Music Director, you're going to see masterworks with orchestra, you're going to see solo and a cappella works, and you're going to see family-friendly events like our Voices, Shared concert in June. We invite you to join us!"

"Each concert has something memorable for everyone, with emotions ranging from joy to stormy tempests," said Maestro Horn. "Brazilian jazz, Bach, and brand-new music all brighten the mood in bespoke programs designed for the brilliant Cantata Singers. I greatly look forward to sharing this music with Boston."

Cantata Singers 2022-23 Season, "Boundless"

OCEANA
Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:00 PM 
Epicenter at Artists for Humanity, 100 West 2nd Street, Boston (map)

GOLIJOV Oceana
MÄNTYJÄRVI Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae
MONDONVILLE Elevaverunt flumina, from Dominus regnavit
VIVALDI La tempesta di mare
PURCELL They that go down to the sea in ships
PARRY Crossing the Bar
ABELA We are the night ocean
DRAUGHN Commission & Premiere

New Music Director Noah Horn makes his official debut as Cantata Singers opens its 58th season with a deep dive into water music that includes the ensemble's world premiere commission. Join Boston's renowned ensemble as it kicks off 2022-23 with an exploration of the sights and sounds of oceans and seas during storms and calm waters at one of the ensemble's striking new venues, Boston's LEED Platinum certified AFH Epicenter. A musical experience like no other, this multimedia collaborative concert includes visual creations by Artists for Humanity. Featuring Golijov’s Oceana, with its feeling of vastness and passion, Vivaldi's La tempesta di mare.

RADIANT DAWN
Friday, December 9, 2022 at 8:00 PM
First Church Cambridge, 11 Garden Street Cambridge (map)
Sunday, December 11, 2022 at 4:00 PM
United Parish, 210 Harvard Street, Brookline (map)

DOVE Seek him that maketh the seven stars
MACMILLAN O Radiant Dawn
BETINIS In the bleak midwinter
RUTTER Carols from Dancing Day
Additional pieces to be announced

Celebrate the holiday season with not one but two performances of uplifting choral music and classic Christmas carols with harp and organ that shine bright. From Jonathan Dove's setting of Psalm 139, the rich harmonies and embellished vocal lines in James MacMillan's O Radiant Dawn, Abbie Betinis's atmospheric text painting of Christina Rossetti's 19th century poem about the birth of Christ, carols from John Rutter's cycle of Christmas Carols and more, Cantata Singers lights up the holidays with beautiful works that sing of the sun and the stars as they give us hope for renewal. Concerts in Cambridge and Brookline.

BACH'S MASS IN B MINOR
Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 4:00 PM
Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge (map)

BACH Mass in B minor BWV 232

Cantata Singers performs J.S. Bach's dancing, energetic baroque work for orchestra, choir and soloists - his ever-popular Mass in B minor at one of its longstanding venues, Sanders Theatre. Considered one of the greatest pieces of music ever written and a timeless expression of faith in a better world, hundreds of years later the B-minor Mass continues to thrill when experienced in person.

PATH OF MIRACLES
Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 8:00 PM
Saint Cecilia Parish,18 Belvidere Street, Boston (map)

TALBOT Path of Miracles

Based on Northwestern Spain's Camino de Santiago (the "Way of St. James" in English) - a pilgrimage leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great, this astonishing choral piece by Joby Talbot, composer for Sing and Sing 2, has singers evoking the long journey of the Camino, and finding incredible joy by reaching a new life at the journey's end. A cult hit amongst choral singers, many of whom now consider it their favorite, it's a piece you won't want to miss! Performed at one of Cantata Singers' new venues.

VOICES, SHARED
Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 4:00 PM
First Parish Dorchester, 10 Parish Street, Dorchester (map)

BACH Der Herr denket an uns, BWV 196
ROARK Range of Light
ROARK Where Endless Ages Roll
Premieres of Classroom Cantatas compositions
Additional repertoire to be announced

Cantata Singers closes the 2022-23 season with a historic first! For the first time, the ensemble's two sides - the performance side and the community engagement side together on stage! The ensemble will be joined by students from the Classroom Cantatas program to present their brand-new compositions, orchestrated and sung by the full ensemble. Experience the amazing creativity of these students, along with a cantata by Bach which blesses families and children, and energetic choral music by guitarist and bandleader Benton Roark.

CHAMBER SERIES

Cantata Singers' annual, two-concert Chamber Series led by Chamber Series Director Allison Voth, will be announced in the near future.

TICKETS

Subscriptions and single tickets available. Click here to learn more.

Note: Cantata Singers is a mask-friendly organization and will follow all state, local, and venue health protocols. Future changes will be communicated on a rolling basis as necessary.

Cantata Singers

A vibrant, cultural mainstay in Boston, Massachusetts and the surrounding areas, Cantata Singers is a musical destination, a place where art, community, and history intersect. A uniquely modern ensemble with deep roots in the past, built on a foundation of innovation and versatility, Cantata Singers promotes the rich heritage of choral music inspired by the musical genius of Johann Sebastian Bach alongside more modern works.

Co-founded in 1964, by a group of friends, colleagues, and classmates, Cantata Singers was created with the goal of exploring and performing music not heard anywhere else by the Boston community and surrounding area; specifically, the cantatas/choral canon of Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Today, Cantata Singers offers fresh, inspiring interpretations of iconic music interspersed with intriguing, unfamiliar yet accessible works, including those by women composers and composers of color, whether rarely performed pieces or new compositions by contemporary composers.

Conductor Noah Horn is the seventh musician to guide Cantata Singers from the podium. His distinguished predecessors include David Hoose, John Ferris, Philip Kelsey, John Harbison, Richard P. Kapp and Leo Collins.

Music performances account for only part of Cantata Singers’ activities within the community, with the other focusing on community engagement in Boston and the surrounding area. Amongst its various community initiatives is the 29-year-old Classroom Cantatas, an education initiative in Boston’s under-represented schools led by a wide range of Teaching Artists. Also well-known is The Lullaby Project, a free program in collaboration with Carnegie Hall that pairs pregnant women and new parents with teaching artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies, supporting maternal health, aiding childhood development, and strengthening the bond between parent and child.

Noah Horn, Music Director

As a conductor whose work has been praised as “superb” (The New York Times), “well-prepared and joyful” (Detroit Free Press), “excellent,” and “fluent and fresh” (Opera News), Noah Horn was named Music Director of the Cantata Singers beginning fall 2022. He comes to the ensemble having directed choirs and orchestras at the professional, collegiate, and community levels. His other current projects include serving as chorus master for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and artistic director and founder of the professional vocal ensemble Audivi. With Audivi, he has conducted historically informed landmark performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor and Monteverdi’s Vespers, as well as premiering dozens of new compositions and touring several times around the US. Horn has worked with ensembles in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Canada, and the Philippines.

Committed to celebrating diversity and inclusion in all areas, Noah co-founded and sings with Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, a group that focuses on a diverse representation in its membership, and which has recently given headliner performances in 2022 at Podium (Canada’s national choral conference) and ACDA’s Southern Regional Convention. He has commissioned dozens of works by composers from a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds, and considers it essential to do the work of advocacy and education with every artistic decision.

An avid educator, Noah has served as director of choral activities and on the music faculty of several universities and colleges, including Oberlin, Williams, Amherst, and Hampshire Colleges, and Wesleyan, Wayne State, and Western Michigan Universities.

Noah holds the D.M.A., M.M.A., and M.M. degrees from Yale University in choral conducting, and M.M. and B.Mus. degrees from Yale and Oberlin College in organ performance. He lives in western Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters. (Full bio on the Cantata Singers website.)

For more details, visit www.cantatasingers.org

Publicist
Laura Grant, 917-359-7319; Laura@grant-communications.com