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Collegium Cantorum is a concert choir, organized in 1986, specializing in "large forms for small choirs" and drawing most of its repertory from the great masterpieces of medieval and Renaissance Europe. The Latin name, loosely translated above, was chosen to suggest a concentration on "early music"; to us, this means music composed before 1601.

Our performances, held in Washington-area churches with acoustics appropriate to medieval and Renaissance "cathedral music", are open to the public without charge, though voluntary, tax-deductible donations are solicited. Generally, each program is presented twice: once on a Saturday evening, and again the next (i.e., Sunday) afternoon at a different location.

The literature we perform is quite challenging, exciting, and satisfying, and is often well "off the beaten path" even for early-music groups. The works, usually large-scale, date from between the earliest years of polyphonic notation (the mid-1100s) and the end of 1600. Occasionally these boundaries are overstepped, but not often. We are not averse to the secular music of the times, but our fondness for "large forms" has usually meant, in practice, that most of our literature is sacred "cathedral" music. We note that "off the beaten path" does not mean "obscure for its own sake": we present works that (like their composers) deserve to be much better known to concert audiences than they are in these times of "marketing timidity" among many concert presenters.

Tax-deductible contributions from supporting "angels" are always welcome and most helpful.

Interested singers or other early-music lovers: please contact us.

Last updated Wednesday, January 22, 2020