Cantate
Specialty: Choral ensemble
Now in its 38th concert season, Cantate attracts many of the Washington, D.C. area’s finest choral musicians, selected annually by audition. The flagship Chamber Singers performs a broad range of great Western choral literature of the past five centuries and is recognized especially for its skilled interpretation of Baroque style, championing of neglected masterpieces, and adventurous programming of 20th and 21st century music, including the commissioning and premiering of choral works by composers well recognized across the United States. In 2021, the Concert Choir formed to increase Cantate’s capacity to present larger works. Cantate fosters and promotes the work of emerging talent through its biennial Young Composers’ Competition and annual Young Artists of Color program and partners with Montgomery College to present the annual Summer Choral Institute.
Founded in 1984 by Phyllis Isaacson and performing under the artistic direction of Gisèle Becker from 1994 to 2019, Cantate is now led by its third Music Director, Victoria Gau, well known in the Washington metropolitan area as a choral, orchestral, and operatic conductor, vocal coach, and music educator.