Chor Leoni (Canada)

Since its creation in 1992 by conductor Diane Loomer, Chor Leoni has become a fixture in the upper echelons of the Canadian choral world. A combination of riveting stage presence, imaginative and eclectic programming, quality a cappella singing, and a willingness to "try anything once" has captivated audiences across Canada and guaranteed wildly enthusiastic sell-out crowds wherever the lions appear. Chor Leoni was a triple winner in the biennial 2002 CBC Radio National Competition For Amateur Choirs, winning first place honours in the Men's Category, a competition-wide prize for the Best Performance of a Canadian Work, and the first time that a male choir has won this distinction - the top prize in the Contemporary Category. The choir had previously won top honours in the Men's Category in 1994 and 2000.

Diane Loomer, one of Canada's best-known musicians, has achieved international recognition as a choral conductor, teacher, and musician. An honours graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of British Columbia's School of Music, she is founder and conductor of the prize-winning men's choir, Chor Leoni, co-founder and co-director of the outstanding Elektra Women's Choir, and taught on the music faculty at the University of British Columbia for six years. Her choral compositions have been published, performed, and recorded internationally, and she has frequently appeared on CBC national radio as a commentator on and champion of the classical arts in Canada. She is the only woman to have conducted the prestigious National Youth Choir of Canada. Recordings

Cantus (US)

Enjoying a successful blend of national tours, subscription concerts in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul and recording projects, Cantus is gaining recognition as one of America’s finest professional male vocal ensembles. The ensemble’s performances are met with overwhelming praise for its unique blend of youthful vitality and polished nuance. Their repertoire spans many periods and genres, including Gregorian chant, Renaissance motets, contemporary sacred works, art songs, world music, spirituals, and pop. Cantus’ singing has been called “spontaneous grace” by the Washington Post and “wonderful” by the L.A. Times.

Cantus was founded in the fall of 1995 when a few college friends gathered on the campus of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Since then, Cantus has performed more than 400 concerts across the nation during the past seven years, including appearances at AmericaFest, the Lied Center of Lawrence, Kansas, UCLA Live, the University of Chicago Presents, Merkin Concert Hall of New York City, Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin Union Theater and many conventions of the American Choral Director’s Association. In September 2000, Cantus established itself as a full-time nonprofit arts organization based in Minnesota. In summer 2002, Cantus sang to great acclaim at the Oregon Bach Festival and at the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music in Minneapolis. Cantus is a resident artist at St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN. Having worked with thousands of young people across the country, Cantus is committed to educational endeavors and encouraging singing with their motto “Live. Play. Sing.” Recordings

Collegium Regale (England)

Collegium Regale (Latin for 'King's College') is the close harmony group made up of the fourteen Choral Scholars of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Although the Choral Scholars sing in the daily services in the chapel, which remain the choir's raison d'?tre, Collegium Regale is independent of the choir and sings a different repertoire. As Collegium Regale, the group provides entertainment at dinners and conferences, as well as giving frequent concerts - notably at Easter when they split into two groups which tour the North and South of England. Our programme for these reveals the breadth of our repertoire: sacred music from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, madrigals, folk songs, part songs and, of course, close harmony - for which the group is best known. In 1968, some Choral Scholars from King's College went out in the big wide world. The in-house group they had begun, Collegium Regale, had whetted their appetite (and their audience's) for regular concerts. Sir David Willcocks said it would never last. But before long they were a worl Recordings

Die Singphoniker (Germany)

The six singers of this Munich ensemble have undertaken many new projects in recent years, and everything they have undertaken has had one thing in common: it has been set new standards. Nikolaus Harnoncourt has played an important role in the quest for the authentic interpretation of instrumental music, and, similarly, the Singphoniker regard themselves as new interpreters of a forgotten tradition in the vocal chamber music of the nineteenth century. The ensemble«s great succes in this field is reflected in its many awards and rave reviews: its last five CDs have received recording prizes ( Diapason d«or ), and its concerts and recordings have been acclaimed with hymnic praise in the international music press for many years.

The tenors Alfons Brandl and Hubert Nettinger, the baritone Ludwig Thomas, the bass baritone Michael Mantaj, the bass Christian Schmidt and the baritone Berno Scharpf, who also serves as the ensemble«s pianist, owe their success to a number of factors. The first and most important factor is the ensemble«s trademark sound, with its unique, warmer vocalisation clearly distinguishing it from similar ensembles. Second, its virtually inexhaustable repertoire extending from Gregorian Chant to the Avantgarde, which, coupled with its continuing quest for new interpretations, never fails to facinate the German and international concert public and unleashes storms of applause. No other German vocal ensemble of its kind has enjoyed so much success in recent decades as the Singphoniker. Recordings

The Estonian National Male Choir (RAM)is currently the only full-time professional male choir in the world. The choir was established in 1944 by Estonian choral legend Gustav Ernesaks. The choir devoted its first years to a cappella repertoire but is now also famous for its interpretations of important large-scale works frequently performed with the worldÕs leading orchestras and conductors. RAM has 25 oratorial works in its current repertoire and most of its tours abroad are large cultural projects where these pieces are performed. Over the times, RAM has sung with many prominent guest conductors, such as Robert Sund from Sweden, Josep Prats from Spain, Chifuru Matsubara from Japan, Roman Toi from Canada, Kaspars Putninä from Latvia, Kuno Areng, Jaan-Eik Tulve and others from Estonia. This line-up of rewarding collaborations can be extended by naming the orchestral conductors the choir has worked with: Neeme J?rvi, Paavo J?rvi, Kristjan J?rvi, Eri Klas, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Ricardo Muti, Paavo Berglund, Leif Segerstam, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Saulius Sondeckis, Leo Kr?mer, Christoph Sperling, Gintaras Rinkevicius, Arvo Volmer, T?nu Kaljuste and many others.

The large works RAM has sung most often are Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 "Babi Jar" (with the Detroit, Tampere and Jerusalem symphony orchestras and the LA Philharmonic), Sibelius' Kullervo-Symphony (the Stockholm Royal SO, Minnesota SO, Tampere SO, Toulouse National SO, Hamburg City Orchestra and the LA Philharmonic), Cherubini's Requiem and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. The Estonian National Male Choir gives about 80-90 concerts each year, approx. 25 of which are symphonic works while the rest are a cappella programs. The repertoire of one season includes about 200 works. RAM's present chief conductor and artistic director Ants Soots was awarded in 1999 the Gustav Ernesaks annual choral music prize. During the years 1996-2000 Ants Soots led the Estonian Choral Society. Currently he also teaches at the Estonian Music Academy. With RAM he has conducted programs of Italian, British and Latin American music, as well as the Armenian liturgy "Patarag" and Georgian music, music of G. Petrassi, of course, lots of Estonian music for different occasions. Paavo J?rvi, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Ellerhein Girls' Choir and Ants Soots, Estonian National Male Choir's CD "Sibelius Cantatas" (Virgin Classics, 2003) won the Grammy 2004 award in category "Best Choral Performance". Recordings

King's Singers (England)

It isn't really a surprise that one of the world's most popular vocal groups comes from England, for that country has long had and unsurpassed tradition of vocal music with roots in both religious and secular singing. Tallis, Byrd, Gilbert, Sullivan, and even King Henry VIII leap to mind. It is said that in the barbershops of Shakespeare's time a lute or guitar was kept on hand for the patrons to while away the time with song. Glee Societies have had a long history in England. But the mainstay of English vocal tradition has resided in the church and the education of youthful choristers in the great cathedrals. Each year out of all England and its rich tradition there are just fourteen young men appointed choral scholars to King's College, Cambridge. As there are such a select few, a close bond is formed among these singers whose lives are immersed in the tradition of choral song, by daily choir practice and evensong, not to mention the individual effort to train and strengthen the voice. The closeness of the individuals is enhanced by such traditions as having their own table at Hall and the commitment shared to a particular musical style. Recordings

Lionheart (US)

Lionheart is one of America's leading ensembles in vocal chamber music. Acclaimed for its "smoothly blended and impeccably balanced sound" (Allan Kozinn, The New York Times), Lionheart (Jeffrey Johnson, Lawrence Lipnik, John Olund, Richard Porterfield, Kurt-Owen Richards, and Michael Ryan-Wenger) is best known for its interpretation of medieval and Renaissance a cappella music, with Gregorian Chant as the keystone of its repertoire. The ensemble also collaborates with instrumental ensembles, dance companies, and contemporary composers, and was recently selected for inclusion on the Star Spangled Touring Roster, the first year of an initiative by Early Music America. On radio, Lionheart has been featured on Performance Today, on PRI's Harmonia, on WGBH, and appears regularly on WNYC. Lionheart has also received significant air play on Radio Shanghai, which broadcasts Western music to a wide audience in China. Recordings

Male Ensemble Northwest (US)

Male Ensemble Northwest was formed in Longview, Washington, in 1982, the brainchild of Howard Meharg of Longview, who wanted to form a singing group as well as encourage young males in public schools to sing in choirs of all kinds. Thus it was that Male Ensemble Northwest was formed to demonstrate a high level of music making by choral conductors from the Pacific Northwest region and also to promote male choral singing. In the years since its inception, MEN has appeared in concerts from local churches and auditoriums to regional and national audiences, always remembering to spread the message of male singing. They have performed at national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association in Washington, D. C., and San Antonio; and several Northwest regional conventions. They have appeared at the leadership conference of ACDA in Lawton, OK, and several state conventions, most recently in Oshkosh, WI. While a high level of artistry is always an important goal, the members of MEN value the professional and personal associations they have with each other. It is important that the personal soul is fed as well as the artistic. Recordings

Notre Dame Glee Club (US)

Recognized as one of the finest all male collegiate choral groups in the country, the University of Notre Dame Glee Club has a rich history of singing and brotherhood spanning the last eighty-five years. More than 2,000 young men have sung with the Club over the years, combing the rich traditions of Notre Dame with the highest standards of artistic excellence.

Since 1915, the members of the Glee Club have enjoyed an exciting fraternal organization combined with an intensive study of vocal technique and musical styles. The group has toured from coast to coast and around the world, performing over one hundred concerts per year. As musical ambassadors of Notre Dame, the Glee Club has always been welcomed with warmth and enthusiasm. Each year, the group performs four major concerts: one in the Fall, one at Christmas, one in the Spring, and one for Commencement. Not to mention the fact that the group performs many other smaller concerts including: ND in Revue (Saturday mornings before home ND football games) as well as Singing Valentines and Christmas Caroling at the women's dorms of Saint Mary's College and Notre Dame. Recordings

Orlando Consort (England)

Formed in 1988 by the Early Music Centre of Great Britain, the Orlando Consort has rapidly achieved a reputation as one of the most expert and consistently challenging groups performing repertoire from the years 1050 to 1500. While all four singers in the group are established soloists, they also contribute enormous experience and expertise in the field of early music gained through working with groups such as the Tallis Scholars and the Gabrieli and Taverner Consorts. Working with leading academics on music that has often never been performed in modern times, they have set new standards of performance, particularly with regard to the pronunciation and tuning of this fascinating repertoire. For their work on the extraordinary techniques of 12th Century Aquitanian polyphony they were awarded the 1996 Noah Greenberg Award by the American Musicological Society. In recent times the Consort has also attracted considerable attention for their imaginative programming of contemporary music. Recordings

Optina Pustyn Male Choir (Russia)

The Optina Pustyn Male Choir (The Male Choir of the Priory of the Optina Pustyn Monastery in Saint-Petersburg) was founded in 1996 by Alexander Semjonov blessed by the Prior Rostislav. The Choir is an ensemble of professional singers (ranging between 6 and 9 performers), all of them graduates of the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire. This God-serving Choir has been called to revive the lost traditions of ancient monastic singing. Due to the close cooperation between the Choir and a group of scholars (mediaevalists), many vocal music manuscripts, consigned to oblivion and kept in book depositories of monasteries and academic libraries, have found a new life during services in the Priory church and subsequently became part of the Optina Pustyn Choir repertoire. Recordings

Slavyanka (US)

The Slavyanka Chorus regularly presents a cappella concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area and California. The repertoire is drawn mostly from Russian sources: Orthodox liturgical, Russian and other slavic folk and composed music. It includes compositions by Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and a host of less well-known purveyors of the Slavic soul in song. 2000-01 Concert Schedule Slavyanka is the name that the early Russian settlers in California gave to the river that is today known as the Russian River. The Slavyanka Chorus was formed in 1979 by several former members of the Yale Russian Chorus. Membership has varied from twenty to thirty men, all with other primary occupations ranging from business and the trades to law, science and medicine. The chorus toured the former Soviet Union in 1986, 1989 and 1999, where it performed for historically its largest and most appreciative audiences. Recordings

Washingtons Mens Camerata (US)

The Washington Men's Camerata was founded by its members in 1984 to perform, promote and preserve the rich legacy of men's choral music. In support of its mission, the Camerata seeks to: 1) present concerts of the highest artistic quality to the widest possible audience; 2) educate young people and generate interest on their part in choral music; 3) collaborate with orchestras, other ensembles and recording companies in performances and recordings of the men's choral repertoire; 4) through the National Repository Library project, preserve and share worthy collections of music that are no longer in use; and 5) encourage composers to write music for male chorus by promoting and performing newly composed men's chorus works. In addition to its regular subscription series, which since 1994 has included annual performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Camerata has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra (Christopher Hogwood, Guest Conductor) and the National Gallery Orchestra (George Manos, Music Director); at the Smithsonian Institution; the Embassy of the Russian Federation; the National Building Museum; Harvard, Princeton, and Rutgers Universities; and the White House. Recordings