Cambridge Chamber Singers

Upcoming

Ave Regina Coelorum:  Hail, Queen of Heaven

Celebrate the season of light with this concert of hope, anticipation, and beauty!  Our program features the stunning and rarely performed Missa Ave Regina Coelorum – the most renowned mass of the 15th century – by Guillaume Dufay.  Works by Hildegard von Bingen, Sweelinck, Schütz, Rheinberger, and contemporary composer Cecilia McDowall complement the mass.  Join the Cambridge Chamber Singers for our 42nd season!

Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 8:00 pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA

Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 7:00 pm – Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

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CCS/BNMI Joint Concert:  Music of Speech

The Cambridge Chamber Singers and The Boston New Music Initiative are thrilled to present a joint concert entitled Music of Speech.  BNMI performs works by living composers that use the spoken word in various ways, running the gamut from pre-recorded speech to collective speech. The highlight will be the world premiere of Strange Birds by Ania Vu, winner of BNMI’s 9th Annual Commissioning Competition.
Performing together, CCS and BNMI offer a diverse set of choral works, including accompanied Monteverdi madrigals, Rheinberger’s romantic Die Nacht, Larsen’s scat Dance Set, and Jobim’s jazzy Double Rainbow. The featured work – a 2020 joint commission by the two ensembles – is On the Nature of Things, by competition winner Andrew Davis.

Performance dates, times and locations are as follows:

Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 8:00 pm – University Lutheran Church, 66 Winthrop St in Cambridge, MA

Tickets for Saturday’s concert: https://www.bostonnewmusic.org/event-4815587

Sunday, June 5, 2022 at 7:00 pm – Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

Tickets for Sunday’s concert: https://www.bostonnewmusic.org/event-4812628

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Cambridge Chamber Singers’ 40th Anniversary Concerts

Saturday, March 19 at 8:00 pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA

Sunday, March 20 at 7:00 pm – Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

Enjoy CCS favorites from the past, including Victoria’s O Magnum Mysterium, Mouton’s Reges terrae, and Monteverdi’s Si ch’io vorrei morire.  Savor lush English partsongs by Parry, Stanford and Finzi.  Hear our featured work, the rarely performed polychoral Magnificat quinti toni by Heironymous Praetorius. Discover new a cappella works by Borishansky, Wyers, and the premiere of Fahrner’s Set Me as a Seal

Come celebrate our 40th anniversary with us!

Due to COVID restrictions, proof of vaccination and masks are required for admission to the concerts.

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The Cambridge Chamber Singers are delighted to present:

The Cambridge Chamber Singers Present – Uncertain Light

Saturday, December 7 at 8:00 pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA
Sunday, December 8 at 7:00 pm – Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

Celebrate the season of light with the Cambridge Chamber Singers, as they present music from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Romantic periods by Palestrina, Schütz, and Schumann, respectively. Meditate on Palestrina’s two versions of Ave Regina Caelorum. Glory in the great Deutsches Magnificat of Schütz, and triumph in the four two-chorus works by Schumann, including An die Sterne and Ungewisses Licht.

The Cambridge Chamber Singer Present – Music, When Soft Voices Die: Renaissance, Romantic and Contemporary Gems

Saturday, May 11 at 8:00 pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA
Sunday, May 12 at 7:00 pm – Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

Explore with us the lingering strains of six centuries of choral music! Enjoy masterful madrigals by the great William Byrd and the incomparable Claudio Monteverdi. Savor the intimate inventions of Franck Bridge and Charles Parry. Hear the winner of the 19th Annual International Composition Competition, Beyond Nine Lakes, by Gilad Hochman, of Berlin, Germany.

O Splendor Gloriae
Saturday, December 15 at 8:00pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA
Sunday, December 16 at 7:00pm –  Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

The Cambridge Chamber Singers is pleased to announce their 39th year of masterful a cappella music! Celebrate the season with stunning selections from the English Renaissance, lush romantic motets, and complementary contemporary works.

This innovative program features the spectacular O Splendor Gloriae, by John Taverner, Stanford’s Beati quorum via, and God Is With Us (A Christmas Proclamation), by John Tavener (1944-2013).

Cambridge Chamber Singers Present: Spem in Alium: A Tribute to Hope
Saturday, May 19 at 8:00pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA
Sunday, May 20 at 7:00pm –  Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

This concert features the magnificent, rarely performed Spem in Alium (c. 1570), Thomas Tallis’s incomparable 40-part motet. The program includes: Renaissance classics – Zefiro torno; jazz standards – All The Things You Are; Stanford’s moving The Blue Bird; and Hindemith’s charming Six Chansons. Also included is the winner of the CCS 19th Annual International Composition Competition, Here Among the Flowers, by David von Kampen of Lincoln, Nebraska.

This special concert celebrates 30 years of music under the direction of Ray Fahrner.

The Cambridge Chamber Singers Present: A Ceremony of Carols
Saturday, December 2 at 8:00pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA
Sunday, December 3 at 7:00pm – Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church,155 Powder House Boulevard in Somerville, MA

The Cambridge Chamber Singers is pleased to present Benjamin Britten’s celebrated A Ceremony of Carols, featuring special guest, harpist Juli Miller. The program includes Brahms’s elegant Marienlieder, and a selection of popular English carols.

The Cambridge Chamber Singers & ATD Fourth World present: Joining Our Voices to Stop Poverty:
A Benefit Concert in Support of the 60th Anniversary of ATD Fourth World

Sunday, September 10 at 7:30 PM – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA 

The concert will feature spirituals, Randall Thompson’s moving Alleluia, and international selections, including the winner of the Cambridge Chamber Singers 2016 International Composition Competition.

For over 50 years, ATD Fourth World USA has been working in some of the most under-served communities in the United States to overcome the injustices of persistent poverty by learning from those who face poverty every day and by mobilizing people from all walks of life to stop poverty. With a grassroots presence in extremely under-resourced communities in 30 countries, emphasis is on the indispensable role of culture and art in overcoming poverty. In Boston we are part of an international research project with Oxford University, England, to identify the multidimensional aspects of poverty.

The Cambridge Chamber Singers and ATD Fourth World are celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the International Movement ATD Fourth World and the 100^th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Joseph Wresinski. Joining our Voices concerts are being held around the world to raise awareness, to mobilize the general public to act together to #StopPoverty, and to raise funds for music and cultural projects in under-served communities.  For more information, visit http://www.poverty-stop.org.

All contributions will go directly towards the programs and work of ATD Fourth World USA. Visit us at 4thworldmovement.org to learn more about our work in local communities across the United States.

Musica Erotica

Saturday, May 6th at 8:00pm – Grace Episcopal Church, 76 Eldredge Street in Newton, MA
Sunday, May 7th at 7:00pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA 

Come enjoy a festival of Musica Erotica, with 500 years of playful and provocative music about erotic love. The program includes lovers entwining in the madrigals of Josquin, Gesualdo, and Cipriano de Rore; various interpretations of “dying” by Willaert and Monteverdi; and prurient Romantic and contemporary a cappella pieces. Remember Peggy Lee’s “Fever”? The Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk”?

We are also pleased to include the winner of our 2017 International Composition Competition, “Konus Kale” (“The Medlar Garden”), by Iranian composer Hamid Mardkhanjari.

The concert is rated PG.

Hail, Queen of Heaven: Christmas Music by Rore, Rorem, Rautavaara, and Brahms

Saturday, December 3 at 8:00pm – Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street in Boston, MA
Sunday, December 4 at 7:00pm – Pilgrim Congregational Church, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

Join the Cambridge Chamber Singers for an evening of Renaissance, Romantic, and modern Christmas music! The program commemorates Cipriano de Rore (b. 1516) and Einojuhani Rautavaara (d. 2016), featuring brilliant a cappella works of the former and sensuously mystic music of the latter. The marvelous motet by Brahms, Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, and classic Christmas carols round out the program.

Tiffany in Song

Saturday, May 21, 2016 at 8:00pm – Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury Street in Boston, MA
Sunday, May 22, 2016, at 7:00pm – Pilgrim Congregational Church UCC, 55 Coolidge Avenue in Lexington, MA

In conjunction with the Covenant Boston Preservation Project and the Church of the Covenant, the Cambridge Chamber singers is pleased to present Tiffany in Song,
a concert to support the preservation of the greatest collection of sacred Tiffany glass in the world.

The program features music that relates directly to the themes of the windows and the life of Tiffany, including elegant Renaissance motets by Josquin and Guerrero, Schubert’s Miriam’s Song of Joy, and spiritual and gospel favorites. We are, also, proud to present the winner of our 16th Annual International Composition Competition, Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s work Miserere.