Welcome We are always interested in meeting new singers who are skilled in reading music (in modern notation) and are interested in "early-music-style" ensemble singing, so we welcome your interest and thank you for investigating the possibility of joining us.
If you have not already done so, please read the page about Collegium Cantorum. What follows, below, assumes familiarity with that page. If this page doesn't put you off or scare you away, and you're still interested when you finish reading, please contact us.
Ars gratia artis
(or "Doing it for love")
Because our performances are presented free to the public,
our work is generally a
pro-bono
"labor of love", although many of the singers are
professional musicians.*
It occasionally happens that voluntary contributions from
audiences are large enough to permit small stipends for
the singers, but this is never predictable.
So continue reading if you're interested in
"doing it for love";
you'll be in good company.
On the subject of "good company", it must be noted that part of "doing it for love" is coming to rehearsals on time and well prepared, or in other words, showing serious respect for (and never wasting) the time of one's fellow singers.
As noted in the "about" page, we present music which is "off the beaten path", but this does not mean "obscure for its own sake": the works we perform deserve to be much better known, not to languish in obscurity because of musical "marketing timidity". One intention is to leave listeners wondering why they have never heard some of these works before, and to judge from numerous audience comments over the years, we have often done so. Unfortunately, the "down side" of the effort to bring great music out of obscurity is that we often perform to small audiences; Busnoys's music may more exciting than that of Brahms, but this is unlikely to be reflected in audience sizes in our lifetimes. Those who have attended our concerts, though, have told us many times that they were quite glad they did. This trade-off we willingly make.
Be aware that much medieval and Renaissance polyphony is challenging, often just-plain-flashy-and-difficult music. Such more-modern difficulties as "weird intervals" and vocal "gymnastics" such as extremes of range, etc., are rare (though not unheard-of), but the modal nature of the music can take some getting-used-to, and the rhythmic complexity of much of it is quite demanding. What it demands is a serious amount of study, practice, and preparation in advance of rehearsals.
* Note: Sometimes, though rarely, paid "outside professionals" are hired, at negotiated fees, in cases of illness striking one or more of the regular, pro-bono singers, or other emergency.
Rehearsals and
Performances
We usually perform with 2 or 3 singers per part, only occasionally
with more or fewer.
Solo work, when it occurs, is generally shared out evenly among the group.
For the complex, demanding programs we present, we generally rehearse 6 or 7 times (including the dress rehearsal) per program, sometimes less but rarely more. It follows that singers are expected to prepare and practice in advance, and to attend rehearsals punctually.
Music is distributed approximately one month before the first rehearsal for a program. A schedule showing which pieces will be covered on each rehearsal is posted to this Web site at approximately the same time.
Our usual practice is to present each program twice, once on a Saturday evening and again the next (i.e., Sunday) afternoon. Dress rehearsals (on Friday evenings) are generally held at the venue of the Saturday performance.
The typical schedule for a pair of performances is
Still interested? Please get in touch. And thank you for your interest.
Last updated Thursday, Aug 5, 2010