At Cantate, our mission is to make everyone welcome. The basis of our admission policy is open access: there is no audition and no experience is necessary to join the Training Choir or Junior Choir. We bring together young people of all ages from towns and villages across Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.
Cantate operates like a big family; it is renowned for its fun and friendliness. All students receive training in vocal technique, voice care and performance skills from a dedicated team of first-rate professional staff. We sing a wide repertoire of classic and contemporary works, from across a diverse range of cultures.
Training Choir
The Training choir is the first entrance point for children aged 8 and over. It has currently around 50 students. In the Training Choir, they will be taught singing, performance skills, and basic musicianship. It rehearses most Sundays from 4.00 to 6.00 pm at St Mary's Catholic School in Bishop's Stortford, takes part in at least 4 concerts a year, and is also given the opportunity to represent Cantate at competitions.
"It's an opportunity for me to make friends and have fun singing!"
Youth Choir
The Youth Choir has a membership of between 50 and 60 students, boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 16.
Rehearsals are on Saturdays (boys 2.00 to 4.30 pm, girls 2.35 to 5.15 pm) at St Mary's Catholic School in Bishop's Stortford. The choir performs several concerts per year, and takes part in competitions and tours abroad.
"It was a fantastic concert - and an honour - an experience I will never forget!"
Senior Choir
The Senior Choir students are aged 16 and over. Many of them started by joining the Training Choir and have stayed with Cantate since then. The 50-strong Senior Choir (with Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass voices) rehearses on Sundays from 2.00 to 4.45 pm at St Mary's Catholic School in Bishop's Stortford. It has a busy concert calendar including annual appearances in prestigious London venues. The choir often tours around Lake Garda, Italy in July where Cantate has developed a large audience base, and it enters international competitions like the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod where, in 2007, it was awarded Second Prize in the Senior Children's Competition, competing against 18 choirs from 13 different countries.
"Being part of Cantate is being part of something huge and helping create a phenomenal sound."
Two other choirs now make up the Cantate family:
Amici Cantate
This sixty-strong Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass adult choir is made up of parents, ex-student members and friends of Cantate. It meets on selected Saturday mornings, 10.00am to 12.30 pm, and relaxed, but high-quality singing takes place within a framework of friendship and membership of the whole Cantate family. Amici performs both its own concerts and in partnership with the other Cantate choirs, and undertakes an annual overseas tour.
Cantate Chamber Choir
The Chamber Choir, which meets occasionally for intensive concert rehearsal, is a group of committed alumni, most of whom are either at university, music college, or just embarking on their careers. Membership is by invitation. Recent events have included a BBC TV Songs of Praise recording in Thaxted Church, Essex, and participation in Cantate's Thaxted Festival performance of The Armed Man.
E-mail us your questions at info@cantate.co.uk or fill in the application form