Auditions
Seeking Tenors and Basses for 2026-2027
Auditions for Cantate ensembles will be held on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, by invitation. We invite you to submit an audition request form to be considered for an audition for our 2026-2027 season. Fill out the form and Cantate staff will get back to you to schedule a specific audition time.
Through annual auditions, Cantate seeks experienced volunteer singers from the Montgomery County, Maryland, and greater Washington, DC, area who welcome the challenge of performing extraordinary repertoire in a high-level ensemble. Our two ensembles, Cantate Chamber Singers and Cantate Concert Choir, are regularly hailed for artistically exciting, innovative performances of newly commissioned and rarely heard choral works, as well as celebrated classics from the traditional repertoire spanning five centuries. Rehearsals for both ensembles begin in September and the final concerts of the season occur in April or May. Dues are $125 per season plus the cost of music.
Cantate Concert Choir is our symphonic chorus committed to musical excellence and to enriching the musical life of our community through concerts, outreach, and education. The ensemble rehearses Sunday evenings at the First Baptist Church of Silver Spring in downtown Silver Spring. In the 2026–2027 season, this ensemble will perform three concerts of extraordinarily moving music with dynamic instrumental ensembles, featuring Brahms’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Durante’s (Pergolesi’s) Magnificat, selections by Ola Gjeilo, and more.
Cantate Chamber Singers, with approximately 32 auditioned, experienced singers, performs a cappella repertoire and works with piano and small ensembles. Singers are chosen especially for their blend with the existing ensemble as well as their strength in musicianship. The ensemble rehearses Tuesday evenings at Ingleside at Rock Creek in Washington, DC. In the 2026–2027 season, this ensemble will perform three concerts, featuring an array of thrilling and incisive new works including A Procession Winding Around Me: Four Civil War Poems by Jeffrey Van, Mass in Exile by Mark Buller, Messe Ancienne and Ma’at Musings by Trevor Weston, I Hate and I Love by Dominick Argento, and The Wound in the Water by Kim André Arnesen. Members of Cantate Chamber Singers may choose to sing with one or both ensembles.
If you have any questions, please contact Sara Josey, Auditions Coordinator, at auditions@cantate.org.
Lift Every Voice (LEV) is a paid fellowship for a quartet of pre-professional BIPOC Singers, who support the Cantate Concert Choir throughout the season. LEV fellows also receive additional career support in the form of resume and bio coaching, private vocal coaching from Cantate staff and collaborating conductors, masterclasses focused on oratorio performance, and a year-end showcase concert open to the public with VIP guests including prominent area choral and orchestral conductors. Auditions are held annually. Read more about Lift Every Voice.