Commissions and Premieres

[one_fifth][/one_fifth] [three_fifth][testimonial author=”Gisèle Becker interview, Fanfare, January 2013″]“Trying to compete in the very active choral community of Washington, D.C., inspired me to seek out a niche we could call our own. Commissioning new works and performing underexposed masterworks of the existing choral repertoire has become my vision for Cantate.”[/testimonial][/three_fifth][one_fifth_last][/one_fifth_last]

Cantate’s programs under Gisèle Becker have abounded with regional concert premieres and rare presentations of masterworks ranging from Handel’s Brockes Passion to Der Messias (Mozart’s exquisite edition of Handel’s Messiah) to this season’s staging of Britten’s Curlew River, with newly commissioned choreography by Shizumi Manale.

In addition to works on our recently released CDs A CROWN OF STARS and THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK, other memorable commissions by Cantate have included The Wind, a new score for classic silent film by Andrew Earle Simpson; Ave Maris Stella, by celebrated organist Bruce Neswick; Flowers in the Snow, a requiem setting by Gary Davison; and settings of Shakespeare for schoolchildren by Maurice Saylor, who also composed Concerto in A for solo cello and chorus — with the chorus singing the part of the orchestra.

Cantate is especially excited about the newly commissioned music at the heart of the group’s upcoming 30^th Anniversary Season: an original work for chorus, a cappella vocal group, and instruments by composer Judah Adashi commemorating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Gwen Ifill will narrate at the world premiere in 2015, and a nationally celebrated a cappella group will join Cantate in the performance.  To learn more about this exciting undertaking and how you can support it, please contact exec@cantate.org.