"Cantus" are a group of twenty (or so) choral singers drawn from all over the UK who come together to sing at cathedrals and in quarterly concerts in central London. We sing under the direction of our Musical Director, Phil Cowling.
We perform a wide repertoire of choral music carefully selected to show our versatility and to be applicable to a wide variety of events from weddings to corporate hospitality to cathedral services. This ranges from ecclesiastical music from Purcell to Howells to folk songs and even (on one notable occasion) a specially arranged a-cappella version of Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody". You can find further information on our repertoire page.
When he founded Cantus Phil Cowling was keen to ensure that a wide range of singers could perform with us - even if they had regular commitments to other performing groups. We therefore do not rehearse regularly but "blitz" the music on various days from up to two weeks before the performance. This approach has worked well in enabling us to produce fresh and lively performances without impacting upon our singers commitments elsewhere. Rehearsals normally take place in central London. Contact us for details. For cathedral services there are also additional rehearsals in the cathedral song schools and stalls.
Membership of Cantus is currently free of charge. All our funding comes from concert ticket sales and (increasingly) sponsorship.
Yes - because our rehearsals only commence two weeks before each performance they have to concentrate on technique and musicianship. There is rarely time for "note bashing" and so ability to sight read music is essential.
We do not normally hold formal auditions provided you have previously sung to an appropriate standard with our Musical Director or an existing member of the choir. Otherwise there will normally be a simple vocal test and sight reading test to demonstrate your singing ability to the required level.
Cantus sing at weddings, corporate hospitality events and church and cathedral services. Fees range from £300 upwards plus travelling expenses if we are performing outside of London. Contact us for further details.
We are always delighted to meet prospective new members provided their performance is up to an appropriate standard. We are also delighted to welcome non-singing supporters especially if they can help us out with catering and publicity. Do contact us for further details.
We normally rehearse in Central London near London Bridge. Rehearsals are quite disciplined and demanding - however we normally relax afterwards with a few pints in the pub round the corner. We're a friendly and welcoming bunch who get along well socially - come along and find out for yourself.
Because Cantus is a small choir that makes big commitments it is vital to us that you do make the effort to attend if you commit to performing with us (unless prevented by a genuine illness or emergency). We have to take a hard line on this in order to maintain the standard of our performances. If, having committed to perform with us, you drop out at the last moment due to anything other than a genuine illness or emergency it is unlikely that we'll ask you to sing with us again. We regret if this sounds harsh but it is an important measure to ensure that we give our audiences the performances that they deserve and have come to expect.
