Founded in 2011, Ensemble Companio is a high-caliber, volunteer chamber choir whose members come from all over the northeastern United States. The chorus typically presents three full-length concerts per season, as well as several shorter and more informal performances. Its repertoire spans centuries and has included, among other things, Gregorian chant, sacred and secular works from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Romantic eras, modern and contemporary compositions, and arrangements of spirituals, popular songs, and folk music from around the world. It gives consistently polished, memorized, and engaging performances. On the strength of a recording of its inaugural performance in 2012, Ensemble Companio won the 2012 American Prize in Choral Performance (community division). It performed at a 2013 conference of ACDA-PA and has hosted such luminaries as Alice Parker and Matthew Oltman as clinicians.
This unique traveling chorus meets ten weekends per concert season for weekend-long rehearsals and concerts. For many singers, this model provides greater flexibility than more-traditional weekly rehearsal models. However this setup simultaneously requires greater individual responsibility as singers are expected to study and memorize music between rehearsals scheduled weeks apart. This commitment to the music and ensemble is the secret ingredient to Ensemble Companio’s high-level and richly-rewarding musical excellence and close camaraderie.
Rehearsals and concerts typically take place in locations where singers live across the northeast including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Members organize their own travel logistics, but the chorus strives to help provide housing and travel support wherever possible. Car-pooling and home stays are typical, chorus sections take turns providing Saturday lunches, and members often spend Saturday evening socializing.
Its membership comprises singers from all walks of life united by a love of singing and a belief in the transformative and restorative power of quality choral music performed beautifully. Ensemble Companio is ideal for young professionals and parents searching for a high-quality post-collegiate choral experience, however we are open to adult singers of all ages.
To audition for Ensemble Companio email . Ensemble Advocate, Michael Raffaele, will give you an overview of the chorus, the upcoming season, and walk you through the audition process which involves recording vocal exercises and musical excerpts and submitting them to interim conductor, Michael Weinberg, for evaluation.
To hear Ensemble Companio in action and learn more about this amazing choir please reach out to Michael Raffaele and/or visit our website at www.ensemblecompanio.org.
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