
Cantus
Exalting the Human Spirit Through Unmatched Vocal Harmony
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DateNovember 1, 2025
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Event Starts4:00 PM
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Doors OpenTheater Doors 3:30PM
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Ticket PricesStarting at $32 before fees
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On SaleJuly 1 at 9:00 AM
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Seating ChartView Seating Chart
- Sat / November 1, 2025 4:00pm Add to Calendar On Sale Soon
Event Details
“…exalting finesse and expressive power.”
The Washington Post,
The “engaging” (The New Yorker) low-voice ensemble Cantus is widely known for its trademark warmth and blend, innovative programming, and riveting performances of music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The Washington Post has hailed the Cantus sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power” and refers to the “spontaneous grace” of its music-making. The Philadelphia Inquirer called the group nothing short of “exquisite.”
As one of the nation’s few full-time vocal ensembles, Cantus has come to prominence with its distinctive approach to creating music. Working without a conductor, the members of Cantus rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the entirety of the artistic process, creating programs that give voice to shared human experiences. As the Star Tribune has written, “The main hallmark of the Cantus sound has always been sheer quality and an unbroken belief in the special way that vocal music has of warming and invigorating the human spirit.”
Cantus enjoys a vigorous schedule of national and international touring in addition to home concerts in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Cantus has performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, UCLA, San Francisco Performances, Tanglewood, and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Cantus also makes all of their home concerts available online. This pandemic-prompted innovation has brought the ensemble’s programs to audiences spanning 50 states and 10 countries.
Cantus records for the UK-based Signum Classics label, which has released the popular COVID-19 Sessions and Manifesto, an album of world premiere recordings of works by Ysaÿe Barnwell, David Lang, Sydney Guillaume, Libby Larsen, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and others. In the fall of 2022, Signum released Into the Light, Cantus's first new Holiday album in over a decade. Cantus also has a deep catalog of recordings released on the group’s eponymous label.
Committed to the expansion of the vocal music repertoire, Cantus actively commissions new music and seeks to unearth rarely performed repertoire for low voices. Cantus has received commissioning grants from New Music USA, the National Endowment for the Arts, Chorus America, the American Composers Forum, and Chamber Music America. In line with Cantus’ ongoing commitment to fostering new works for tenors, baritones, and basses, the ensemble has partnered with composer and former Cantus bass Timothy C. Takach and Graphite Publishing on the Cantus Choral Series, distributing Cantus’ signature arrangements and compositions for ensembles everywhere to perform and enjoy.
Cantus has a rich history of collaborations with other performing arts organizations, including the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Chanticleer, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Lorelei Ensemble, Theater Latté Da, and the James Sewell Ballet. The ensemble is heard frequently on both classical public radio nationwide and on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.
Integral to the Cantus mission is its commitment to preserve and deepen music education in the schools. Cantus works with more than 5,000 students each year in masterclass and workshop settings across the country and has visited 31 Minnesota high schools throughout the 14-year history of its award-winning High School Mentorship program. Cantus also presents a Cantus Commission Competition to encourage the creation of new repertoire through cash prizes, a performance, recording, and potential publication of winning compositions.
Our Mission & Vision
Cantus gives voice to shared human experience by inspiring audiences through song and word, sparking new depths of understanding and empathy.
In addition to our collaborative ethos as a non-profit, our organizational vision is to give voice to shared human experiences. This dovetails perfectly with our model, where each member is given an equal voice in the curation and production of our concerts, allowing a patchwork of experiences to help guide us. We want to share music and ideas with our audiences that may be less familiar to them and allow them to experience empathy and understanding of the world around them. We acknowledge, of course, that there are many perspectives and identities that we do not embody or have representation of in our ensemble.
Program Details
WANTING MEMORIES
Cantus explores the enduring relationship between music and memory.
Why can we recall the lyrics and melody of a song from our childhood but struggle to find our keys in the morning or remember people’s names? Time and age may turn organized memories into a maze of fragments, but music often remains the one constant, helping us remember who we are. As memories fade and life transforms, could music be the final link to our past?
In Wanting Memories, Cantus explores the profound connection between music and memory. Through timeless songs like Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World, and anchored by Ysaÿe M. Barnwell’s Wanting Memories, this performance delves into the realms of nostalgia, family, love, loss, grief, laughter, fear, and hope.
Program:
- Bob Thiele, George David Weiss: What a Wonderful World
- Tim Minchin: From Matilda, When I Grow Up
- Taylor Swift: Fifteen
- Christopher H. Harris: I Would Live in Your Love
- A.R. Rahman (arr. Ethan Sperry): Wedding Qawwali
- Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe: From Gigi, I Remember It Well
- Stevie Nicks: Landslide
- Ysaÿe M. Barnwell: Wanting Memories
Intermission
- Richard Strauss: Traumlicht
- Sydney Guillaume: Gagot
- Mia Makaroff: Spes (Hope)
- Rosephanye Powell: When We Sing
- Dolly Parton: Light of a Clear Blue Morning
- Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg: Over the Rainbow
- Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal: I’ll Be Seeing You
Subscription & Ticketing Schedule
All ticketing windows listed below open at 9:00AM EST
March 1
Donor subscriptions available (Patron level and above $2,500+)
March 10
Donor subscriptions available (Friend level and above $500+)
March 17
Renewing subscriptions available
April 1
New Subscriptions Available
May 1
Single Tickets on Sale
for events May 25 - July 12
June 1
Single Tickets on Sale
for events July 19 - September 1
July 1
Single Tickets on Sale
for events September 14 - November 1