Cantate Children’s and Youth Choir of Central Virginia is seeking children and youth singers for the 2025 season. Informal, simple auditions are being held by appointment on January 21, 22, and 23 from 2 PM - 5 PM. The spring semester begins January 27, 2025.
Cantate is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing classical choral music to the children and youth of Central Virginia. Actively taking part in the cultural life of the region, the choir accepts students in second grade through high school and is headquartered at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 205 Elmwood Avenue, Lynchburg, Virginia 24503. Each chorister receives training in proper vocal production, note reading and singing in parts. Cantate is currently in its thirty-second season.
Peggy Haas Howell serves as the Music Director and Conductor, and Elizabeth Wilkinson is the Assistant Director and Accompanist. Called a “play-anything virtuoso” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ms. Howell is a consummate organist who has given recitals throughout America and Europe. She has recorded for the BBC, Sender Freies Berlin, the Finnish Broadcasting Company and Raven Recordings. In addition to serving as Organist and Choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church, she is also the National Vice President and Councillor for Competitions and New Music for the American Guild of Organists. Ms. Howell received a BA in Church Music from Susquehanna University and a Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary.
Ms. Howell has been the Director of Cantate since 2009. Since then, Cantate has performed with Opera on the James, the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra, the Charlottesville Ballet, the University of Lynchburg Choral Union, the Jefferson Choral Society, the University of Virginia Chamber Singers, and St. John’s Episcopal Church Parish Choir. Ms. Howell founded and directed the Jefferson Youth Chorale from 2003-2012 and was the Director of Chorale, the Concert Choir of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College from 1996-2000.
Rehearsals mostly occur on Mondays from 4:15 - 6:15 PM (younger children end a bit earlier). There are currently two concerts scheduled for the spring semester, both of which will be at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.
“Glimpses of Paradise” on Sunday, March 2nd at 4 PM features Maurice Duruflé’s “Requiem.” Other works will include Jonathan Dove’s “Ecce beatam lucem” (“Behold the holy light”) and James Whitbourn’s “Alleluia, Jubilate” (“Alleluia, rejoice”). Cantate Children’s and Youth Choir, Randolph College Chorale and St. John’s Parish Choir will be conducted by Randall Speer and accompanied on organ by Ms. Howell.
“Sing to Me,” Cantate’s spring concert on Sunday, May 4th at 4 PM, features songs about spring, birds, and bugs, folk songs from various cultures, and popular songs from “Wicked.” Music from the Renaissance by Morley and Hilton to the Classical era by Mozart, alongside folksongs including a Serbo-Croatian piece, and music from contemporary composers such as Sarah Quartel and Neil Ginsberg, will be included.
To schedule an audition, please contact our Music Director, Peggy Haas Howell, at (434) 473-7526 or email howellph@cantatechoir.org.
Additional information is available at: cantatechoir.org
