Cantus Reveals 2025-26 Season Lineup

 Cantus has announced its 2025-26 season activities, including performances at home in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and on tour throughout the country, along with a new recording release and collaboration with Minnesota Public Radio.

The eight low voices of Cantus will bring their trademark warmth and blend, innovative programming and riveting performances to nineteen venues throughout Minnesota, and to stages across the country. This fall, Cantus will also collaborate with American Public Media to create a nationally syndicated radio special entitled Songs of Thanks, featuring stories and songs of gratitude that include a new commission written for Cantus by composer Damien Sneed, intended to be sung with friends and family. In its 2024 inaugural year, Songs of Thanks was distributed to more than 230 stations around the country.  APM and Cantus have made this an annual commitment to investing in new music as this program continues to develop. 

“The artists of Cantus have crafted a very special season, and we are thrilled to share it,” says Cantus Executive Director Shelley Quiala. “From celebrating a rich tapestry of heritages in Land That I Love to honoring Dolly Parton’s musical legacy in Dolly & Friends, each performance is a chance to connect, reflect, and experience something powerful.”

Cantus opens their 2025-26 home concert season with Land That I Love (October 18-26), a program commemorating the United States’ 250th anniversary that honors America’s diverse heritage with music by composers carrying their own migration stories. The ensemble performs their beloved holiday Christmas with Cantus series: Three Tales of Christmas (December 12-22) at nine venues throughout Minnesota, including at two new venues: Bloomington Center for the Arts, presented in partnership with Artistry MN, and Christ United Church in Rochester. Cantus also performs an hour-long version of Three Tales of Christmas adapted for children and families at Westminster Hall on Saturday, December 20 at 3:30 & 7 pm.
 
Cantus will perform two new programs in spring 2026, including Deep River (March 15-22), a concert celebrating the power of community with cherished works from the choral canon, and Genius Child (July 14-17), honoring the legacy of the poets, musicians, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance who created beauty in the face of injustice.
Cantus’ popular COVERS series: Dolly & Friends, running May 30 – June 7 at the Luminary Arts Center in Minneapolis, celebrates Dolly Parton and her profound influence on generations of artists.
 
Continuing their proud tradition of collaborative concerts, Cantus will welcome the acclaimed British men’s vocal ensemble The King’s Singers for a one-night-only performance on Thursday, February 12, 2026 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
 
Cantus will continue to make performances available online to audiences worldwide to complement their live concerts, with digital subscription packages available that allow access to all livestreamed and on-demand performances throughout the season.  Cantus will also continue their pay-what-you-can program, offering single tickets to online offerings and single tickets to select subscription concerts in a pay-what-you-can format, starting at $5.
 
“One of the key parts of our mission at Cantus is to give voice to shared human experiences and to spark new depths of understanding and empathy – each of these programs really serves that mission,” says Cantus tenor Paul Scholtz. “I’m especially excited to highlight the incredible diversity of composers in our touring program, Land That I Love, as well as the exploration of identity and personal storytelling in the spring with Deep River. Each program this season embraces the Cantus ethos—we can’t wait to share these in-person and online with audiences everywhere!”

Cantus on Tour

Cantus will present programs Land That I Love and Wanting Memories – a program dedicated to the power of memory – on tour throughout the season in their home state of Minnesota and in venues in Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Additionally, Cantus performs Wanting Memories with the Austin Chamber Music Festival in Texas on June 29, 2025. Complete tour dates can be found at www.cantussings.org.

Fields of Wonder out on Signum July 2025

This summer, Cantus will release its fifth album on Signum Records, Fields of Wonder. The album is anchored by the premiere recording of a newly rediscovered song cycle set to the poetry of Langston Hughes and tailored for low voices by Margaret Bonds. Together with contrasting song cycles by 20th century French composer Jean Cras, and three world premieres written specifically for Cantus by contemporary composers Gavin Bryars, Melissa Dunphy, and Griffin Candey, Fields of Wonder explores themes of change, growth, acceptance and renewal.

Educational Programs

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