Cantilena, a women's chorale, is an ensemble of approximately 30 singers, dedicated to performing music written for the treble voice. Our challenging and diverse repertoire spans the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries and includes works in many different languages and musical forms. We strive to introduce both our members and our audience to works they are unlikely to encounter in other forums. This includes pieces in which women compose the music and/or text, as well as music commissioned specifically for women's ensembles.

Over the years, we have featured the works of female composers inlcuding Amy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Mabel Daniels, and Emma Lou Diemer; noted New England composers such as Arthur Foote, Horatio Parker and Edward MacDowell; as well as the music of better-known composers such as Brahms, Faure, Britten, Holst and Schubert, among others. In previous seasons, several composers have written pieces especially for Cantilena. Roger Bourland, one of the co-founders of Composers in Red Sneakers, dedicated his Dickinson Madrigals (Book II) to us. California composer/physicist Brian Holmes has written several pieces for the ensemble as well. Most recently, Cantilena commissioned and premiered Three Heartfelt Songs from our own music director, Kenneth Seitz.

Cantilena was founded in 1968 as the Cambridge Chorale, an ensemble of mixed (SATB) voices. In 1980, the group became a women's chorus, and in 2000 we changed our name to Cantilena to more accurately reflect our unique status as women's chorale. The name means, at its simplest level, a song or style of music where the melody is in the treble line. Cantilena is based in Arlington, Massachusetts. We have been fortunate to have Kenneth Seitz as our music director since 1978.