Ars Nova Singers is an a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 choral group based in Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...

, USA. Founded in 1986 by Artistic Director Thomas Edward Morgan, Ars Nova is composed of forty selectively auditioned all-volunteer singers from the greater Denver metropolitan area. Ars Nova has achieved significant national recognition, recording eight critically acclaimed solo recordings as well as performing on seven recordings with Boulder composer and instrumentalist Bill Douglas (musician)

Bill Douglas (musician)

Bill Douglas is a Canadian musician, composer, pianist, and bassoonist whose works received influence from classical music, jazz, African, Brazilian and Indian music, 1970s funk and many other genres....

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Ars Nova performs a variety of music, ranging from works of early Renaissance masters to contemporary works by 20th and 21st century composers. The ensemble's musical accomplishments include performances of the music of Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen

Blessed Hildegard of Bingen , also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath. Elected a magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and...

, concerts of the complete Responsoria by the late-Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo di Venosa or Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer....

, acclaimed performances of the a cappella masterpieces of Rachmaninoff (the Vespers and Liturgy of St. John), and the commissioning and premiering of new works.

Honors and Recognition

Ars Nova Singers has been featured on radio broadcasts throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Australia, Japan, and Europe, including such National Public Radio programs as The First Art, Music from the Hearts of Space, and locally on Colorado Public Radio's Colorado Matters and Colorado Spotlight programs.

Honors include an invitation-only performance on National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. (2006); performances at the national conventions of Chorus America (2002) and The American Guild of Organists (1998); and support from the Chorus Program of the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

 and the Performing Ensembles program of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

Collaborations

Ars Nova has collaborated with other musicians and arts organizations in the Rocky Mountain region, including: the Kronos Quartet; Boulder Philharmonic; Colorado Music Festival

Colorado Music Festival

The Colorado Music Festival is a classical music festival in Boulder, Colorado. It was founded in 1976 by the Vienna-born conductor and violinist, Giora Bernstein and presents an annual summer season of concerts in Boulder's Chautauqua Auditorium performed by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra...

; Colorado MahlerFest; Frequent Flyers Dance Company; St. Martin’s Chamber Choir

St. Martin's Chamber Choir

St. Martin's Chamber Choir, based in Denver, Colorado, is a professional, non-church affiliated vocal ensemble of 24 voices.-History:St. Martin’s Chamber Choir, led by founder, Artistic Director and conductor Timothy J. Krueger, was created in 1994...

; Denver Chamber Orchestra; Colorado Mormon Chorale; and the newly formed Lafayette Pro Musica chamber orchestra.

The choir has participated in commissioning/new music projects, performing new works by Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus, Luis Jorge González, Jan Gilbert

Jan Gilbert

Jan Gilbert is an American composer, cellist, and professor of music.-Biography:Janet Monteith Gilbert was born in New York City, NY. She studied cello at the Naples Conservatory and was granted her bachelor of arts in music in 1969 from Douglass College. In 1972 she received a Master of Arts in...

, R. Anthony Lee, and Terry Schlenker. In September 2002 the ensemble premiered I Heard a Voice, a major new work composed by Thomas Edward Morgan and New York visual artist Lesley Dill and subsequently performed internationally at the Evergreen Cultural Centre

Evergreen Cultural Centre

The Evergreen Cultural Centre is a theatre and music venue in Coquitlam, British Columbia, opened in October 1996 by former Coquitlam Mayor Lou Sekora...

 in Coquitlam, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 (2003). In 2007, the ensemble premiered a commissioned work by composer Steven Stucky

Steven Stucky

Steven Stucky is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he studied music in the public schools and, privately, viola with Herbert Preston, conducting with Leo Scheer, and...

, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.

Thomas Edward Morgan, Artistic Director

Thomas Edward Morgan is the Artistic Director and founder of the Ars Nova Singers. Morgan received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music summa cum laude from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Colorado

University of Colorado at Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...

. Morgan currently holds an ongoing invitation-only fellowship in the Lucas Artists Program at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California

Saratoga, California

Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....

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Ars Nova Singers | 24th Season Roster (2009-10)

Jan Botwinick / Aaron Brockett / Evanne Browne / Tana Cochran / John Davies / Bruce Doenecke / Kathryn Donaldson / Juliane Dowell / Brian du Fresne / Brant Foote / Amy French / Jessica Harbeson / Sarah Kiefhaber / Steve Klentz / Kim Lancaster / Amanda Lucarini / Kathe Lujan / Steven Mitchell / Stephanie Moore / Paul Munsch / David Nesbitt / Shannon Pennell / Mark Persiko / Julie Poelchau / Geoffrey Quelch / Karen Ramirez / Anna Robinson / Jack Rook III / Lorienne Schwenk / Glenn Short / Bruce Smith / Tara Mianulli U’Ren / Rhonda Wallen / Lou Warshawsky / Rick Wheeler / Don Wilson / Steve Winograd

Solo Recordings

• Blue True Dream (2006)
• Rachmaninoff Vespers (2005)
• Luminescence (2004)
• I Heard a Voice (2002)
• All Sky (2000)
• Midwinter: Carols in Concert (2000)
• A Shadow and a Dream (1997)
• Soundscapes (1995)
• A Floweret Bright: Christmas Music of the Renaissance and the 20th Century (1993)

Featured on

Recordings by Bill Douglas

Bill Douglas (musician)

Bill Douglas is a Canadian musician, composer, pianist, and bassoonist whose works received influence from classical music, jazz, African, Brazilian and Indian music, 1970s funk and many other genres....

:

• Sky (2005)
• Homeland: A Prayer for Peace (2002)
• A Place Called Morning (2001)
• Eternity's Sunrise (2000)
• Earth Prayer (1999)
• Songs of Earth & Sky (1998)
• Deep Peace (1996)

External links

• Official Website: Ars Nova Singers
• Artistic Director Thomas Edward Morgan
• Rehearsal Session Video: "White Room"