A fearless ensemble of inquisitive musicians, Cantata Profana boldly juxtaposes masterpieces from the medieval era to the 21st century in lovingly curated shows filled with unexpected works and daring theater. At the heart of each signature Cantata Profana production is a vision for a new kind of programming: breathing life into classical music by carefully weaving together rarely-heard works from every chapter of music history and reveling in how it all fits together.
A “crack ensemble” (New Yorker) with “a taste for the dramatic” (New York Times), Cantata Profana is passionately dedicated to new music, old music “to most anything, so long as the mixture is put together thoughtfully and put across persuasively” (New York Times). Our artists are specialists in a dizzying array of musical genres, able to transform themselves from “a stylish early music ensemble” (New York Times) into “exacting and sensitive” performers of contemporary music (Boston Globe) all within one show.
Cantata Profana has been presented by Music Mountain, MATA Festival, The Stone, Princeton Sound Kitchen, American Composer’s Alliance, Baruch Performing Arts Center, the Yale Center for British Art, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and HERE Arts; our Spotlight Series continues for a third year at New York’s most fabulous cabaret, Joe’s Pub at the Public; and we collaborate with our sister company Heartbeat Opera on everything from their Halloween Drag Extravaganzas to full opera productions.
OUR ORIGINAL CORE ARTISTS:
Cantata Profana was founded by Artistic Director Jacob Ashworth in 2013. Early on, these wonderful artists signed on as core artists, forming a collective that shaped our vision and performance style. Since then they have all gone off to wonderful careers, but we still celebrate them here!
PHOTOS
