The Santa Barbara Quire of Voyces was founded in 1993 to rediscover the sacred a cappella choral music of the Renaissance and the modern age. The Quire has twenty-five professional singers from the Central Coast, annually auditioned, who volunteer their services to present the highest quality performance of this music in historic settings.
The ensemble works with several living composers, such as Eric Whitacre, Stephen Paulus, Michael McGlynn, Steven Sametz, Carl Rütti, and Frank Ticheli, and premiers new works regularly.
The Quire maintains a partnership with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra to perform major works of the Baroque era, recent performances include Mozart’s “Requiem” and Bach’s “Mass in b Minor.” They have also collaborated with the Music Academy of the West and the Camerata Pacifica.
Beyond Santa Barbara, they have performed to great acclaim in England, including Salisbury and Canterbury Cathedrals and Saint James Picadilly, London. They have given excellent performances in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Finland, Estonia and by invitation to the Gotland Medieval Festival, in Visby, Sweden.
The Quire regularly hosts a major education and outreach event for high school choruses from throughout California, a full day immersion in a capella music in historic venues with coaching by highly respected choral leaders. Past clinicians have included William Hall, John Alexander, Vance George, Paul Smith, Tom Davies and Gary Unruh.
They have released six compact disc recordings to great critical acclaim. These are available for purchase from Chaucer’s Bookstore, iTunes, and online at cdbaby.com/all/quireofvoyces. Although the Quire of Voyces is sponsored by Santa Barbara City College, which underwrites some of the operating expenses, the group is dependent on outside grants and donations for music literature purchases, concert production, CD pressing, concert tour costs, administrative support, etc.