EXPANDING THE CANON

 "SELDOM HAS SCHOLARLY SLEUTHING IN DUSTY CORNERS OF EARLY CHORAL MUSIC YIELDED SO MANY MINIATURE TREASURES. MORE, PLEASE. " – CHICAGO CLASSICAL REVIEW

Order Bella Voce’s latest CD, Expanding the Choral Canon!

Our final program of the 2023–2024 season Expanding the Canon is now available as a CD from Centaur Records. The selection of choral works by underrepresented composers of Renaissance and Baroque, also including lesser-performed works by Palestrina and others, was released with Centaur Records on July 19. Order the CD now to support Bella Voce in continuing to offer exciting new programming.

About Expanding the Canon

Expanding the Canon is a five-installment project dedicated to exploring lesser known choral works by historically marginalized and disenfranchised composers.

The first installment of Expanding the Canon closed Bella Voce’s 41st (2023-24) season and featured new performing editions of Guatemalan villancicos and a cappella choral works by underrepresented 16th- and 17th-century composers. A collaboration with Dr. Liza Calisesi-Maidens, Director of Choral Activities at the University of Illinois-Chicago, the companion CD Expanding the Choral Canon was released with Centaur Records and is available for purchase above.

In the fall of 2024, opening Bella Voce’s 42nd (2024-25) season, the project was continued with Iberia and the Americas, exploring the music of sacred polyphony by new world peninsulares and composers indigenous to the Americas.

In the 2025-26 season, Bella Voce presents a third program in the series, Expanding the Canon: Central American Polyphony, which will features music from Guatemala and Mexico, and more. Learn more about the next concert in the Expanding the Canon series.