Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents Songbird featuring Cantala Choir in Review
Cantala Choir
Nancy Singla, director
Asal Iranmehr, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
April 11, 2025
Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) is well-known for its “big show” concerts, with several hundred performers filling the stages of such venues as David Geffen Hall and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. What is not as well-known is DCINY’s presentation of much smaller forces in more intimate settings. Tonight’s performance, featuring the Cantala Choir at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, was the latest offering in this vein. The title of the program, Songbird, is also the name of Cantala’s recent release of their 4th recording, as well as the name of a work from that recording. It features works by Canadian composers, and is available for listening on all major streaming providers.
Founded in 2008 by Nancy Singla, Cantala is a Toronto-based choral ensemble. Cantala is a “musical home” for singers who both love choral music and are seeking excellence in performance. Nineteen vocalists took the stage under the direction of Ms. Singla. Cantala offered fourteen works. Most (nine) were sung a cappella. Asal Iranmehr was the pianist for the other five works (for the sake of not having to continually state which was a cappella and which was not, those five works were Lost Words, In The Days of Beauty, Cantique de Jean Racine, All the Little Rivers of Canada, and Blue Skies).
Before going any further, I would like to get some issues out of the way, As the majority of the works on the program were by Canadians, it would have been nice to have some basic biographical information about the composers. I would have liked to see texts for all the works as well instead of just a few. Lastly, and while this may seem extremely nitpicky, the printed program was marred with errors and typos – Ola Gjeilo was misspelled twice in the program, Marie-Claire Saindon was listed as Claire-Marie Saindon (and Saidon), and Hamlet was listed as Sonnet LXXXVII. Mind you, these issues are not criticisms of the performers, but details do matter.
Opening with Songbird, by Sarah Quartel, the Cantala Choir, brought forth qualities that would be a recurring theme for the evening – excellent ensemble balance, clear diction (in four different languages), and precise intonation. One would think that all these qualities should be expected (and of course, they should be), but this was something above the norm, and it made a favorable impression on this listener. It was apparent that Ms. Singla had prepared Cantala to a highly polished level in what was an auspicious start.
Selections from Lost Words, using poetry from Robert Macfarlane, followed Songbird. The “lost words” refer to once commonly used words that have been removed from the Children’s Oxford English Dictionary. Cantala offered six selections of the set of twenty (each “word” set by a different composer). They were Dandelion (composer – Nicholas Tyan Kelly), Ivy (Katerina Gimon), Kingfisher (Marie-Claire Saindon), Lark (Carmen Braden), Willow (Monica Pearce), and Wren (Don Macdonald). While all were performed well, Kingfisher, whichwas colorful and suggestive of the water acrobatics of the Kingfisher catching its prey, Willow, with soaring high voices, and the clever “now you do, now you don’t” lyric motif of Wren were favorites for this listener.
Five Shakespeare Songs (2018), by Bev Lewis was next. The texts were from Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, and Sonnet 87. It would have been interesting to know why the composer chose these particular texts. In any case, the settings were sensitively and skillfully done. While I admired the entire set, it was the Take, Oh Take Those Lips Away (from Measure for Measure) that stood out in capturing the bittersweet melancholy of Shakespeare’s words. Cantala brought these qualities forth with subtlety, which made it impactful rather than overwrought in display of immature angst.
Yi Chin O, (by Quebec composer Cui Wei), and Yeux D’enfant (Marie-Claire Saindon), the final works on the first half, showcased Cantala’s multilingual talents, the first sung in Chinese, and the second in French.
After intermission, Cantala added yet another language to the evening, Estonian, with Muusika by Pärt Uusberg. Estonian is a difficult language for English speakers, and I can’t really claim to knowing more than a few words, but the diction sounded precise to my ears. Well done! Two works by one of the “big names” in choral music, Ola Gjeilo followed – Northern Lights and In Days of Beauty. In many of Gjeilo’s works, there is a simple, but fresh beauty that is abundant and which makes his pieces a favorite for listeners and performers alike. Cantala’s approach was flawless – there is no need to do anything “fancy,” but just let the music speak for itself. The effect was exquisite.
Samuel Barber’s To be Sung on the Water followed the Gjeilo selections. The text (a poem by Louise Bogan) is a mourning of the loss of love (which had real life meaning to Barber when he composed this work), and Barber’s setting takes the listener on this emotional journey. Cantala took the listener on this journey with care and attention to Barber’s very evocative writing. After this, a cathartically energetic Cantique de Jean Racine (Gabriel Fauré, arr. John Rutter) was just right.
The final four works were a step away from the “serious” towards more “fun and light.” Cantala had already given plenty of proof that they were on-point with the heavier fare, so now it was time to have a little fun – and fun it was! A charming Waltzing Matilda (arr. Ruth McCall), some drumming and whistles in Woodsmoke and Oranges (Ian Tamblyn, arr. Rebecca Campbell), and a whimsical Canadian “river rollcall” in All the Little Rivers of Canada (Larry Nickel), led into a stylish Blue Skies (Irving Berlin, arr. Roger Emerson), which ended the evening. The audience responded enthusiastically.
All in all, for those of you who like hearing a choir without being subjected to the hackneyed handclapping and stilted “choreography,” in favor of one who makes it all about the music, bringing considerable musical excellence as well, the Cantala Choir is a group you would enjoy immensely.
