Cantores in Ecclesia is a choir that was established in Portland, Oregon, in June of 1985 with the intention of providing Gregorian chant and sacred polyphonic music for the Solemn Latin Mass. Dean Applegate is the current and original director of the choir.
Cantores in Ecclesia consists of a children's choir and an adult choir, each of which rehearses weekly with Dean Applegate. At Mass and in concert, Cantores draws from a wide variety of music in addition to Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony, including sacred compositions by 20th-century English and French composers.
In November 1997, the choir won gold medals in all categories in the Fifth International Palestrina Competition in Rome and subsequently released a CD of music sung during the tour. The choir also puts on an annual William Byrd Festival in late August.
The principal service of Cantores in Ecclesia is the task of combining music and prayer. Gregorian chant is a form of sung prayer, and the music of the great masters of sacred polyphony, such as Palestrina, Victoria and Byrd, creates a prayerful atmosphere when the music is sung in its original liturgical context. Cantores in Ecclesia is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony in liturgical context within the Latin Mass of the Catholic Church.
Cantores in Ecclesia is featured on
O Lux Beatissima, a recording of the best-known traditional Gregorian hymns.
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