Cantigas Women’s Choir seeks committed singers for its upcoming 2009-2010 season. The Hoboken-based all-female group brings women of the community together – from all ages and all backgrounds – to explore the rich tradition of women’s singing, and performs a broad spectrum of global music, both ancient and contemporary.
Cantigas also brings its music out to the community, performing at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J., American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, Everything Jersey City Festival, Hoboken’s Empty Bowls, United Nations International School’s Festival of Women’s Voices, and the Bayonne Cancer Survivors Group Meetings.
The group rehearses on Thursday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mustard Seed School, 422 Willow Ave., Hoboken.
Auditions will be held by appointment. Sight reading skills are desirable, but not required. Ability to sing in tune and blend in classical style is essential. To schedule an audition, please contact Litman at joan_litman@yahoo.com.
The Cantigas Women’s Choir
Named after a medieval Spanish song form called a “cantiga,” the choir is composed of 40 women of varying ages and backgrounds, and advocates through song for those whose hearts need to be uplifted and whose voices need to be heard.
Director Joan Isaacs Litman founded the group in September 2002. Litman is a native of Los Angeles and has been a choral director in the New York metropolitan area for 30 years. She was awarded the prestigious “Educator of the Year Award” by the Organization of American Kodály Educators in Washington D.C., in March. She also received the first “Excellence in Teaching” award from Westminster Choir College.
Litman is a member of the music faculty of the United Nations International School in Manhattan and a member of the summer faculty at the Kodály Institute at Capital University.
In April 2008, Litman was the guest conductor at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel, and her United Nations International School children’s chorus performed for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to New York last year.
Litman is also the author of Caravan of Song: Songs of the Middle East. She is a founder and Music Director Emerita of Mustard Seed School in Hoboken.
For more information, visit the Cantigas website at www.cantigas.net.