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, Michael Eglin, 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.
Nathan J. Kreitzer is founder and artistic director of the Quire of Voyces.Nathan began his career in music singing in the church. He later studied voice and conducting at California State University, Fresno, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance. He holds a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the University of California at Irvine. As a professional vocalist, he has appeared with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Ventura Master Chorale, the Pacific Chorale of Orange County, the Irvine Camerata, as well as the Oregon Bach Festival Singers directed by Helmuth Rilling. He has studied under such conductors as Gary Unruh, John Alexander, and Robert Page. He has been singing and conducting professionally since 1989 and currently resides happily with his family in Santa Barbara where he is the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Santa Barbara City College and Director of Music at First United Methodist Church. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.