To Bethlehem Carols and Motets for Christmas Kantorei of Kansas City & Chris Munce

• 1 Alleluia! O virga mediatrix 02:19
• 2 O come, O come, Emmanuel 05:02
• 3 Ascendit Joseph a Galilaea 05:15
• 4 Spiritus Sanctus in te 03:06
• 5 Ave Maria 04:11
• 6 Hodie Christus natus est 02:41
• 7 Angels we have heard on high 03:00
• 8 In dulci jubilo 03:21
• 9 Angelus ad pastores ait 02:57
• 10 Parvulus filius 02:41
• 11 Magi videntes stellam 03:05
• 12 O magnum mysterium 02:38
• 13 Still, still, still 03:42
• 14 Grates nunc omnes 02:49
• 15 All my heart again rejoices 04:57
• 16 Silent night 03:55
• 17 Dormi, Jesu 05:42
• Total Runtime 01:01:21

Info for To Bethlehem Carols and Motets for Christmas

Missouri-based choir Kantorei of Kansas City and their director Chris Munce return to Resonus Classics with a sparkling recording of carols and motets for Christmas.

With a compelling programme of Renaissance and contemporary works for the festive season that presents the Christmas story and the journey to Bethlehem, including a number of world premiere recording. Kantorei explores rarely heard works by Renaissance composers such as Giovanni Bassano, Melchior Vulpius, Jakob Reiner and Blasius Amon combined with contemporary composers including Matthew Culloton, Ivo Antognini, R. Douglas Helvering and Kim André Arnesen among others.

Kantorei of Kansas City
Chris Munce, director

Kantorei of Kansas City
Formed in 2010, Kantorei of Kansas City has a rapidly growing reputation for its unique high-quality, clear sound and a fresh innovative approach to programming. Led by Founder and Artistic Director Chris Munce, Kantorei is formed of the finest professional singers in the Kansas City area and beyond, who each have a hand in shaping the over-arching vision of the group and its performances.

With its roots in performing early music, Kantorei has further broadened its repertoire to include a diverse range of music from the Mediaeval period through to world premieres of the latest contemporary works from both renowned and up-and-coming composers.

The group have made a number of recordings including a collection of Renaissance motets in 2011 and an album of Christmas music by the contemporary British composer, Tim Porter. Kantorei’s first recording for the pioneering label, Resonus Classics, features a wide selection of the choral music of New York-based American composer, Matthew Harris.

Aside from their regular concerts in the Kansas City locale, 2013 has seen Kantorei perform at the American Choral Directors Association conventions in Missouri and Nebraska, as well as launching its annual summer school Choral Institute for young singers with the aim of encouraging future generations of choral performers. Kantorei were also invited to perform alongside renowned singer Josh Groban during his most recent national tour.

Future plans include further regular performances in the Kansas City area that explore more rarely performed repertoire, a tour of the upper Midwestern US. Plans are also under way for the group’s next album.

Chris Munce
is an accomplished choral performer, conductor, educator, clinican and arts adminsitrator. As a performer he is a member of Kantorei of Kansas City, as well as its Founder and Artistic Director. He has also performed with the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers, and the Grammy Winning Kansas City Chorale. Chris was fortunate to be a part of the Chorale's Grammy Nominated album, "Rheinberger: Sacred Choral Works," as well as Simon Carrington's "Juxtapositions." Most recently, Kantorei completed recording the Christmas Album "Sweet Was the Song," and is preparing to release an album on the Resonus Classics Label.

Chris received a Bachelor's of Music Education and a Master's Degree in Choral Conducting from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. His graduate research focus was the performance practice of early Baroque choral singing in the French and Italian styles. Chris has studied with Eph Eely, Charles Robinson, Ryan Board, William Dehning, Peter Bagley and Jerry McCoy. He also served as adjunct faculty at the Conservatory teaching choral arranging, and at Blue River Community College as a professor of voice. Chris currently serves as the President of Conservatory's Alumni Board of Directors.

Chris is now teaching at Lee's Summit High School as the Director of Choral Studies where his premier ensemble "Sounds of Summit" has recently performed at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC and on a Masterclass with the multiple Grammy Award winning vocal group Chanticleer. Chris is also Director of Music at Lee's Summit First Presbyterian Church where he directs the Chancel Choir and Vesper Bells. He has been an active private voice instructor since 1999.

Matthew Harris
has had orchestral works performed by The Minnesota, Houston, Florida, Jacksonville, Chattanooga, Spokane and Modesto Symphony Orchestras; chamber works by the Lark Quartet, New York New Music Ensemble and League-ISCM; and vocal works by Sheryl Studer and Faith Esham.

His one-act opera, The Mark of Cain, will be premiered by Chelsea Opera in New York City this November. The New York City Opera presented scenes from his opera Tess on their American Composers Showcase series. Three Arias from Tess was premiered by The Lake George Opera Festival and Three Choruses from Tess was premiered at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Harris's highly popular choral works have been commissioned or premiered by leading choruses such as the Dale Warland Singers, Phoenix Bach Choir, Los Angeles Chamber Singers, Western Wind, and Cantori New York, and sung by countless school and community choirs across America. His A Child's Christmas in Wales, a cantata for chorus and orchestra commissioned by Harmonium, is performed throughout the US and the UK. Other commissions have come from the Fromm Foundation/Aspen Music Festival (where he was a Composer-in-Residence), Verdehr Trio, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Haydn-Mozart Orchestra, American Composers Forum, Schubert Club and US-Mexico Cultural Fund.

G. Schirmer and C. F. Peters publish his music, and Chandos, Albany, Cedille, MSR Classics and Opus One represent him on disc.

The National Endowment for the Arts twice awarded him a Composer Fellowship; other fellowships and grants have come from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Tanglewood, Meet The Composer, the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. Composition awards he has won include those from the Chautauqua Chamber Singers, Georges Enesco Foundation, Society for New Music, National Association of Composers, Musicians Accord, Diva Complex, Taubman Institute, ASCAP and BMI.

Mr. Harris studied at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has taught at Fordham University and Kingsborough College (CUNY) and in 1988 founded Harris Musiciology. He lives and works in New York City.

Booklet for To Bethlehem Carols and Motets for Christmas