Programs
Flagship / Current Programs
Mixed Chamber Choir • A Cappella
THE FOUR ELEMENTS
Air, earth, water and fire become a vivid musical journey through the beauty, mystery and elemental power of the natural world. Spanning five centuries, this atmospheric program combines beloved choral writing with some of today’s most cinematic and imaginative voices.
Featuring: Eric Whitacre Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine · William Byrd Terra tremuit · Stanford The Blue Bird · Morten Lauridsen · Ēriks Ešenvalds · Owain Park
“Polished, sensuous singing.”
- BBC Music Magazine
★★★★★
Choral Choice
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Mixed Chamber Choir • A Cappella
A NEW SONG: PSALMS FOR THE SOUL
Joy, grief, anger, doubt, penitence and ecstatic praise: the Psalms contain almost the entire emotional range of human life. This wide-ranging program places one of the world’s most famous choral works alongside music spanning Renaissance tradition and compelling contemporary voices.
Featuring: Allegri Miserere · James MacMillan · Hubert Parry · Caroline Shaw and the swallow · Uģis Prauliņš · Ivo Antognini
“The entire range of expressive possibilities is determined by the astonishing consistency of the ensemble sound.”
- Rondo Magazine on Ensemble Altera
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Mixed Chamber Choir • Cornet • Vibraphone
DECLARATIONS
A major new American choral work exploring the ideals, contradictions and continuing resonance of the Declaration of Independence. Historic words encounter voices from across the American experience in a work about freedom, belonging, identity and the unfinished project of democracy. Powerful as a standalone event or as the centrepiece of a broader American program.
Featuring: Music by Piers Connor Kennedy · Libretto by William Ashford · Additional texts by Tracy K. Smith, dg nanouk okpik and Langston Hughes
“Christopher Lowrey has put together something extraordinary.”
- BBC Music Magazine on Ensemble Altera
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Mixed Chamber Choir • A Cappella
FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA: AMERICA IN SONG
An expansive portrait of America in music - landscape and folk tradition, aspiration and the American dream, protest and division, homecoming and hope. Familiar songs sit alongside spirituals and contemporary choral writing in a program that is celebratory without shying away from the complexity of the American story.
Featuring: Shenandoah · Over the Rainbow · Billie Holiday Strange Fruit · Deep River · The Gift to Be Simple · Amazing Grace
“A most perfect blending of voices, made radiant and effervescent.”
- The Boston Musical Intelligencer on Ensemble Altera
Established Programs
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Mixed Chamber Choir • Organ Optional
THE LAMB'S JOURNEY
The story of Christ unfolds in four dramatic chapters - The Call, The Trial, The Return and The Gift - through some of the most powerful sacred choral music of the last five centuries. The program behind Altera’s award-winning debut album is especially suited to Lent, Holy Week and Easter.
Featuring: Lotti Crucifixus à 8 · Poulenc Agnus Dei · Barber Agnus Dei · Messiaen O sacrum convivium · Herbert Howells · Joanna Marsh
“The singing is terrific throughout.”
- BBC Music Magazine ★★★★★
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Mixed Chamber Choir • Organ Optional
DAZZLING LIGHT
Light - physical, spiritual and metaphysical - illuminates a program travelling from ancient evening prayer to the radiant textures of modern choral music. Warm, contemplative and ultimately exultant, this is Altera’s signature exploration of luminosity in sound.
Featuring: Eric Whitacre Sleep · Jonathan Dove Seek Him that maketh the seven stars · Herbert Howells Nunc dimittis · John Rutter · Thomas Tallis · Charles Wood
“A treasurable recording.”
- Gramophone
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Mixed Chamber Choir • Cornet • Vibraphone
WE REMEMBER
A deeply human journey through loss, memory and grief toward consolation, renewal and hope. Designed for moments of remembrance without being tied to any single historical event, this program combines some of the choral repertoire’s most moving works with music of extraordinary intimacy and beauty.
Featuring: Purcell Hear my prayer · Howells Like as the hart · Tavener Song for Athene · Ēriks Ešenvalds Only in Sleep · Parry There is an old belief · Amazing Grace
“Wonderfully refined and expertly blended, with that combination of radiance, power and transparency that comes with the best chamber choirs.”
- Europadisc on Ensemble Altera
Holiday Programs
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Upper Voices • Harp • Organ Optional
FEMININE VOICES AT CHRISTMAS
A luminous alternative to the conventional Christmas concert: music by women composers across nine centuries surrounds Britten’s beloved Ceremony of Carols in its original scoring for upper voices and harp. Intimate, distinctive and exceptionally beautiful.
Featuring: Benjamin Britten A Ceremony of Carols · Hildegard von Bingen · Imogen Holst · Joanna Marsh · Cecilia McDowall · Kerensa Briggs
“A luminous interpretation, with wonderfully precise ensemble and a buoyant sense of rhythm.”
- BBC Music Magazine
★★★★★ Christmas Choice
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Mixed Chamber Choir • Organ Optional
A CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Christmas music for the 21st century: a sumptuous mixed-voice program showing that the great carol tradition is still very much alive. Rich harmonies, familiar texts and contemporary writing make this both immediately accessible and refreshingly different from a standard holiday concert.
Featuring: Ola Gjeilo · Dobrinka Tabakova · Kerensa Briggs · Richard Allain · Adrian Peacock · Jonathan Rathbone
“In just a few years, the choir has become a leading ensemble on the American choral scene.”
- Scherzo Magazine on Ensemble Altera
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Mixed choir • Period-instrument chamber orchestra
CHAMBER MESSIAH
Handel’s masterpiece heard at human scale: intimate, vivid and dramatically alive. Altera’s chamber approach restores extraordinary clarity to the text and orchestral writing, with soloists drawn from within the ensemble and historically informed instrumental forces.
Featuring: Handel’s Messiah - available complete or as an agreed seasonal selection, including For unto us a Child is born, Glory to God and the Hallelujah Chorus.
“Seamless ensemble perfection.”
- The Boston Musical Intelligencer on Ensemble Altera
Bring Ensemble Altera
to Your Series
TOURS & OTHER APPEARANCES
"A NEW SONG: PSALMS FOR THE SOUL"
Florida Tour 2026
13 FEBRUARY 2026 | Ft. Lauderdale, FL
14 FEBRUARY 2026 | Bradenton, FL
15 FEBRUARY 2026 | Naples, FL
"MEIN TRAUM"
Orchestra of St. Luke's | Raphaël Pichon, conductor
23 JANUARY 2025 | Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
BRAHMS REQUIEM
Orchestra of St. Luke's | Xian Zhang, conductor
9 MAY 2024 | Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
"THE LAMB'S JOURNEY"
Texas Tour 2024
8 MARCH 2024 | Church of the Incarnation, Dallas, TX