Welcome. We’re thrilled that you’ve found your way to Ensemble Companio and are interested in joining our musical community! As we enter our twelfth season, we’re welcoming auditions from gifted vocalists of all voice parts, but especially tenors and basses.

Fill out our audition form here!

What distinguishes Ensemble Companio from other community choirs?

Mission- Ensemble Companio is a mission-driven choir that strives to build bridges between people through authentic, inspiring performances of the finest choral music. We plan, rehearse, and perform with the objective of bringing our mission to life.

Travel- We draw talented musicians from all over the Northeastern United States, with slightly heavier concentrations in the Boston, NY/NJ, and Philadelphia areas. This continuously brings us into contact with new locations and communities. From workshops with young choristers to performances in nursing homes, we endeavor to share the amazing power of choral music wherever we go. 

Memorization- We perform all of our music from memory in concert. This helps us to live deeply with the music, which in turn helps us better connect with our conductor, our audiences, and each other, and put on higher-quality concerts. Because we only rehearse once a month and work for full memorization by mid-season, the goal of rehearsals is not to learn notes or rhythms, but rather to polish work that members have done individually between rehearsals. To aid everyone in that effort, we post scores to a choir Wiki, along with part-specific and whole-group midi files, and videos of each rehearsal. Members also meet between rehearsals to hold optional regional sectionals when possible. 

Camaraderie- Ensemble Companio derives its name from a late Latin form of “companion,” whose etymological meaning is “one with whom one shares bread.” The name reflects our belief that sharing in choral music is an essential, nourishing, and healing endeavor akin to the sharing of food.

The retreat-like nature of our rehearsal weekends helps to create a special bond between our members. Whether carpooling together to rehearsal locations, working through an especially thorny musical line during rehearsal, or gathering for dinner after rehearsal, there is plenty of time for Companios to form friendships and share in good times.

Do I need to be a professional musician?

Ensemble Companio is a volunteer community choir open to adults 21 years of age and older. We attract a diverse community of highly dedicated, exemplary musicians from a variety of professions who are unified in their passion for the power of choral singing. We recognize that delivering authentic, inspiring performances is well worth the time and energy invested in preparation for them. Though most of us are gifted amateur musicians, we strive to operate and perform at a professional level. 

Tell me about Ensemble Companio’s season calendar?

We rehearse, on average, one weekend a month from September through May. Saturday’s rehearsal runs from 8:45am to 5:30pm with short morning and afternoon breaks, and an hour-long lunch break. Sunday’s rehearsal runs from 8:45am to noon.

As our season progresses, we work to build small, mission-related performances into our Sunday early afternoon calendars, often for the community or organization that has hosted us for the weekend. 

Our rehearsal weekends for 2022-2023 were:
September 24-25
October 29-30
November 19-20
December 10-11
January 21-22
February 11-12
March 4-5

Our concert performance season runs from March into June.

During the 2022-2023 season, we met in-person for rehearsal and performance in accordance with state and national health guidelines.

What are the expenses associated with Ensemble membership?

There are some individual travel and lodging costs associated with membership in a traveling choir. We work to moderate travel expenses by facilitating car shares and home stays for rehearsal weekends where possible. Additionally, we rotate the responsibility for providing lunch each rehearsal weekend between sections.

Sounds amazing! How do I audition?

Start by filling out this form with your voice part, location, and a little bit about your background. Our Ensemble Advocate, Elena Gregorio, will reach out to you to confirm receipt and send you audition materials. Our auditions are done in two stages, the first of which comprises a submission of vocal exercises and a song excerpt for review by our Artistic Director, Erik Peregrine. 

Please submit all audition materials for the 2023-2024 season by August 15, 2023.

All candidates who advance to the second stage will be asked to attend our first rehearsal of the season for a final audition.

We look forward to hearing from you!