The Oriana Consort

The Oriana Consort gradually evolved from several amateur choral groups that Walter Chapin directed in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1994, the group adopted the name "Oriana Consort" and began to increase its membership. From about 2002 to 2006 the group further evolved toward its present form: an a cappella chorale of about thirty singers, auditioned to very high standards, who rehearse and perform primarily without accompaniment, tuning only to their own voices. The group’s size is intimate enough for madrigals and motets, yet large enough for demanding choral works such as Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei, J.S. Bach’s double-chorus motets, Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning, Gabriel Faure’s Requiem, and Eric Whitacre’s eight-part Lux Aurumque.

The name "Oriana Consort" is actually a misnomer, for the group is not really a consort, but a chorale. It its founding year of 1994 it was an eight-voice ensemble that actually was a consort, in the Renaissance sense of voices and Renaissance-era instruments, and the name stuck.