Yale Camerata

Yale Camerata is a seventy-voice vocal ensemble whose members are Yale graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, staff, and experienced singers from the New Haven community. Conducted by Dr. Felicia Barber, the ensemble performs a widely varied spectrum of sacred choral literature, with a special commitment to choral music of our time. The Camerata was founded by Marguerite L. Brooks in 1985.

The Camerata has collaborated with Yale Schola Cantorum, Yale Glee Club, Yale Philharmonia, Yale Symphony, Yale Band, Yale Chamber Players, Yale Collegium Musicum, the New Haven Chorale, and the symphony orchestras of Hartford, New Haven, and Norwalk. The ensemble has also performed for Yale Music Spectrum and New Music New Haven. The chamber chorus of the Camerata is a subset of the larger chorus and performs more specialized repertoire.

The Camerata has been heard on Connecticut Public Radio and national broadcasts of National Public Radio’s program Performance Today. Guest conductors have included Marin Alsop, Simon Carrington, Matthew Halls, David Hill, Nicholas McGegan, Erwin Ortner, Stefan Parkman, Grete Pedersen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Helmuth Rilling, Jaap Schröder, Robert Shaw, and Dale Warland.

The Institute of Sacred Music has commissioned works for Camerata by Martin Bresnick, Daniel Kellogg, Aaron J. Kernis, Robert Kyr, Tawnie Olson, Stephen Paulus, Daniel Pinkham, Robert Sirota, Julia Wolfe, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, among others. The chorus has sung premiere performances of works by many other composers, including Kathryn Alexander and Francine Trester.

Photo: Yale Camerata 2022 Advent Concert by Harold Shapiro.