Mission:

Amor Artis is an elite chamber chorus dedicated to illuminating the relationship between Renaissance, Baroque, and Contemporary music.

History:

The Amor Artis Chorus and Orchestra has been one of New York's beloved institutions for more than fifty years. It gained renown as a pioneer of the early music revival in the United States and for performing Baroque masterworks in period-instrument style. It has performed and recorded a great range of standard and lesser-known repertoire, and has premiered many important works for New York audiences. It commissions new pieces and revives old ones. 

Amor Artis has issued more than fifty recordings, spanning works of five centuries, and has won five Record-of-the-Year awards from Stereo Review. It has recorded on seven labels, including its own Amor Artis Edition, and has performed in the city’s most important concert halls. In its early years, it issued the first recordings ever of Handel’s oratorios Theodora and Jephtha and was the first group in New York to perform Bach’s Mass in B minor with a period-instrument orchestra.

Ryan James Brandau became Artistic Director in 2014 and strengthened ties with the finest period-instrument players in New York City. For almost fourty years, the group has rung in the new with an all-Bach program for New Year’s Eve, a cherished NYC tradition.

Although early music is its first love Amor Artis performs a vast repertoire and has commissioned and premiered new works for New York audiences (the 2023-2024 season included a world premiere).

The group was recently named one of eleven finalists, nationally, in The American Prize in Choral Performance, and one of seven finalists in a nationwide contest for the performance of American music. In 2021, Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau won third prize in the nation for the American Prize in choral conducting.

Founded with all professional musicians, the Amor Artis Chorus has grown to include both pros and skilled amateurs, united in their devotion to an art that will outlive them. So long as there are people, so long will there be love of art: Amor Artis.