World Renowned Choirs Sale
Over 275 titles featuring world renowned choral ensembles are on sale now at ArkivMusic!
Discover titles featuring works performed by acclaimed choirs including The St. Olaf Choir, Choir of King's College, Cambridge, The Sixteen, Westminster Choir and more.
Shop the sale before it ends at 9:00am ET, Tuesday, April 14th, 2026.
262 products
Perpetual Twilight / Earley, University College Dublin Choral Scholars
The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin, under the artistic direction of Desmond Earley, is Ireland’s leading collegiate choral ensemble. With a large repertoire ranging from art to popular music, and stretching from the medieval to the contemporary in style, this choir gives many concerts throughout the academic year, both in Ireland and abroad.
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REVIEW:
The first thing that strikes you about ‘Perpetual Twilight’ is the sheer number and quality of young tenors. Produced by Nigel Short, this whole project exudes quality, from the choral texture down to the array of fine instrumentalists. Caught somewhere between spotlight and Celtic twilight, it’s a strong follow-up to the group’s 2015 debut, ‘Invisible Stars’.
– Gramophone
An Enduring Voice
Will Todd: Passion Music & Jazz Missa Brevis
HANDEL, G.F.: Acis and Galatea, HWV 49 (excerpts)
KENNST DU DAS LAND
Juanas: Premiere Recordings of Selected Choral Works / Endris, Collegium Mundi Novi
Antonio Juanas wrote some of the great choral music of the late 1700s, but far too little of this work is known. This release presents premiere recordings of these great works, performed by the Collegium Mundi Novi, conducted by R. Ryan Endris. R. Ryan Endris has received critical acclaim for his “ability to imbue his vocal and instrumental forces with his view of the music” and for his ensembles’ “clarity, exquisite phrasing, and vibrancy” (Bloomington Herald-Times). Dr. Endris currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral & Vocal Activities at Colgate University where he conducts the University Chorus and Chamber Singers. Highly sought after as a conductor and clinician, he has recently appeared as a guest conductor for the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble and Monroe County School Music Association’s Women’s Honor Choir and as a guest clinician at Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska), University of the Andes (Bogotá, Colombia), and University of Cartagena (Cartagena, Colombia).
Smith: Canticle / Johnson, Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble
Canticle is the inaugural release for the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble (VAE) on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Fanfare Cincinnati label. VAE, under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson, is a premier professional vocal ensemble dedicated to presenting passionate and innovative performances of choral music that raise and nurture the public’s appreciation of the life-enriching qualities of the choral arts. This exciting album introduces two recent works by celebrated composer Kile Smith. Kile Smith’s Canticle is a musical setting of one of the world’s great mystical texts by St. John of the Cross. Smith’s transcendent music, noted for the “ease and fluidity of its musical lines, its graceful counterpoint, its shimmering spirituality,” has garnered praise from audiences and critics around the globe. The music comes alive on this release.
Star of Heaven: The Eton Choirbook Legacy / Christophers, The Sixteen
The Eton Choirbook is famous – and important – because it uniquely preserves some of the most spectacular music composed in Britain before the age of Purcell and Handel. Had this book not survived, literally dozens of superb pieces would have been irretrievably lost; among them would have been the ones by Walter Lambe, William Cornysh and Robert Wylkynson on this album. Whilst the book itself is of huge historic significance, its legacy is immeasurable, informing and influencing scores of composers and performers for more than 500 years. This unique recording emphasizes that legacy with the premiere of four new works by contemporary composers all commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and all inspired by the works from the Eton Choirbook alongside which they sit. This album also features Stephen Hough’s stunning exploration of faith worldwide- Hallowed- which was commissioned for The British Museum’s ‘Living with Gods’ exhibition. “… the singing of The Sixteen under Harry Christophers was wonderful beyond words.” (Church Times) “Wonderful music, wonderfully performed… sit back and let these glorious sounds fill your ears and lift your spirits.” (Gramophone)
A Walk With Ivor Gurney / Tenebrae
Tenebrae join the Aurora Orchestra with mezzo soprano Dame Sarah Connolly and narrator Simon Callow for ‘A Walk with Ivor Gurney’, an album of choral music celebrating the works of Ivor Gurney whose promising career as a composer was interrupted by World War I. Alongside four pieces of Gurney’s own music are works by his contemporaries, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells. The recording features a new piece by Judith Bingham commissioned by Tenebrae in 2013 for the choir with Dame Sarah Connolly. Described as “phenomenal” (The Times) and “devastatingly beautiful” (Gramophone Magazine), award-winning choir Tenebrae, under the direction of Nigel Short, is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles renowned for its passion and precision. “For purity and precision of tone, and flawless intonation, Nigel Short’s chamber choir Tenebrae is pretty much unbeatable.” (The Times)
Christmas Lullaby
A Renaissance Christmas / Christophers, The Sixteen
Following The Sixteen’s hugely successful album, “Song of the Nativity,” which featured Christmas music from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, this new seasonal offering explores a stunning selection of festive works from the Renaissance. The Sixteen captures the joy and sincerity of the most wonderful of seasons, from the joyous simplicity of plainsong chants ‘Resonemus laudibus’ and ‘Veni, veni Emmanuel’ to the shining purity of Lassus’ polyphonic ‘Videntes stellam Magi’ and Byrd’s jubilant ‘This day Christ was born.’ This album provides a perfect alternative to traditional carols for those looking for something a little different at Christmas. “The Sixteen gives a masterclass in the art of unaccompanied singing, and in close emotional engagement with the pieces chosen… It puts the music front and centre, in this beautifully realized Christmas sequence.” (BBC Music Magazine)
REVIEWS:
Glorious renaissance polyphony is interspersed with plainchant in this treasure love, and full texts, translations and information sleeves notes make this an enviable Christmas present.
-- Choir & Organ
[The album] was recorded in St. Augustine’s, Kilburn in 2017, the generous acoustic adding a sprinkle of seasonal fairy dust...the pieces range from less the two minutes to nearly 10, the latter Tallis’s monumental Videte miraculum. One of the finest pieces (a difficult choice) is John Sheppard’s Reges Tharis, with its delightfully scrunchy little moments of harmonic and melodic tension, known as false relations.
As usual, The Sixteen sing with an outstanding sense of consort and balance, with superb intonation. Their sopranos, a mixture of younger and more experienced singers, are particularly impressive, the clarity of their voices giving an almost boy treble-like quality in their Veni, veni Emmanuel verse.
-- Early Music Review
The satisfying program of A Renaissance Christmas is no mere academic exercise or collection of rarities for collectors. The Sixteen deliver these works with exquisite tone and polished diction, performing to their expected high standards and creating a memorable impression with this refreshing album. Coro's sound is quite clear in the resonant acoustics, and the singers have a warm and vibrant presence.
-- All Music Guide (Blair Sanderson)
Pärt Uusberg: Choral Music, Vol. 1
Of Radiance & Refraction / NOTUS
As it approaches its fortieth birthday, it is high time Notus put out its first record. Founded in 1980 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, the choir is known for its commitment to new music and has premiered over 150 works. Five of their commissions are featured here. Of Radiance and Refraction, their debut album, demonstrates the wealth of talent found in the student ensemble led by Dominick DiOrio, as well as the remarkable works written for them by composition teachers at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, some tackling choral music for the first time. The album is anchored by John Gibson’s substantial work for chorus and electronics, In Flight. His music is paradoxically dark and brooding, light and airy, witty and sardonic. While Icarus is already drowning and half submerged in Brueghel’s painting of the same name, Gibson’s first movement paints the entire story: an opening pastoral scene transforms into the movement of melting ‘wing’s wax,’ with Icarus’ death ‘quite unnoticed’ by the surrounding folk. The goldfinch of the second poem is drawn with harmony out of jazz and sound effects reminiscent of white noise, while the third poem’s constellations swim through a more molecular and symmetrical harmonic world. The fourth movement moves toward the most fulfilling cathartic peak on the word “love”- a love which is short-lived, as the emotional crash of the poet is met with music of equal divisiveness. The fifth movement concludes the set with an atmosphere of smog and metal, of stuttering voices and desolate remains.
Martin: Mass for Double Choir / Miller, Westminster Choir
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Review excerpt of a May Westminster Choir concert performance of the Mass:
Frank Martin’s “Mass for Double Choir” is such a monumental and strenuous piece that few choirs can successfully perform it. True to form the choir made the work their own. The dynamic contrast went from hushed whispers to bellows that were never strident or ear-piercing. Striking dissonances dissolved into settled harmonies; running passages were as clear as a coloratura soprano; basses droned beneath Medieval-like melodies that contrasted with the Schoenberg-like chords that sometimes peppered the piece.
– David Friddle, Post & Courier (Charleston, SC)
A Prophecy of Peace: Choral Music of Samuel Adler
Invictus: A Passion / Darlington, Lanyer Ensemble, The Sixteen, Christ Church Cathedral Choir
Christ Church Cathedral Choir and Stephen Darlington join forces with Soloists from The Sixteen and a stellar group of instrumentalists on this premiere recording. Persecution of the innocent, malevolent authority exerting itself against ideas that threaten and challenge, the power of a peaceful, loving humility in the face of tyranny, the facing-down of fear; all hold profound universal resonance for people of many faiths and those of none. Such is the power of the Passion story and in his new work, Invictus: A Passion, multi-award-winning composer Howard Goodall has found a route directly to people’s hearts, telling the story afresh through his choice of thought-provoking texts combined with heart-rending yet inspiring music. Howard Goodall is a composer of choral music, stage musicals, TV and film scores and a music historian and broadcaster. His choral music has been commissioned to mark many national ceremonies and memorials; his settings of Psalm 23 and Love divine are amongst the most performed of all sacred music. Howard has composed some of the best-known British TV theme tunes of the last 30 years, and his score for the HBO film Into the Storm won him a Primetime EMMY award for Original Dramatic Score in 2009. For the last 25 years he has written and presented his own TV documentary series on the theory and history of music.
Panufnik: Celestial Bird / Skidmore, Ex Cathedra, Milapfest
One of the UK’s most lauded composers, Roxanna Panufnik celebrates her 50th birthday with a new release of her previously unrecorded choral music, performed by leading British choir Ex Cathedra under Jeffrey Skidmore. Known for her interest in world music, the programme includes performances from Indian arts organisation Milapfest on Unending Love, as well as the a recording of Child of Heaven: Dawn Chorus III – a new commission from Ex Cathedra that sets a Hymn to Dawn from the Rig Veda. Roxanna has written a wide range of pieces including opera, ballet, music theatre, choral works, chamber compositions and music for film and television which are regularly performed all over the world.
The Wind Blows: Music for Choir by Alfred Janson / Pedersen, Norwegian Soloists' Choir

“the wind blows” is the title of this album with choral music by the rather unique Norwegian composer Alfred Janson. We are talking contemporary music here, but not the gritty kind. Here beautiful melodies blend with modern means of expression; music that has its root in the Norwegian folk music treasure. The composer himself participates with his well-loved melodica and there are several instrumental soloists as well. This is a worthy continuation of the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir’s contribution to the recording of worthwhile music. The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir is one of Norway’s leading ensembles in any genre and among the foremost chamber choirs in Europe. The choir is equally at home in the classical/romantic repertoire and in contemporary music, making regular excursions into folk-derived music and National Romantic works. The Choir was founded in 1950 by the composer Knut Nystedt, who was its conductor for forty years. In 1990 he was succeeded by Grete Pedersen, who remains the choir’s artistic director to this day.
The Glory & The Dream: Choral Music by Richard Rodney Bennett / RBC Chamber Choir
Somm Recordings celebrates the sublime choral music of Richard Rodney Bennett – best known to a wider audience for his Academy Award-nominated scores to Murder on the Orient Express and Far from the Madding Crowd – with 11 first recordings and a vivid new recording of his choral masterpiece, The Glory and the Dream. Performed by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, directed by Paul Spicer and with dexterous support from organist Nicholas Morris, The Glory and the Dream features 12 varied and vivacious choral pieces composed over more than 50 years. The album’s striking title work sets Wordsworth’s ode Intimations of Immortality to music that conjures childhood rapture and adult fears with the utmost finesse and feeling and features a fearsomely complex and challenging organ accompaniment. Dating from 1961, the earliest pieces here are Two Madrigals in which Bennett treats the rich ornamentations of the 17th century to a wholly modern perspective. The most recent work, One Equal Music – a sinewy, austere anthem with a serene ending – was completed in February 2012, just 10 months before the composer’s death at the age of 76. Bennett’s fascination with the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras is also to be found in the elegiac partsong A Contemplation Upon Flowers, the vocal fanfare This Day and Time, a somber meditation on the finality of life and lasting effulgence of Christ’s eternal being, and the simple but affective carol I wonder as I wander. Other seasonal pieces include the early, plainchant-infused The Sorrows of Mary, the gentle ‘hush song’ Lullaby Baby and late, substantial Remember, O thou man, a fervent and heartfelt prayer ending in quiet contemplation. Previous Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir recordings on SOMM have included admired recordings of choral music by Herbert Howells, Samuel Barber and John Joubert, together with partsongs by Ireland, Delius and Stanford.
Gounod: Sacred Choral Music / Lustig, Gotting, I Vocalisti
Even though Charles Gounod is now mostly remembered as a composer of the opera Faust, his main creative focus was church music. His sacred oeuvre eclipses that of his French contemporaries, but cannot conceal Gounod’s affinity for opera. On the occasion of the composer’s 200th birthday, Carus is re-releasing an outstanding recording by the chamber choir I Vocalisti under the direction of Hans-Joachim Lustig of the oratorio "Die letzten Worte des Erlosers am Kreuze" and other sacred compositions: works to which the composer was particularly inspired by his stay in Rome and the Gregorian chant which is very frequently heard there. Depending on the project, the chamber choir I Vocalisti consists of 20 to 60 vocally and musically trained singers from Northern Germany, who come together to perform challenging sacred and secular choral music at a professional level. Since its founding in 1991, the ensemble has performed in numerous concert series and has received prizes at national and international choral competitions, including first prize at the 6th German Choir Competition in 2002 and 1st prizes at the international choral contests in Tolosa, Spain in 2004 and in Cork, Ireland in 2009.
Michael Brough: 25 Picture-Preludes, Op. 19
The House of the Mind / Rees, Choir of the Queen's College Oxford
Daylight Declines
Coro del Mundo
Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II / Christophers, The Sixteen
Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of Purcell’s stunning music written for royal occasions on the second album in their new series. Charles II’s formal Restoration in 1660 marked both an end and a beginning: the end of England’s republican experiment and the beginning of a long process of monarchical reconstruction; and with a politically accident-prone king on the throne, Charles’s public relations machine could never rest. Purcell joined its small team of composer operatives just as the wave of Stuart propaganda swelled massively, and he surfed the wave with breathtaking panache, from his first court ode – the simple but rousing Welcome, Vicegerent of the mighty King – to the ambitious Fly, bold rebellion involving verse settings in up to seven parts and a six-part chorus.
