The Canticum Novum Singers Story
In 1973 with great determination, I took paid advertisements in newspapers, created and hung fliers in stores, on telephone booths, and at bus stops, and further spread the word as best I could. It worked. After assembling twelve very good, experienced choristers, three in each section, we were off and running. However, the choir needed a name, and despite thinking about it for weeks, I still could not come up with one that I liked. One of the members of my choir suggested the name The Canticum Novum Singers, and I immediately liked it. I should have trademarked the name then but knew nothing about such things. Today there are a number of groups with the same name, but I believe mine is the oldest of them.
I was a determined young man wishing to start a not-for-profit corporation and was not deterred by the fact that I never took a business course (although that was a piece of advice my father gave me). Somehow, I was directed to a wonderful organization called Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. They supplied the requisite Constitution and By-laws, registered me with the State of New York and sent me on my way. From the outset, my goal was to perform only early music, since there was no other volunteer choir in NYC doing just that. It was the music I knew best, and there certainly are enough gems from the Renaissance period alone to sustain an ensemble for its lifetime. I had an interesting array of singers in my group. This assemblage of singers had one thing in common: They could all read music quite well and were very musical. I had been very selective accepting singers; only one in about 17 passed the audition. I wanted the group to stand out and be noticed from the start, and I believe that I accomplished that goal handily.
From the outset, the ensemble gelled and made steady progress despite unexpected hurdles I encountered in the beginning which I go into detail about in my autobiography. Read More >
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