Novantiqua Choir
Founded in 1980, the Novantiqua choir of Sion (Switzerland) consists of forty Valaisan singers, who are all studying vocal training at music school (Conservatoire).
As their name suggests (Nova & Antiqua), the repertoire of Novantiqua is very broad, ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary creations. They are fond of a cappella, but also regularly collaborate with famous orchestras (Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Ensemble La Fenice de Paris, Baroque Ensemble Swiss Consort) to perform the great choral masterpieces : Monteverdi’s Vespers ; Purcell’s Fairy Queen; Handel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt, and Dixit Dominus ; Bach’s Passions, Mass in B Minor, and Magnificat ; Haydn’s Creation ; Mozart’s Mass in C and Requiem ; Orff’s Carmina Burana...
The Novantiqua choir gives about 15 concerts a year, in Switzerland and abroad. They are regularly invited to perform at festivals : Armagnac’s Nuits musicales, Festival of Saxony- Bohemian, Bach Festival of Lausanne, Festival Tibor Varga, Concerts of the Gianadda Foundation in Martigny, Bach Concerts in Lutry, Concerts of the Cathedral in Geneva, Archipel, Festival de la Cité in Lausanne, etc.
In 1987 it was awarded the cultural prize of the town of Sion. After winning the International Music Competition of Rome in 1995, it was invited to tour Italy in 1996, giving six concerts.
In September 1999, under the direction of the tenor Peter Schreier and in collaboration with the symphony orchestra of Maestro Tibor Varga, the choir performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. In November 2003, the Novantiqua chorus was awarded the cultural prize of the canton of Valais.
http://www.novantiqua-sion.ch
