Our Musical Director

Mariana Rosas

Mariana Rosas is an Argentinian conductor based in the UK. She is Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus and she has worked with the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, the Royal College of Music, Birmingham Opera Company, National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, London Youth Choirs, Rundfunkchor Berlin and Cologne, BBC Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra, London Voices and the West Midlands Inclusive Choir. She also holds teaching and conducting positions at the University of Birmingham.Mariana was educated in Italy and Argentina, where she studied at the National University of Arts of Argentina and the Conservatoire of Buenos Aires.In 2018 she moved to the UK to study at the University of Birmingham with Simon Halsey CBE.In 2022 she founded Cantoras Upper Voices Chamber Choir, a group dedicated to exploring repertoire from all ages, especially a cappella.

Who are we?

Cantoras is an Upper Voices choir of soprano and alto singers from the West Midlands area of the UK, lead by our celebrated Musical Director Mariana Rosas. We are a friendly and welcoming choir, holding fully open and inclusive Open Days before the choir is selected.

What do we do?

Cantoras chamber choir performs 2-3 concerts a year, on a project basis. Each project runs for about 3 months. We have around 32 members for each project, ensuring a balance of parts for each project.

What do we sing?

Cantoras tries to champion choral music written by living composers, female composers, a capella reperoire and a wide variety of music written for upper voices from the last 600 years. Listen here for examples of our repertoire.

• Cantoras' YouTube channel

How can I join?

Cantoras choir hosts an Open Day at the start of each project, open to any sopranos or altos who are interested in singing with us. Those interested in joining the choir can sign up to an individual audition the following week. The audition is done via Zoom, and you will be invited to sing a section of one of the pieces rehearsed in the Open Day, a range test, and some aural exercises.