Cadenza Kantori aims to help young men and women use music as an effective tool of communication. It is one of the few choirs in Mumbai, perhaps the only one, to nurture and groom young talent; the future of music in the city. Many of the singers, enter the professional music field.
Following their experience with the Pueri Cantores in Germany, Cadenza Kantori returned with the goal of encouraging youth to take to choral music, as well as to bring about a fellowship of youth from varied backgrounds and communities. This lead to the initiation of the local Festival of Sacred Choral Music, held every December, which has been attracting young singers and musicians from across Mumbai. Through these festivals Cadenza Kantori conducts training programmes for youth who do not have the opportunity or access to get trained in the various aspects of singing as a choir. The Festival of Choirs has been extremely successful and in December 2014 completed 11 years of bringing youth together through Sacred music. This festival is focused upon as one of their main events of the year.
In order to provide a platform for youth to showcase their talents as well as encourage an appreciation of using a wide variety of musical genres, Cadenza Kantori envisioned the popular music event titled ‘Muzotika’. This event brought youth performers and experienced professionals in the music industry together in collaboration, leading to both the emergence of a highly appreciated event as well as contributing greatly to the musical and personal growth of the youth involved.
Cadenza Kantori collaborates with a number of other music groups. One such outstanding get-together was with the Newman Choir, a senior choir of Mumbai, in a concert of Austrian music. Since then the two choirs have been coming together regularly for multiple musical performances and presentations.
And there are International collaborations too. With a view to maintain ties and collaborate with their host choir of 2004, Cadenza Kantori invited the Madchenkantorei des Rottenburger Domes to India in 2005. Together, they performed in Goa, Pune, and Mumbai. But more than giving their guests a superficial experience of India, the organisers gave them a feel of village life and the social outreach programmes, carried out by the Jesuits of the Pune Province in those villages.
This relationship developed even further when the Madchenkantorei des Rottenburger Domes invited Cadenza Kantori back to Germany in 2008 to perform at the Neckar Fest in Rottenburg along with selected choirs from around the world. It was after this festival that the choir came in contact with the spiritual music of Taizé, France.
Part of the choir’s mission towards growth includes the spiritual growth of the members of the choir as well as others in the community. To encourage this, following their experience at Taizé, Cadenza Kantori began conducting Taizé prayer services for the group and their family members as well as for any other person or institution that requested for it and continue to do so throughout each year.
A second spiritual programme is the powerful musical on the life of Christ created by Carol and Jimmy Owens entitled “The Witness’. Originally staged in Mumbai, Goa and Pune in 1983, and later in 1992, and 1999, Cadenza Kantori made the decision to turn this presentation into an outreach program each Lent in the years 2009 onwards. The responses to these programs were tremendous! And although it was free to all, costs for sound and lights were covered from the love offerings received. Truly God is good!
Through the years Cadenza Kantori has been growing as a music group and now it continues to grow as an organisation, taking pains to keep its mission in focus. Today Cadenza Kantori is a unit of Joyful Noise Trust, which aims to promote music in all its forms.
Cadenza Kantori’s interaction with the Pueri Cantores, its aim of facilitating collaboration between music groups as well as its focus on spiritual growth has lead to the establishment the Indian Federation of Pueri Cantores.