Cantus is thrilled to announce our newest studio album, The Secret Letter, which examines stories of forbidden love in passionate letters spanning millenia.
Our sixth album released on the Signum Classics label weaves music together with excerpts from letters by Marcus Aurelius, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and others whose stories bear witness and celebrate queer love that has always existed—persistent, imaginative, and worthy of song—and that even in secrecy, has found ways to speak, to sing, and to survive.
With evocative works by composers including Abbie Betinis, Mohommed Fairouz, Leoš Janáček, Libby Larsen, Francis Poulenc, Steven Sametz, Mari Esabel Valverde, and Consuelito Velázquez, The Secret Letter lays bare unspoken desires and hidden yearnings, where love has often been relegated to the shadows, obscured by the weight of societal expectations and prejudices. The program also features the world premiere of Saunder Choi’s “Light Years to Lebanon,” a work commissioned by Cantus with generous support from Tom Arneson that was born from a real story shared at West Hollywood Pride that captures the ache of distance, the weight of secrecy, and the enduring hope that love can transcend time, borders, and silence.
The reviews are already rolling in and here’s what the critics are saying:
Cultural Attaché: “Cantus has once-again created an album that shows their commitment to unique and compelling programs and recordings. Of course they sing well. That’s a given. It’s that their heart is fully on display to inspire us all with ideas the world sorely needs now.”
BBC Music Magazine: “unmistakable vocal style…the singers’ stylish harmonizing and impeccable sense of rhythm.”
Textura: “Every recording issued by the low-voice ensemble Cantus is distinguished by the luminous vocal blend its eight members produce. The group’s sixth album on Signum Classics is rendered all the more powerful, however, by the queer love theme it constellates around and the means by which it’s explored. A tapestry brilliantly woven from thoughtfully curated musical selections and spoken-word recitations of passages from letters by Marcus Aurelius, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and others, The Secret Letter is a recording of immense value and, given the times we’re living in, courage…Cantus has been together for more than three decades, with personnel naturally changing throughout that time. But one thing that’s remained solidly in place is the finesse of its vocal delivery: when these eight conductor-less voices merge, the results are glorious….All praise to Cantus for channeling their energies into crafting a recording that exudes such a life-affirming spirit.”
AllMusic: “Listeners need not have any particular orientation to connect with these songs, since they are really about that near-universal human experience of romantic love, which sometimes registers as “queer” because of societal conditioning. Cantus brings a svelte, blended tone to every song it brings forward here…a well-sung and thoughtfully sequenced portrait of longing across centuries and languages. Cantus allows each song’s style and texture to reflect a different facet of their theme.”
Wild Mercury Rhythm: “The Secret Letter establishes itself as a hard-fought achievement in the modern choral canon, illustrating how a low-voice ensemble can wield historical narrative as musical activism. By seamlessly unifying pop sentimentality, spoken-word tragedy, and classical rigor, Cantus does more than just sing about the past; they resurrect the muted voices of history and grant them the acoustic space they were long denied. It is an album that demands to be heard not merely for its impressive technical blend or its rich, conductorless synergy, but for its emotional bravery. In revealing these hidden messages, Cantus has delivered an artistic statement on the enduring power of love against oppression, ensuring that these once-secret letters are finally broadcast to the world.”
Infodad: “Can be enjoyed simply for the quality of performance, even by listeners who do not understand the multiple languages in which the songs are offered. The eight singers of Cantus (tenor Paul Rudoi now replacing Matthew Shorten) deliver all the disparate musical material with equal fervor…uniformly smooth, well-sung (and well-spoken) delivery of whatever material they put their minds and voices to. …Cantus manages to cement a sense of unity of this recording simply by approaching all the material with equal attentiveness, balance and emotional receptivity.”
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