Founded by JoAnn Rice in 1976, Florilegium is a chamber choir comprising highly trained avocational and professional musicians dedicated to the highest level of performance. Our repertoire is wide-ranging, from Renaissance to contemporary, sung in original languages.  We perform three concerts per year, the third Sunday in November, the last Sunday in February, and the first Wednesday in June. Eight rehearsals precede each concert.  The challenging material and compressed rehearsal schedule demand significant musicianship, sight-singing skills, and effort outside of rehearsals.  We perform with and without accompaniment. Rehearsals are on Monday nights on the Upper West Side.  Concert posters can be viewed here.

The Choir has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and The New York State Council on the Arts, as well as grants from numerous corporations and foundations. Specializing in contemporary music, Florilegium has commissioned and premiered more than thirty compositions, including works by Hayes Biggs, Nancy Chance, Donald Grantham, Walter Hilse, Hugo Weisgall, and Judith Lang Zaimont.

The Choir has been the featured guest of other New York City ensembles including Continuum, the Gregg Smith Singers, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Under the baton of JoAnn Rice, the group has performed in major New York venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. 

The name Florilegium means “a collection of the best blossoms.” In 1618, Erhard Bodenschatz published a collection of stile antico motets entitled Florilegium Portense. J.S. Bach was known to have a copy of this volume.

We are currently recruiting for all voice parts.  For more information, contact us.

“Throughout the evening the Florilegium Chamber Choir sang beautifully, with excellent intonation, clear diction and elegant phrasing. Ms. Rice took on a difficult task and accomplished it marvelously well, eliciting performances that were musical and sensitive, not only to the words, but also to their meaning.”

THE MUSIC CONNOISSEUR Vol. 4, #3