#successcomesinallshades

About the Ensemble

Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble presents vocal music with artistic excellence, while celebrating racial and ethnic diversity. Led by Artistic Director Arianne Abela, the group of professional singers from around the United States and Canada have thriving national and international solo careers as well as a love for vocal chamber music, and focus primarily on presenting early and new music. In addition to performances and artistic residencies, the ensemble engages in creative educational outreach to audiences and students, particularly in communities of color, and promotes the study, research, performance, and recording of music from various eras with special attention to the intersection of arts and social justice.

Events

RESIDENCY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY

FEBRUARY 25-28, 2026

Ferbruary 28, 2026, 3:00 FREE Public Performance with Cornell Choirs

Barnes Halll, Cornell University campus

Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble and the Cantata Collective

Nic McGegan, conductor

In this blockbuster pairing, Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble—a group of American early music all-star singers celebrating racial and ethnic diversity—teams up with the Bay Area’s beloved Cantata Collective to present a beloved work in a slightly different guise: Johann Sebastian Bach’s 1725 version of his St John Passion. Neither the beginning nor the end are the same as in the version most familiar to listeners today, and several arias are replaced. Nonetheless, the work’s drama emerges in a different and utterly convincing light.

Joining this already remarkable collaboration is celebrated conductor Nicholas McGegan, who needs little introduction to Bay Area audiences as the music director emeritus of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale. A legend in the early music revival, Nic will bring his deep insights into Bach’s masterpiece, which he recently recorded with Cantata Collective in March 2022.

This concert is part of the Berkeley Festival and Exhibitions. Please click here for tickets.

SOUTH BAY PRE-FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE:
FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 7:30 PM
First United Methodist Church, Palo Alto
625 Hamilton Ave.

SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 4:00 PM
First Church Berkeley UCC
2345 Channing Way

Kaleidoscope and Chanticleer in Performance

GRAMMY® award-winning “orchestra of voices” Chanticleer joins Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble for a radiant Festival opening. Renaissance and Baroque gems meet spirituals and modern reflections in a collaboration celebrating vocal brilliance, diversity, and artistic friendship as part of the Berkeley Festival and Exhibition.

For tickets, click here!