Cantus was founded in 1986 by a group of teenage girls who wanted to sing in a choir where they themselves could be in charge. Almost 30 years later, Cantus remains a choir that likes to follow its own ideas. A lucky strike led to the newly founded choir crossing paths with the young singer and conductor Tove Ramlo. Tove became Cantus’ first, and so far only, conductor.
Versatility has always been one of the main characteristics of Cantus. During our entire existence we have altered between different musical genres and feel as much at home with popular music, folk music and jazz as with contemporary music and the classical choral music. We have participated in a number of international choir competitions and we believe that this has helped us to focus and perform at our best when needed. In addition to this we have also put up a number of stage performances with popular music which train us in communication with our audience. Both of these approaches have been equally important in the forming of our identity.
The members of Cantus are all amateur singers and we spend a lot of time on the choir both artistically and with the running of the organization. Being a member of Cantus is a time-consuming activity but we have great fun. And all this time we have been in charge ourselves.
There is one thing that we decided many years ago and that we still hold on to: