Cantoque Ensemble, founded in 2017, is a chamber choir of eight to twelve singers based in Reykjavík, Iceland. All singers are professional singers, many of whom have sung with orchestras around the world, performed on the stage of the Icelandic Opera and received various awards for their singing.

Cantoque Ensemble was founded from a Nordic collaboration with the baroque orchestras Höör Barock and Camerata Öresund with their concert being nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards as Musical Event of the Year 2017. The Cantoque Ensemble performed J. S. Bach’s cantatas at the Summer Concert in Skálholt with the Bach Orchestra in Skálholt under the baton of the renowned conductor Andreas Spering. The choir has held numerous concerts with Icelandic folk songs and prides itself in performing new Icelandic music. Cantoque Ensemble collaborates with conductor Steinar Logi Helgason and recently performed J. S. Bach’s “Passion” with the Baroque band Brák under his direction, as well as performing new Icelandic vocal music at the Summer Concert in Skálholt and at the Song Festival in Hafnarborg under the direction of Steinar Loga.

Cantoque Ensemble’s recent projects include the continued collaboration with Camerata Öresund in 2021, but also the baroque ensemble Ensemble Nylandia from Sweden. The project took place in Iceland and Denmark, with the concert being televised to the baroque festival BarokkiKuopio in Finland. That concert was nominated as Musical Event of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards. Cantoque also held a concert at Dark Music Days 2022, under Helgason’s direction, where Icelandic composer Jón Nordal’s choral music was at the forefront. The concert was highly praised by critics and concertgoers alike. Subsequently, Cantoque presented the Nordal-project at PODIUM, at Dark Music Days 2023.

In 2023, Cantoque began a collaboration with Ensemble Choeur3 and the artistic director Abélia Nordmann. Together, the groups performed Frank Martin’s well-known Mass for Double Choir along with Icelandic work. The programme was also performed at the final concert of the Song Festival in Hafnarborg in July 2023. In Switzerland, Cantoque also performed an all-Icelandic repertoire to introduce Icelandic choral works as well as holding a masterclass for conductors and choral singers in the Basel area.