Musica's History and All About Us

In 1971, a group of neighbors in Southern Maryland gathered together to share their love of madrigal music and formed the Madrigal Concert Ensemble. Ten years later, the name was changed to St. Maries Musica and the group grew to 21 members from throughout the region. Today, our 24 singers come from all walks of life: engineers and music teachers, retirees and housewives. Some members have been with us for less than a year, and some have been with the group since the beginning.

Over the years, we have performed at a variety of locations during our Spring and Christmas concert seasons. We regularly perform free public concerts at regional churches, as well as fundraisers for Historic Saint Mary's City, the original capitol of the Maryland Colony. We have even performed in such prestigious venues as the Kennedy Center and the Old Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C.

In 2014, Musica was invited to participate in a concert in Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City. The concert featured the music of Eric Whitacre and Stephen Schwartz. Several of the members attended this once-in-a-lifetime event and were musically rewarded for it.

As the name and costume suggest, we began life specializing in madrigals and other historic choral styles. However, we have expanded our music selections to include many genres ranging from classical to contemporary. With the creation of the Festival Chorus in 2012, we can now undertake works that require more singers, such as Durufle's "Requiem" and Bach's "Cantata 80".