The Austrian vocal ensemble NovoCanto was founded in 2000 by choir director and conductor Wolfgang Kostner with the aim of interpreting rarely heard literature, primarily from the field of early music, in a stylistically appropriate manner. Since then, the ensemble has repeatedly demonstrated its expertise in Romantic and contemporary choral literature. The performers come from all parts of Tyrol and are mainly graduates of the Mozarteum University Salzburg or the Tyrolean State Conservatory. Most of them work full-time as music teachers.
A cornerstone of the choir's project-based work is its collaboration with international experts: in the past, specialists such as Frieder Bernius, Howard Arman, Attilio Cremonesi, Kasper de Roo, Christophe Rousset, Eduardo Egüez, Andrea Marcon, Ottavio Dantone and others have stood at the conductor's podium. The ensemble works with internationally renowned ensembles such as the British Hilliard Ensemble, the French baroque orchestra Café Zimmermann, Les Talens Lyriques, Accademia Bizantina, La Cetra Basel, the pan-European Theresia Orchestra, the Young Musicians European Orchestra, the Tyrolean Baroque Instrumentalists, the Austrian-Italian ensemble Windkraft, the Hungarian Baroque orchestra Capella Savaria, the Polish Baroque orchestra Wroclaw, Concerto München, the Baroque Soloists Munich, the Neue Hofkapelle Graz, the Camerata Europæa and the Italian-Argentinian ensemble la Chimera. Since its foundation, the choir has not only established itself nationally through numerous innovative and thematically focused programmes performed with stylistic confidence but has also produced live broadcasts for radio and television and has been recorded many times. NovoCanto has received invitations to festivals such as the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, the Baroque Festival Varazdin, the Forum Concerts Breslau, Musik&Kirche Brixen, Klangspuren Schwaz, the Tyrolean Baroque Days, and others.
The chamber choir performs with a core ensemble of 16 singers, which can be expanded or reduced depending on the repertoire. NovoCanto has already premiered several works dedicated to it by established contemporary composers (including Christoph Dienz and Manuela Kerer). The repertoire profile covers sacred literature spanning six centuries, but also secular works ranging from staged Baroque opera to experimental music of the 21st century. NovoCanto also works intensively with the regional scene, often in collaboration with artists from a wide variety of genres: highly acclaimed concert concepts outside the mainstream testify to its efforts to help shape the choral scene in Tyrol.