The Worcester Chorus Women’s Ensemble & Cantilena

Elinor A. Armsby became Cantilena’s Artistic Director in the Spring of 2022, as the performing arts were emerging from the pandemic, bringing new energy to the ensemble.

Elinor A. Armsby (“Ellie”) has been active as a choral conductor and clinician in Massachusetts and the Philadelphia area for over twenty-five years. In addition to her appointment as Artistic Director of Cantilena, she currently serves as Senior Choir Director at Acton Congregational Church. Previously, she has served as Music Director at First Church in Marlborough UCC and the Northborough Area Community Chorus, Artistic Director for the Rainbow Chorale of Delaware, Director of Music at First United Methodist Church of Germantown (PA) and Director of Choirs at Philadelphia’s Central High School. Ellie has been praised for her success in working with singers at all levels and her ability to create interesting programs showcasing music from diverse repertoires.

She received her undergraduate training in voice at Indiana University and her master’s degree in Choral Conducting and Music History from Temple University. In addition to her conducting activities, Ellie is an active composer and the owner and president of Hildegard Publishing Company, a publisher of concert music by women composers.

Mark Mummert (b. 1965) is the Assistant Director & Accompanist for The Worcester Chorus of Music Worcester, Inc., (Dr. Chris Shepard, Artistic Director) and the director of The Worcester Chorus Women’s Ensemble. Mark is also Cantor at Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA), Worcester, MA where he leads the music in all worship services, conducts the exceptional Trinity Choir, and is artistic director of the Music at Trinity fine arts series. Mark also serves on the voice faculty at Hanover Theater Conservatory in Worcester. Prior to moving to Worcester, Mark was the 2015 Distinguished Visiting Cantor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. Mark served as the Director of Worship at Houston’s Christ the KingLutheran Church  (2008-2015) and as Seminary Musician at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (1990-2008). Mark is also a tenor chorister with CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists), a professional choral ensemble based in Hartford, CT.

Mark is a composer of portions of the first musical setting of Holy Communion in  Lutheran Worship (2006), the commended worship book of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is the editor of Psalm Settings for the Church Year (2008, Augsburg Fortress) and Music Sourcebook for Lent and Three Days (2010, Augsburg Fortress). His numerous compositions for Christian worship are available from Augsburg Fortress. Mark’s recording Reformation Chorales Reformed (2017) includes organ works by J. S. Bach, Mendelssohn, Distler, and Clarke. The album is available for download and for streaming on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube. Numerous recordings are available at Mark’s Soundcloud site. Mark was principal musician for the 2005 National Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly and Worship Jubilee, and visiting scholar for Emory University’s Candler School of Theology’s “The Singing Church” Project in 2012. Most recently, Mark was organist for the International Choral Festival Barcelona in 2024.

As a singer, Mark has performed professionally with The Worcester Chorus, Choral Arts Philadelphia, the Bach Society Houston, and the Houston Chamber Choir. Mark’s voice can be heard on the Grammy nominated recordings, “soft blink of amber light” and “Rothko Chapel.” Mark studied organ with Earl Ness and John Binsfeld, voice with Robert Grooters, and choral conducting with Alar Harler at Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music. He is currently pursuing advanced vocal studies with Jane Shivick.

Cantilena, a chorus of women’s voices, is dedicated to encouraging and promoting the composition, study, and performance of choral music with an emphasis on music composed specifically for women’s voices. Cantilena strives to introduce both its members and an increasingly wider audience to unique works by composers they are unlikely to encounter elsewhere. Founded in 1968, the Cambridge Chorale, an ensemble of mixed (SATB) voices, began performing as a chorus of women’s voices in 1980 and renamed itself Cantilena in 2000. 2025 marks 45 years singing as a treble ensemble and 25th as “Cantilena”.

Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. Esmail’s life and music was profiled on Season 3 of PBS Great Performances series Now Hear This, as well as Frame of Mind, a podcast from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Esmail divides her attention evenly between orchestral, chamber and choral work. She has written commissions for ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Kronos Quartet, and her music has featured on multiple Grammy-nominated albums, including “The Singing Guitar” by Conspirare, “BRUITS” by Imani Winds, and “Healing Modes” by Brooklyn Rider. Many of her choral works are published by Oxford University Press. Esmail is the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 2020-2025 Swan Family Artist in Residence, and was Seattle Symphony’s 2020-21 Composer-in-Residence. She has been in residence with Tanglewood Music Center (co-Curator – 2023) and Spoleto Festival (Chamber Music Composer-in-Residence – 2024). She also holds awards/fellowships from United States Artists, the S&R Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Kennedy Center.

Esmail holds degrees in composition from The Juilliard School (BM’05) and the Yale School of Music (MM’11, MMA’14, DMA’18). Her primary teachers have included Susan Botti, Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, Christopher Rouse and Samuel Adler. She received a Fulbright-Nehru grant to study Hindustani music in India. Her Hindustani music teachers include Srimati Lakshmi Shankar and Gaurav Mazumdar, and she currently studies and collaborates with Saili Oak. Her doctoral thesis, entitled Finding Common Ground: Uniting Practices in Hindustani and Western Art Musicians explores the methods and challenges of the collaborative process between Hindustani musicians and Western composers. Esmail was Composer-in-Residence for Street Symphony (2016-18) and is currently an Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that promotes cross-cultural music connecting music traditions of India and the West. She currently resides in her hometown of Los Angeles, California.