The kammerchor cantamus dresden was founded in 1995 by Martin Lehmann – who has been the 29th Kreuzkantor of the Dresden Kreuzchor since 2022 – and a group of dedicated young musicians. All of the choir's active singers today have a solid musical education, with many of the male singers being able to draw on many years of experience from their membership in the Dresden Kreuzchor. Since March 2019, the Dresden-based conductor Robert Schad has been the Artistic Director of the choir. In recent years, the kammerchor cantamus dresden has developed into a renowned ensemble, praised by audiences and the press for its warm and particularly clear choral sound and stylistically diverse programs.
The ensemble regularly performs in major German music centers and has been invited to perform at major festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Leipzig Bach Festival on several occasions. Successful concert tours abroad, including to Italy, France, Great Britain, Malaysia, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Singapore and Switzerland, testify to the high quality of the choir. In addition, the kammerchor cantamus dresden is a multiple prizewinner of international competitions.
The chamber choir's program focuses on a cappella music from the Renaissance to works of the 21st century, with the Central German musical tradition playing a particularly important role in the dramaturgy of the concert programs. Collaborations with well-known orchestras, such as the Dresden Philharmonic, the Dresden Kapellsolisten, the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra and the Prague ensemble Collegium 1704, round off the choir's musical profile.
The CD recordings "The Heavens Tell the Glory of God – Psalm Settings from Five Centuries", "Correspondence – Baroque and Modern", and the CD "That You May Remember Me Forever" with arrangements of German and international folk songs also provide a representative sample of the ensemble's extensive work. In January 2024, the choir was able to add a further, completely new facet to its repertoire when it joined the Dresden Philharmonic Choirs for "Harry Potter" film concerts under the baton of Benjamin Pope.
The kammerchor cantamus dresden is a co-signatory of the "Initiative weltoffenes Dresden" (Initiative for a Cosmopolitan Dresden), an association of Dresden cultural institutions that repeatedly sets an example for an open society, for tolerance and solidarity through targeted events.