INCIPIO
“Incipio”, from Latin, means "begin".
Our Mission: to collectively create innovative choral programming with young professionals of diverse backgrounds for fresh audiences in Western New York and beyond.
Our Vision: a musical safe space in which singers and audiences from all walks of life can enjoy high quality, adventurous, and inclusive choral sounds.
Our Values:
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INCIPIO actively creates and maintains a safe space for all of our vocal artists, leaders, audience members, and composers. We value perspectives of folks from all walks of life, and especially lift up the voices of those historically marginalized by the artistic community. We celebrate members of all races, sexual orientations, religious identities, gender identities, national affiliations, and belief systems.
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INCIPIO is an artistic collective. We collaborate actively and equitably with all members of our community, and prize the creation and active maintenance of a welcoming, affirming community where there is space for all voices. We lift up a transparent group leadership structure where all are welcome to participate as much or as little as they woud like, non-hierarchically.
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INCIPIO takes an innovative approach to programming by prizing works specifically to push us out of our comfort zones, and to diversify and expand the aesthetic palettes of our audiences and artists alike through the creation of sounds and colors both familiar and foreign.
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INCIPIO adds new value to the choral world by embracing artists of all ability levels and creating unique opportunities for artistic growth, support, and learning.
INCIPIO performs cutting-edge repertoire as part of a variety of creative programming – everything from game & cinema soundtracks, to folk songs, to Broadway and pop ballads, to sprightly madrigals, to the classical sacred standards. As the foundation of our repertoire, we work with and reflect the art of underrepresented, contemporary composers, and lift up the voices of all of our vocal artists.
Our singers, who come from a multifaceted array of backgrounds united by their musicianship, include music educators, choir singers, and professional performers from around Western New York, as well as casual singers and members of the greater professional community. INCIPIO is led by a team of dedicated volunteers and supported by a core group of 16 experienced, multitalented professional vocalists.