Cappella Clausura promotes the performance of music created by women, which has often languished unheard. Our repertoire ranges from cloistered nuns of the 9th century to a diverse group of contemporary women composers. Cappella Clausura’s name was inspired by the many female composers imprisoned in the cloisters (“in clausura”) of 19th century Italy. Since our ensemble was founded in 2004, our name has served as a metaphor for the ongoing cultural obstacles faced by women composers.

Over the past 17 years, Cappella Clausura has performed an ever-widening repertoire for enthusiastic audiences across Boston. Our core ensemble of 8-16 singers have partnered with superb freelance instrumentalists to present music by Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th/21st century female composers. In recent seasons, we have commissioned new works in a variety of genres, including hip-hop, jazz, and traditional Bengali. Cappella Clausura is a Parma artist with recordings on the Navona label: Hilary Tann’s “Exultet Terra” and Patricia Van Ness’s “Birds of the Psalms”. In 2017, Cappella Clausura was awarded the Alice Parker/ASCAP Award for adventurous programming.