Some things can only happen in music.
Kinnara has spent twenty years making them happen.

Kinnara started in a church in New Jersey with singers who gave their time because the music was worth it. We have moved, restructured, survived a pandemic, and asked ourselves more than once whether we should keep going.

The answer has always been yes. And the honesty it takes to keep asking that question is part of who we are.

What we make is not background music. It is not comfortable or familiar or easy. It is the kind of thing that happens in a room when a group of extraordinary singers and an audience of open people find each other, and something occurs that could not have happened any other way.

That experience is rarer than it should be. We are doing what we can to keep it alive.

We call this moment Resurgens. Rising again. It is Atlanta's word and it is ours.

About Kinnara

  • Grounded in the belief that communal singing is inherently connective for singers and listeners, Kinnara crafts exemplary musical experiences that speak to the modern soul and creates space for professional ensemble work in America.

  • We believe choral music does something to people that nothing else can. Not recorded music, not amplified music, but voices in a room, together, making something that exists only once and changes everyone who witnesses it. We believe that experience belongs to everyone, and that a world without it is a world missing something it cannot name.

  • Generosity of time, talent, and spirit. The singers who perform with Kinnara are professionals who could be anywhere. They choose to be here, and they bring everything they have. We try to deserve that.

    Honesty in the music we choose, the commitments we make, and the way we talk about who we are. We say what we mean and we do what we say.

    Excellence not as an aspiration but as a baseline. The room demands it of everyone in it, singers, conductor, and audience alike. We do not settle.

    Stewardship of the resources entrusted to us, the music we are given to perform, and the experience we create for the people in the room. We take all of it seriously.

    Love of each other, the music, and the people who show up to hear it. That is the whole reason the room exists.

  • Heralded as “luxurious, lush, and verdant” (New York Classical Review), and “breathtakingly beautiful” (Arts ATL), Kinnara is one of America’s premier professional chamber choirs. Under the direction of J.D. Burnett, Kinnara performs a wide variety of repertoire from all eras, captivating audiences with its unique programming and memorable artistic communication. Distributed internationally by Naxos Records, Kinnara’s debut album “Provenance” is lauded as “a jewel that combines appealing, varied programming with sterling musical qualities and direct, memorable artistic communication.” (Choral Journal). Through our commitment to collaboration and innovation, Kinnara strives to build a more harmonious and compassionate world through choral music with its passion, creativity, and dedication to excellence.

  • When you support Kinnara, you make it possible for singers and audiences to find each other in a room, and for something to happen that cannot happen any other way, something that stays with everyone in it long after the music ends.

  • "CONSISTENTLY TOP NOTCH"
    — ArtsATL

    "KINNARA REVELS UNABASHEDLY IN LUXURIOUS SOUND...LUSH AND VERDANT."
    — New York Classical Review

    “...YOU'D BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND A CHOIR THAT CREATES A LOVELIER SOUND.”
    — American Record Guide

    "EXACTING STANDARDS AND DEEP-FELT MUSICALITY, WHERE EVERY PHRASE, EVERY BLOCK OF SOUND, WAS BALANCED AND PERFECTLY POLISHED."
    — ArtsATL

    "PROVENANCE (2017) IS A JEWEL THAT COMBINES APPEALING, VARIED PROGRAMMING WITH STERLING MUSICAL QUALITIES AND DIRECT, MEMORABLE ARTISTIC COMMUNICATION."
    — Choral Journal

    "A PERFORMANCE THAT SOUNDED LIKE ABSOLUTE PERFECTION."
    — Jon Sobel, blogcritics.org

    “BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL.”
    — ArtsATL

    "YOUTHFUL ENERGY AND FRESH PERSPECTIVE…A SENSE OF EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT AND SHARED MUSICAL IDEALS…EFFORTLESS SINGING, LYRICAL IMPULSE, AND THOUGHTFUL INTERPRETATION."
    — Choral Journal