The Cantamos ensemble under the direction of Jesse Hooper debuted at Georgia State’s Rialto Center for the Arts in July of 1996. They entertained, educated and enlightened audiences as far north as Milwaukee and as far south as Miami. They have shared the stage with artists, Bernice Reagan Johnson, Abbey Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Charles Dutton and Odetta. They were invited to perform in the Opening Ceremonies for the National Black Arts Festival in 1996 and 1998, and appeared on the TBS broadcast of Ark of the Spirit with Avery Brooks in 1996.  It is their mission to restore and preserve the Negro Spiritual and other African-American choral compositions and arrangements.

Members posses a combination of musical training, warm voices and are able to produce shrilling highs and bellowing lows. Members mostly reside in the Metropolitan Atlanta Area, Orlando, Nashville and Baltimore.

The full ensemble comprises of 34 members, 10 sopranos, 9 altos, 7 tenors and 8 basses. “This provides me with the correct balance between men and women voices and assures audibility in an [our] a cappella choral ensemble setting”, says director, Jesse Hooper.

To ensure this balance, Cantamos is holding auditions on an ongoing basis. To audition, please click here.

Jesse Hooper, now living in Alpharetta, Georgia is from Southfield, Michigan. He is a pianist, conductor, composer and arranger. His music directing began at Pontiac Central High (Pontiac, Michigan) where he was selected as Head Drum Major by his peers. He went on to study both Piano Performance and Voice Education at Southern University (Baton Rouge, LA), Jackson State University (Jackson, MS) and Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, LA). Excelling in music rapidly, he won first place awards in the Tourgee DeBose National Piano Competition (Baton Rouge. Louisiana) in 1989, the Gladys Perry-Norris National Piano Competition (Jackson, Mississippi) in 1991 and the Brantley Choral Arranging Competition in 1999.

Upon finishing coursework at LSU, he joined the Moses Hogan Chorale, performed with the renowned ensemble at the ACDA National Convention (Phoenix, Arizona), Duke University (Raleigh, NC) and Spivey Hall (Atlanta, GA).

In 1995, he officially founded the choral ensemble “Cantamos” and has since led them to be an award-winning ensemble recognized by music scholars, having been invited to perform in concert with Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University.

Professionally, Mr. Hooper works as a Graphical User Interface Engineer consultant and has designed and developed highly visible products for AT&T, Coca-Cola, Lucent Technologies, Bell South, City of Atlanta Department of Aviation (Hartsfield-Jackson Airport) and several celebrities in the music field.

He is the 17-year spouse of Deidra, and they have 3 boys, Christian Isaiah, Chase Alexander and Chancellor William.