Antioch Chamber Ensemble is an internationally known, award-winning choir with a pair of albums to its name. But the lauded New York metropolitan area-based group began in a humble way: four students singing as they carpooled.

Led by Artistic Director Joshua Copeland, the ensemble performs both sacred and secular music, including popular songs you may recognize. (Make sure to check out its performance of "True Colors" on YouTube.) Antioch will perform Sept. 22 at Franklin & Marshall College.

Antioch was formed in 1997 by Copeland (a baritone), Executive Director Stephen Sands (tenor), his wife, Kristin Sands (soprano), and Luthien Brackett (alto). The four attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., and sang in the choir at St. Bernard's Church in Bernardsville. During the 30-mile commute, they discovered their voices "had a uniquely beautiful quality" when they sang quartets, Brackett said by phone.

After hitting a wall with four-voice repertoire, the group expanded into the professional realm, Brackett said. Copeland said in a separate phone interview that he wanted to bring the "clean, no vibrato" sound of Europe to America, with a mix of genders.

Thus was born Antioch Chamber Ensemble, which today is made up of four sopranos, two altos, two tenors and two basses. Performing with a small ensemble, as opposed to a large choir, Brackett said, "is kind of like the difference between driving a minivan and driving a sports car."

"You can make more dramatic dynamic contrasts and you can be more expressive," she said. "You can be more flexible. You can sing in a much more free and spontaneous way."

While similar groups might have disbanded after 15 years, Antioch has endured with its four co-founders intact.

"We were fortunate that from the very start [we] were very compatible as colleagues, but had very different personalities and points of view. So we're good at different things," said Brackett, a freelance singer and private voice teacher. "It's kind of like having a table with four legs instead of two. It's sturdier."

"It sounds a little hokey to say," she continued, "but we genuinely loved to work together so much. And we love this type of music so much. We didn't regard it as a stepping stone to anything else."

While a chamber choir may call to mind the sounds of solemn sacred music, Brackett said Antioch has tried to perform a variety of pieces, rather than specialize in a particular genre, "because we knew that styles and taste change."

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Antioch finds personal, professional harmony