Conspirare was founded in 1991 as the New Texas Festival to present a summer classical music festival in Austin, Texas. Since then, the organization has grown rapidly to become an internationally recognized, professional choral organization that combines outstanding vocal artistry with innovative programming. Led by founder and artistic director Craig Hella Johnson, Conspirare is comprised of two performing ensembles and an educational program.

A chamber choir ("Conspirare") of extraordinarily talented singers from around the country is presented in an annual concert series in Austin, other Texas communities, and locations in the U.S. and abroad. The Conspirare Symphonic Choir of both professional and volunteer singers performs at least one large choral/orchestral work annually. The Conspirare Youth Choirs is an education and performance program for singers ages 8-16, who learn and perform in two separate ensembles, Kantorei and the Conspirare Children's Choir.

Conspirare produced its first commercial recording, through the green fuse, in 2004 on the Clarion Records label. A second CD, Requiem, also on Clarion and since reissued by Harmonia Mundi, was released in 2006 and received two Grammy nominations (Best Choral Performance and Best Engineered Album, Classical). Harmonia Mundi also released Requiem in Europe in 2009, and it has just received the prestigious 2010 Edison Award in the Choral Music category. The Edison Award is the Dutch equivalent of the U.S. Grammy.

A third recording, Threshold of Night, was released worldwide in September 2008 on Harmonia Mundi. Threshold of Night received two Grammy nominations, Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Album. In October 2008, in cooperation with Austin's public television station KLRU, Conspirare filmed a PBS television special, "A Company of Voices: Conspirare in Concert," that was broadcast nationally in March 2009 and is available on both CD and DVD. "A Company of Voices" received a Grammy nomination as Best Classical Crossover Album.

Conspirare has performed at New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. In 2005 the organization received the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, presented by national service organization Chorus America. In 2007, as one of the select choruses in the country to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts under its American Masterpieces initiative, Conspirare presented a choral festival entitled "Crossing the Divide: Exploring Influence and Finding Our Voice." The four-day festival featured a distinguished gathering of composers and conductors, performances of three world premieres, and a gala closing concert with a choir of 600 singers. In July 2008 Conspirare represented the United States at the Eighth World Symposium on Choral Music in Copenhagen, joining invited choirs from nearly forty countries. Most recently, Conspirare received the 2010 Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America to support the commission of a new work by Seattle composer Eric Banks.

The Conspirare ensembles' 2009-2010 season consisted of 25 performances of eight different programs, in Austin, Wimberley, Fredericksburg, San Antonio and Victoria. In February 2010 Conspirare was an invited, featured choir at the annual convention of the American Choral Directors Association/Eastern Division in Philadelphia.

Awards
2015 - Grammy Winner - Best Choral Performance - The Sacred Spirit of Russia