When someone asks why Minnesota has such a plethora of choral groups, there’s always the temptation to explain it with a single word: Lutherans.

It’s true that Lutheranism has a strong choral heritage, what with Martin Luther writing hymns and J.S. Bach spending much of his time setting Lutheran liturgy to music. And, yes, there are those highly regarded choirs at Minnesota’s good Lutheran schools - St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Augsburg, Concordia, and so on.

But let’s not get too protestant. For instance, there’s the Kantorei Chamber Choir, a  40-member ensemble that was organized back in the 1980s by graduates from St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict. The ensemble, led for the past 21 seasons by Axel Theimer, specializes in unaccompanied a cappella singing, pure and natural.

Kantorei is winding up its regular season this weekend with performances in St. Paul and Rochester. The concert program is titled “Postcards from Europe,” and it certainly has an international flavor - though there are also some composers who are closer to home.

Expect to hear choral works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Britten, Reger and Hindemith, all familiar names, along with Swede Eskil Hemberg, Czech Zdenek Lukas, and Estonian Arvo Part. There’s also a work by Paul J. Christiansen,  son of St. Olaf choral founder F. Melius Christiansen, who went on to establish the reputation of the choral program at Concordia College of Moorhead.

And conductor Theimer also has one of his own works on the program: A setting of the traditional Advent antiphon “Alma Redemptoris Mater.” To see the entire program in PDF format, go here.

The performance Saturday is at 7:30 p.m. in the St. Paul Seminary Chapel. Sunday’s concert is at 4 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Rochester. For ticket information for Saturday’s performance, go here. The Rochester concert is free, though a free-will offering will be taken.