CHANTICLEER

44 Page Street, Suite 604, San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 252-8589 (p) (415) 252-7941 (f)

Chanticleer At A Glance updated August 30, 2013

CHANTICLEER The multiple Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble at a glance Group Information: Established: Founded by Louis Botto in 1978 in San Francisco. 2013-14 is Chanticleer’s 36th Anniversary Season Members: The multiple Grammy Award-winning all-male vocal ensemble is comprised of 12

singers hailing from across the U.S.. Repertoire: Chanticleer’s repertoire spans ten centuries from Gregorian chant, Renaissance

polyphony and Romantic art song to contemporary music, jazz, spirituals and world music.

Concerts: Chanticleer gives approximately 100 concerts a year throughout the world, appearing regularly in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Chicago, and Internationally, as well as its home base of San Francisco.

What the Critics Are Saying: • “The singing of Chanticleer is breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, variety of color

and swagger of style.” – The Boston Globe • "Precise, pure and deeply felt singing.” – The New York Times • "Chanticleer fascinates and enthralls for much the same reason a fine chocolate or a Rolls Royce does:

through luxurious perfection.” – Los Angeles Times • “The world’s reigning male chorus.” – The New Yorker • They are, to put it directly, one of the world’s best.” – San Francisco Chronicle Some Facts, Stories and Anecdotes: Named after the clear-singing rooster in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Frequently called “an orchestra of voices”. All 12 singers are full-time personnel on annual salary, which is extremely rare for a vocal ensemble. Has made more than a 30 albums for Teldec/Warner Classics & Chanticleer Records. Awards, Media Recognition and Special Achievements: • “Colors of Love”: GRAMMY® Awards in 2000 for Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without

Conductor) and the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award for Best Classical Album. • The world-premiere recording of Sir John Tavener’s “Lamentations and Praises”: GRAMMY® awards

for Classical Best Small Ensemble and Best Classical Contemporary Composition. • 2008 Musical America‘s Ensemble of the Year • Inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2008. • Chorus America’s prestigious Education and Outreach Award in 2010 • Billboard magazine’s Top 10 best-selling classical artists Media Contact: Curt Hancock, 415-252-8589, chancock@chanticleer.org

CHANTICLEER Critical acclaim in Performance

“America's a cappella pride and joy.” – Classics Today

“The San Francisco-based male vocal ensemble [Chanticleer] … actually resides in divine artistic regions. … Few groups of vocal or instrumental persuasion could equal the cohesive precision, stylistic acuity and sheer tonal beauty that these dozen gents achieve as a matter of musical course. … Like players in the most refined string quartet, they are communal masters of balance, blend, pitch and phrasing. To my ears, Chanticleer comes as close to that impossible concept called perfection as is humanly possible. … Chanticleer triumphed in everything, from the highest countertenor lines to the lowest bass rumbles.”

– Cleveland Plain Dealer “These men are phenomenal: as fresh as a blade of grass, tightly focused and keenly expressive.”

– New York Times “Chanticleer fascinates and enthralls for much the same reason a fine chocolate or a Rolls Royce does: through luxurious perfection.”

– Los Angeles Times “I can’t think of another ‘orchestra of voices’ that can shuttle with such proficiency from Renaissance polyphony to gospel, contemporary classical to jazz.”

– Chicago Tribune “They are, to put it directly, one of the world’s best.”

– San Francisco Chronicle

“The world’s reigning male chorus” – New Yorker

“It's a chorus that dares to take chances”

-artssf.com “The singing of Chanticleer is breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, variety of color and swagger of style.”

– Boston Globe “The only American chorus able to compete on equal terms with the great (and very old) choirs of Europe in the performance of the Renaissance choral masterworks.”

– Philadelphia Inquirer

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“Among the most versatile and virtuoso singers anywhere. They have style, and they have class. They also have an infallible sense of pitch, a very flexible ensemble and a deeply ingratiating sound.”

– Dallas Morning News "Music through the ages, sung with breathtaking clarity"

– San Jose Mercury News “Chanticleer’s stage presence was eye-catching in its precision and its elegance … However, it was the mellifluous singing with its seamless blending of voices and effortless polyphony in Palestrina’s Gaude gloriosa that was more astounding still.”

-Bachtrack.com “Their luminescent sound rising to the high vaulted ceiling, the dozen voices sounded like a heavenly choir glorying in music’s power to praise. Their limpid, floating polyphony evinced the careful matching of pitches, ethereal refinement of timbre and effortlessly achieved vocal blend for which Chanticleer is rightly celebrated.”

– Chicago Tribune “Seattle’s early-music audience is frequently and knowledgeably enthusiastic over a performance, but I’ve never heard it roaring and cheering like a stadium crowd as it did Friday night. Gregorian chant sung in unison flowed so smoothly and restfully that it became quite mesmerizing. The whole was together and the intonation impeccable. Over and over, the group would come to the end of a piece on a chord exquisite in its perfection of pitch, tone quality and balance.”

– Seattle Post-Intelligencer “Chanticleer could sing the Turtles' greatest hits and make them sound like heavenly hosannas. That's how extraordinary it is, this 12-voice male choir. It produces a sound of sheer beauty. It's an oasis in a noisy and disturbing world.”

– San Jose Mercury News

CHANTICLEER Critical acclaim for Recordings

MAGNIFICAT “Elegant.”

-- Time MATINS FOR THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE, 1764 “The performances and recording quality are better than any of the other recordings of Mexican baroque music I’ve heard. The balance between voices and instruments is consistently superb, and the engineering captures just enough reverberation to suggest a cathedral. The result is a perfect blend of spirituality and a humanistic zest for life.

-- Classical Review

REFLECTIONS “The unforced clarity of their diction in a dozen different languages is as keen as if it were speech, and their intonation is never less than perfect.”

-- American Record Guide WONDROUS LOVE “The recorded sound is brilliant, yet intimate, and one cannot help but smile at such clever arrangements and superb musicianship with clean-as-a-whistle vocalism and musical personality galore.”

-- American Record Guide THE MUSIC OF CHEN YI “There are a number of composers these days trying to forge a musical link between East and West, but few who bring as much exuberant pizzazz to the task as Chen Yi. The colorful genius of [her] writing shines through.”

-- San Francisco Chronicle MEXICAN BAROQUE “A lush and dynamic recording. Mexican Baroque is a delightful find.”

-- Chicago Sun-Times I HAVE HAD SINGING “It’s inventive; it’s funny; it’s moving; it’s beautiful. And it’s virtually flawless.”

-- BBC Music Magazine MYSTERIA: GREGORIAN CHANTS “Beautifully sung and varied. If you want sheer melodic purity and beauty, choose this disc.”

-- CD Review

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SING WE CHRISTMAS “Leave it to Chanticleer to come up with so intelligent and refined a Christmas disc as Sing We Christmas. Artistic standards are, as usual with Chanticleer, fabulous. The group even adjusts its flawlessly blended vibrato techniques to the needs of individual historic periods - vocal chameleons! There simply is nothing finer available.”

-- In Tune OUR HEART’S JOY “The best-sung Christmas record I have heard this year.”

-- The Washington Post

CHANTICLEER

San Francisco Gate • September 21, 2015

A celestial lunar season opener by Chanticleer BY JOSHUA KOSMAN ***** The transformative powers of the moon were on full display at Mission Santa Clara on Saturday night, when the men’s chorus Chanticleer opened its season with an ingeniously programmed and beautifully sung evening of music old and new. From the pull of the tides and the intoxicating force of moonstruck love to the magic of the full moon, this was a program full of mystery and enchantment.

Yet the most remarkable sorcery on offer was in the group’s singing itself, which sounded more polished and finely blended than I’ve heard it in years. The sonorities of the 12-man ensemble reconfigure themselves subtly season by season, as new members join up and old members move on. Like the sea itself, these shifts produce a vocal landscape that is at once unbreaking and ever variable.

The current lineup, though, has clearly reached some new pitch of excellence. Maybe it’s the arrival of William Fred Scott, who recently joined Chanticleer as music director. Maybe it’s the inevitable outcome of changes in the particular vocal qualities of the membership.

Whatever the cause, Saturday’s concert was nothing short of thrilling, from an opening set that interspersed music by Monteverdi with those of English composers, to a final run of pop songs and spirituals. The choral textures were impeccably focused and clear, with a strain of translucency that seemed to speak directly to the evening’s lunar theme.

That theme was explored most overtly in the world premiere of “Three Moon Songs,” written for Chanticleer by Nico Muhly. These were settings in English translation of poems from Albert Giraud’s “Pierrot Lunaire” — the same source that, in German, was the basis for Schoenberg’s revolutionary 1912 song cycle.

Muhly’s short set, not surprisingly, has little in common with its famous predecessor, aside from a shared ability to conjure up a pixilated air of whimsy and alienation. The writing is lush but lithe, with an emphasis on intervals of a seventh that create both a sense of spaciousness and an uneasy harmonic tug.

In the opening “Harlequin,” Muhly places taut little tone clusters within the song’s broad spaces, to beguiling effect. “Moondrunk” entrusts much of the melodic material to a baritone solo, which Marques Jerrell Ruff delivered with magnificent authority and tenderness.

And in the concluding song, “The Alphabet,” Muhly counterpoises Giraud’s poem with a stylish accompaniment for two sopranos, who swat “Letter, letter, letter” back and forth at one another on alternating beats in a lissome pat-a-cake figure. On first encounter, at least, this sounds like a beguiling addition to the Chanticleer catalog.

Chanticleer San Francisco Gate • September 21, 2015 page 2 of 2 Another such addition was “The Lotus Lovers,” settings of love poetry by the fourth century poet Tzu Yeh that was composed for the group in 2010 by the late Stephen Paulus. The four songs on Saturday’s program — by turns elegant and forceful, witty and reflective — were a keen reminder of Paulus’ effortless inventiveness and grace.

There were other highlights on the program as well, including three choral arrangements of Mahler songs, highlighted by an exquisite solo from alto Cortez Mitchell in “Liebst du um Schönheit”; “Observer in the Magellanic Cloud,” Mason Bates’ fantasy of Maori rites witnessed from outer space; and a raft of Renaissance polyphony crowned by the gorgeous “Ave Maria” of a little-known English composer, Robert Parsons. Taken together, this was both a superb evening of singing and a heartening glimpse of the current state of one of the Bay Area’s singular musical assets.

CHANTICLEER The Irish Times • February 12, 2014

His and hers: the men of Chanticleer sing all the parts Between them the 12 men cover a choral spectrum of about four octaves. How? BY ANDREW JOHNSTONE Sunday’s concert at the National Concert Hall, under the banner She Said / He Said for San Francisco-based vocal ensemble Chanticleer, seeks to embrace in equal measures the feminine and masculine sides of musical subjectivity and creativity. But in a programme that spans nine centuries and includes something for everyone, this lofty aim entails a little positive discrimination. The best compensations that can be made for a still male-dominated roster of composers are found in female subject matter and associations. From three masters of Renaissance polyphony (Palestrina, Guerrero and Victoria) there are motets in honour of the Virgin Mary, while the madrigalists Andrea Gabrieli and Monteverdi are hard at work with the well-worn death-equals-detumescence metaphor. Brahms is lamenting lost love (Nachtwache), Barber and Steve Hackman are setting Emily Dickinson (Let Down the Bars and “Wait” Fantasy), and Ravel is depicting womanly avarice and infidelity (Trois chansons). Women composers nonetheless get more than just token representation. From the earliest, the 12th-century abbess and mystic Hildegard of Bingen, there is a further and more intensely ritual address to the Virgin. There is harmless sibling rivalry from the Mendelssohns, in which a part-song by underrated sister Fanny (Schöne Fremde) gives another by her famous brother Felix (Wasserfahrt) more than a run for its money. There is a polished setting of Carl Sandburg, newly commissioned from Chicago-based composer Stacy Garrop. And there are numbers from American songwriters Ann Ronell (Willow Weep for Me) and June Carter Cash (Ring of Fire), the latter in an arrangement by Anúna boss Michael McGlynn. With Chanticleer, however, protestations of gender equality have to be taken with a large grain of salt. Although the line-up spans the usual vocal ranges of soprano, alto, tenor and bass, all 12 positions in the ensemble are filled by men. Those men have backgrounds in opera, broadway, gospel choirs and rock bands. When they aren’t singing with Chanticleer (which isn’t too often), they are active as composers, conductors, and record producers. They are into mathematics, jazz, American poetry, Beyoncé, vintage wines and gourmet cookery. And between them they cover a choral spectrum of about four glorious octaves, making them every bit as panoramic as a fully adept group of men’s and women’s voices. Helium-free zone How do they do it? Certainly not with voice-bending doses of helium or digital sound processing. The answer is purely one of prodigious vocal technique, and specifically the cultivation of what is sometimes termed the “head voice”, a kind of laryngeal second gear that secures higher vibrations by using only a restricted segment of the vocal cords. Long ago, the Italians registered their distrust of this method by dubbing it “a little false”. But the capacity for making these so-called “falsetto” sounds is natural to everyone, women and men. Few humans develop skill in singing this way, but for those who do there is nothing false about it. And the men among them, whether they sing alto or soprano, are proud to call themselves countertenors.

CHANTICLEER BachTrack • February 11, 2014

Scintillating Chanticleer in Dublin's National Concert Hall BY ANDREW LARKIN ***** While Chaucer’s morality story of the rooster Chanticleer and the fox might have little to do with tonight’s concert, the meaning of the name Chanticleer (literally, clear-singing) was very apt. A hugely successful all-male vocal ensemble, Chanticleer is currently touring Europe, from Dublin to Moscow. Considered “an orchestra of voices”, the vocal range within Chanticleer is enormous ranging from three versatile male sopranos all the way down to two sonorous basses.

The theme of tonight’s concert in Dublin was “She said, he said” an innovative programming challenge that sought to balance male and female compositions starting chronologically with early polyphony right up to the present day. Given the paucity of female composers before the 20th century, this was quite a challenge for the first half. Hildegard von Bingen and Fanny Mendelssohn were of course on the list. The sacred motets by Palestrina and Victoria were dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, while the secular songs tended to address a beloved woman. Barber’s song and Hackman’s “Wait” fantasy before the interval were both based on poems by Emily Dickinson. The second half featured contemporary female composers such as Stacy Garrop, Ann Ronnell and Alice Parker, interspersed with love songs, arrangements of pop/indie songs and traditional Spirituals.

Chanticleer’s stage presence was eye-catching in its precision and its elegance. The swift organisation into diverse positions after each piece and the bowing were visually arresting. However, it was the mellifluous singing with its seamless blending of voices and effortless polyphony in Palestrina’s Gaude gloriosa that was more astounding still. Standing in a circle, without a conductor, there was a deep communication between each singer, as if each knew the other’s score as well as his own and where his line fitted into the overall structure. In Victoria’s Regina caeli laetare the alleluias were bubbling over with joyful exuberance as the various strands of melodies intertwined and soared from one side to another. It was Bingen’s O Frondens virga which made the spine tingle as at first, the plaintive single melody started, coming, as it were, from another millennium. It was joined by a haunting pedal note in fifths and as a second, third and fourth voice crept in, the volume and intensity increased ever so gradually. The fugal echoing of “ad erigendum nos” at the end was simply fascinating. The last of the sacred motets was Guerrero’s Ave Virgo Sancissima, which had the same pellucid quality to its polyphony.

The change of style, from reverent to bawdy, was brilliantly captured by the vocal ensemble. Both Gabrieli’s Tirsi morir volea and Monteverdi’s Ohimè se tanto amate madrigals are masterpieces of understated eroticism and Chanticleer brought out this element in a subtle, witty manner. There was a delightfully suggestive pause after “moro” (“I die” – a ribald Renaissance euphemism) in Gabrieli’s madrigal, while the descending scales in Monteverdi’s at the word “Ohimè” (sighing) was done to great effect.

Leaping from Renaissance polyphony to German romanticism demands a volte-face in both technique and texture, a challenge Chanticleer handled with an ease that belied its complexity. Two songs by the Mendelssohn siblings – Fanny and Felix – showed a fascinating similarity of style with a superiority of composition demonstrated here by the sister.

Chanticleer BachTrack • February 11, 2014 page 2 of 2 Chanticleer’s rendition of Brahms’ Nachtwache I had an intimate quality to it, as the staccatos on “zitternd” (trembling”) were imbued with an ethereal quality.

Where Chanticleer impressed most in this first half was in Ravel’s Trois Chansons. The mercurial Nicolette skipped and pranced in a way that left her breathless, and the audience too as we marvelled at such clarity of rapid diction. In an instant this gaiety was gone to be replaced by one of sadness as the ensemble sung of France going to war. Chanticleer’s shading and evocative dynamics eschewed sentimentality achieving instead an infinite tenderness. The rapidity of the Ronde was nothing short of brilliant with its will-o-the-wisp like dynamics and phrasing.

The second half showcased the rich variety of styles Chanticleer is at home with: styles as diverse as a merry Russian love song, traditional spirituals or the fine Michael McGlynn arrangement of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. While every song deserves its own plaudits, I will list only two that were particularly noteworthy. American contemporary composer Stacy Garrop’s Give me Hunger is built on contrasts, reflecting the visceral anger at life’s injustices and the contrasting gentleness at the possibility of love. Chanticleer expressed the fury with a palpable energy that was as engrossing as it was frightening, as they executed harsh micro-intervals and complex chromatic lines. The achingly raw harmonies perfectly encapsulated the mood of a “little love”. The traditional spiritual Sit down servant featured some of the most astounding soprano improvisations I have heard from woman or man, for that matter. “She said / he said” – I’ll say!

CHANTICLEER

San Francisco Chronicle March 17, 2013

Chanticleer in fine voice at 35 BY JOSHUA KOSMAN

It all began sometime in the late '70s - there's a little uncertainty about the exact date - during a dinner at Rob Bell's

house. The participants were friends from their various memberships in the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and the

men's choir at Grace Cathedral, and someone proposed this idea: What about forming a men's chorus, perhaps eight or

10 voices strong, to sing the polyphonic masterpieces of the Renaissance?

The idea is usually credited to Louis A. Botto, a singer and musicologist who went on to be the guiding spirit behind

the undertaking that resulted. Bell, who was there, insists that the original idea came from another singer, John Mihaly.

Either way, the project took wing. Nine singers were assembled, music by William Byrd, Johannes Ockeghem and

others was gathered and rehearsed, and on June 27, 1978, Chanticleer made its first appearance before a capacity crowd

at San Francisco's Mission Dolores.

Today, the group that began under such Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland circumstances is an international phenomenon,

with an annual operating budget of around $3 million and a performance schedule of more than 100 concerts a year in

the Bay Area and throughout the world. It boasts an extensive discography, including two Grammy-winning discs, and

a fan base that flocks to its concerts.

The repertoire has expanded as well, to include not only Renaissance music but also gospel and pop material, music

from the Classical and Romantic eras, and new works by some 70 composers who have been commissioned to write for

the group.

As Chanticleer - the group takes its name from the clear-voiced rooster in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" - marks its

35th anniversary with concerts on Friday and Saturday featuring guest star Nellie McKay, it would seem to have

brought to life every dream its founders had around that dining room table.

A known brand

"It's the Cadillac of choral organizations, a brand that everyone knows," says Philip Wilder, who sang with the group

throughout the 1990s, serving as assistant music director and education director. "I think Louis would be really proud

of how it has continued."

Botto, who died from complications of AIDS in 1997 at 45, was a hard-driving visionary whose energy, determination

and resourcefulness did more than anything else to launch the group to its early success.

"Louis was a volcano of ideas," says Tom Hart, who joined the group after its founding and served alongside Botto as

general manager. "They came flooding forth, and it took a lot of energy just to keep up with him."

In particular, Botto made it his mission to ensure that the group could provide full-time employment, first to a core

group of eight singers and eventually to its current complement of 12.

That financial stability, and the relatively low turnover that results, is what makes the group's artistic consistency

possible, says President and General Director Christine Bullin, who took the helm of the organization in 1999.

Very stable track

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San Francisco Chronicle March 17, 2013

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"This is not a group where you form up for each tour, and if John can't make it, then Bob can," she says. "We try to

keep the whole aesthetic on a very stable track. When people are booking the group for 2015, they know that the

Chanticleer sound will not have changed between now and then."

But the early years were an exercise in making do and scraping by - especially during the group's extensive concert

tours.

"We traveled in a 10-passenger van, which we named Sarah," Hart recalled. "And Louis, who was a great cook, cooked

one big meal a day, which kept us all healthy.

"The longest stretch I remember was one string of 14 concerts in a row, followed by a couple of days off. We took

advantage of those days off by planning the routes around national parks. One day off we were at Yellowstone, another

at Zion - we were like college kids on break."

Aside from Botto, the person most responsible for the early shaping of Chanticleer's artistic profile was Joseph

Jennings, who joined in 1983 as a countertenor and soon became the music director. Before retiring in 2008, Jennings

contributed a wealth of music to the repertoire - particularly arrangements of the gospel music he'd grown up with in

South Carolina - and brought a new level of discipline and artistic consistency to the group's singing.

Inevitably, Chanticleer's growth and increasing prominence brought challenges with it.

Level of professionalism

"Chanticleer grew up for the first time because people came from other parts of the country to sing in the group," says

Hart, "and they expected a certain level of professionalism. When it's just friends going out doing concerts, and the

check is late, it's no big deal. But now it was something else.

"I think this happens to every group as it gets older - you lose some of the democracy and naivete and freshness. At the

beginning you control the organization, and then at some point it becomes a person and you do things for the

organization rather than vice versa."

Those pressures were only exacerbated by Botto's death. The group hired a new music director, Craig Hella Johnson,

who lasted less than a year. When the board hired Bullin, it signaled a shift to a new - and more traditional - kind of arts

organization.

"It was an interesting time in the late '70s, with the creation of these small groups like us and the Kronos Quartet and

the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra," says Bullin. "People with an idea were encouraged to just go ahead and do it.

Facing a crisis

"By the time I arrived, Chanticleer was facing a 'death of the founder' crisis. Every organization thinks their travail and

drama are exclusive to them, when in fact they're usually pretty classic."

Making the transition was difficult, Bullin says, especially for the singers who'd been around from the beginning.

"Many of them knew Louis, and considered the group to be his thing and their thing. But it needed to become a more

institutional thing."

That meant shoring up the board, which Bullin was able to do through contacts she'd amassed during her stint as head

of the San Francisco Opera Center, and standardizing the operations.

Some of the activities from the group's early years have been expanded and strengthened, particularly the education

program. The Louis A. Botto (LAB) Choir, begun in 2010, brings choral singing to thousands of high school and

college students nationwide - and helps bring in audiences to the group's concerts.

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San Francisco Chronicle March 17, 2013

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"One of the things we love is to tour into some small town and see the high school choir's bus pull up to our concert,"

says Bullin. "For a lot of high school choir nerds, Chanticleer is like Lady Gaga."

Others, conversely, have fallen by the wayside. Longtime observers often invoke the 1994 staging of Britten's opera

"Curlew River" as a highlight of the group's history. The problem with that sort of project, Bullin says, is that it's not

sustainable.

"Those projects don't have legs, because once the singers who've done them move on, then you're left with nothing.

Unless someone wants to give us a lot of money for it, that kind of project represents mission creep."

And turnover among the singers is a constant, especially given the demands of life on the road. Some leave and go on

to sing with other groups, including Clerestory - the men's chorus that will join Chanticleer on Saturday night - or the

Philharmonia Chorale.

Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that turnover is almost constant, because there's one notable exception. Eric

Alatorre, the singer renowned for his enormous, resonant bass - and his equally outsize mustache - has been with the

group since 1990 and shows no signs of hanging up his spurs. He's a link to the earliest chapters of the group's history,

and the embodiment of everything that's best about its musical prowess.

"I'm patient," he says when asked about the secret of his longevity. "With something like this, there's always a little

soul-searching. It's a fun adventure at first, but then you have to decide whether it's just running away with the circus,

or something I want to make a commitment to.

"And once you do, that can be for anywhere from three to 23 years. But I've watched this group go from a local

phenomenon to something known in California, and then spread out to become a household name throughout the music

world." {sbox}

CHANTICLEER

Cleveland Plain Dealer February 1, 2013

Review: Chanticleer reveals museum's new atrium to be glorious

musical space BY ZACHARY LEWIS

A better fit for the occasion there could not have been. In Chanticleer, a 12-piece men’s choir, the Cleveland Museum

of Art made the ideal choice to show off its new atrium.

For the like space itself, the sounds of the a cappella voices on Wednesday were bright and clear, and powerfully

alluring. Also like the newly renovated museum, the ensemble plainly stood as one of the best of its kind.

But Chanticleer’s brilliance was no surprise. More astonishing was how good the gently-miked singers sounded in the

cavernous atrium. Contrary to all expectations, there were no echoes or unduly long reverberations. Rather, there were

senses of intimacy and warmth.

Dapperly attired in full tuxedos, the singers escorted listeners on a whirlwind, chronological tour of classical music.

Striding out of the new Renaissance galleries onto a temporary stage, they began after the museum closed to the public

with selections from the 16th century and sped their way to current times, ending with new pieces composed in honor

of their 35th anniversary.

Every part of Chanticleer’s program was bewitching, apropos of the title, “The Siren’s Call.” But the earliest entries

were particularly effective. In the vast, resonant atrium, the emotional twists and subtle interplay of lines in works by

Gabrieli, Gesualdo and Monteverdi became vivid, dynamic processes.

Moving on to the 19th and early 20th centuries, the singers demonstrated different but no less impressive qualities in

short works by Grieg, Elgar, Mahler and Barber.

Here, one could only marvel at the group’s keen ability to negotiate dissonance and transcend the traditional limits of

male voices. In Mahler’s “Remembrance,” for instance, the ensemble practiced a most haunting kind of musical

alchemy, sounding less like a choir of men than a small string orchestra behind a female soprano.

But the most potent offerings were those written in the last 50 years. Not only were these pieces the most diverse

musically but they also happened to boast the strongest imagery: the awesome power of the sea.

There were robust modern shanties from Ireland, a moving evocation of an Estonian shipwreck, and a colorful

fisherman’s work song from Japan. With Mason Bates’ “Die Lorelei,” the group brought off one musical surprise after

another, while Chen Yi’s “I Hear the Siren’s Call” put listeners right on an ancient Chinese vessel heading for disaster.

Rousing arrangements of “The Old Ship of Zion” and Tom Waits’ “Temptation” brought the night to an exhilarating

close.

Throughout the concert, the singers of Chanticleer moved around to suit the needs of the piece. For antiphonal effect,

they spread apart. For a concentrated sound, they huddled up. Sometimes, they simply stood in a row.

No matter. Wherever they went, there was no getting around the two main impressions from the evening: Chanticleer is

amazing, and the museum’s new atrium is a glorious addition to Cleveland’s musical scene.

CHANTICLEER

San Jose Mercury News December 11, 2012

'Chanticleer Christmas' performed with breathtaking artistry BY GEORGIA ROWE

Among the many musical offerings for the holidays, "A Chanticleer Christmas" has become one of the most

consistently rewarding. Monday evening at First Congregational Church in Berkeley, the San Francisco-based men's

chorus launched the latest edition of its annual concerts, and the results were dazzling.

Now in its 35th season, the 12-man group continues to weather changes. Seasoned members have retired or moved on,

as new singers -- all looking impossibly young -- have joined the lineup. Yet under interim music director Jace Witting,

the impeccable musical values established by tenor Louis Botto, who founded Chanticleer in 1978 and led the

organization until his death in 1997, are still very much in evidence.

So is the extraordinary range of musical styles. Monday's program, which repeats through Dec. 23 at various area

locations, moved from medieval chant to American spirituals, European choral works to contemporary arrangements of

Christmas carols. Singing in English, Latin, German, Spanish and Russian, the ensemble's phrasing was flawless, its

dynamics crisp and polished.

The Christmas programs always begin with a processional; Monday, three Advent chants -- "Veni, et ostende," "O Rex

gentium" and "Veni, veni Emmanuel" -- served nicely. The singers, each holding a lighted candle, entered from the

rear; as they made their way to the stage, their voices blended in pure, resonant waves that seemed to expand into every

corner of the high-ceilinged space. "Nesciens mater," a motet by 16th-century French composer Jean Mouton,

followed, and once again the individual voices braided beautifully into one.

In an arrangement of "In dulci jubilo" -- which included a densely layered setting by Hieronymous Praetorius, and a

masterfully ornamented version by J.S. Bach -- the singers continued to produce wonderfully unified sound.

Each member of the chorus makes fine individual contributions. For works by Slovenian composer Jacob Handl, Italy's

Andrea Gabrieli, Spain's Cristóbal de Morales and others, the singers moved into configurations designed to showcase

various aspects of their sound. The low voices can produce a drone that is massive and ancient-sounding; the sopranos

and altos sing with aching purity and tenderness. For a pair of 15th-century English carols by anonymous composers,

the singers were grouped by voice type. "Alleluya" featured the six high singers in soft harmonies; in "Gaudete," which

followed, the basses and baritones wove themselves into the mix, with vibrant results.

Still, Chanticleer's power lay in the silken harmonies of the ensemble. Massed in a trio of works by Estonian composer

Arvo Pärt, they produced poised, otherworldly sound. Francis Poulenc's "O magnum mysterium," all diaphanous

textures and subtle shadings, offered a radiant showcase, and "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen," by contemporary Swedish

composer Jan Sandström, brought the program's first half to a glowing conclusion.

After intermission, the singers took a more relaxed approach, trading evening wear for casual dress. Franz Biebl's "Ave

Maria" -- another Chanticleer tradition -- introduced the set with a warm, lustrous performance. Herbert Howells' "A

Spotless Rose" was just as lovely.

Chanticleer

San Jose Mercury News December 11, 2012

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"A Chanticleer Christmas" always benefits from holiday carols performed in arrangements by the group's former music

director, Joseph Jennings. This year, "Star of Wonder" was the standout. A medley of spirituals, also arranged by

Jennings, closed the program on a fervent note. The encore was a beautifully burnished version of "Silent Night."

This is a holiday concert without bells and whistles -- no animated snowflakes, no dancing Christmas trees. All you get

is music through the ages, sung with breathtaking clarity. As performed by the 12 voices of Chanticleer, that's always

enough.

CHANTICLEER

Chicago Classical Review December 5, 2012

Chanticleer’s luminous art traces the Christmas tradition BY WYNNE DELACOMA

At first glance, Chanticleer’s concert Tuesday night at Fourth Presbyterian Church could have seemed like the musical

equivalent of comfort food. Based in San Francisco and celebrating its 35th year this season, the 12-man a cappella

choral group performs in Chicago regularly at holiday time. Their program is Christmas music, the epitome of the tried

and true. Their fan base is huge, and the capacity audience at Fourth Presbyterian knew what to expect and whooped

and cheered heartily when the gifted Chanticleer singers delivered it. (The program, sponsored by Symphony Center

Presents, will be repeated at 7:30 tonight.)

But listeners aren’t coming back year after year simply to bask in the familiar. Many are probably drawn by the

atmosphere of mystery and revelation that Chanticleer brings to everything they perform. The group’s purity of tone

and seamless melding of pristine melodic layers filled Fourth Presbyterian with luminous sound Tuesday night. Built

around Gregorian plainchant, the concert showcased every nuance of that sound, allowing it to fully blossom in the

church’s ample yet intimate space.

The program was remarkably cohesive, which isn’t always the case with Christmas concerts. Audiences and singers

want more than just a run-through of the usual carols, but sometimes the result is a grab bag of songs that don’t carry

much emotional meaning for listeners or performers. Chanticleer chose to focus our attention instead on the roots of

familiar Christmas tunes as they moved from the medieval O come, O come, Emmanuel to traditional carols like It

Came Upon the Midnight Clear and a rousing finale of American spirituals.

Throughout the evening, we felt the strong connection between the hushed, austere lines of medieval chant and the

more intricate but equally flowing melodies of later composers like Michael Praetorius and Andrea Gabrieli. Bringing

20th century pieces–Francis Poulenc’s shimmering O magnus mysterium and several haunting works by Estonian

composer Arvo Part—into the mix underscored this season’s ancient musical tradition. It was invigorating to hear that

trajectory develop.

Working with the standard choral divisions of soprano, alto, tenor and baritones and basses, Chanticleer is fastidious

about its vocal arrangements. Tuesday’s performance of In dulci jubilo was an ingenious case in point. Opening with

the traditional melody from the Middle Ages, the singers then performed one stanza each by Michael Praetorius,

Hieronymus Praetorius (no relation) and J. S. Bach. It was fascinating to hear the lilting, gentle song sink into darker,

more unsettled harmonies in the Hieronymus Praetorius setting and then emerge into Bach’s longer-lined, less

ornamented setting.

Throughout the evening, Chanticleer maintained the miracle of a fully blended sound that nevertheless had the texture

and color of individual voices. The three baritone-bass singers often provided a steady drone that resonated like a

mighty, rumbling organ. Especially in the medley of spirituals, the group’s three soprano singers sounded light and airy

yet strong.

CHANTICLEER

Dallas Morning News October 29, 2012

Classical music review: Sublime singing from the male ensemble

Chanticleer BY SCOTT CANTRELL

For the life of me, I can’t remember choral singing more drop-dead, chills-down-the-back elegant than that offered

Sunday night by the male vocal ensemble Chanticleer. At least some of the magic had to do with the sumptuous

acoustics of the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, where the concert was sponsored by Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology.

Much of the great sacred choral repertory was composed in and for the large stone-vaulted cathedrals and monastic

churches of Europe. It’s music for great spaces, often with prolonged reverberation. The only church in these parts that offers that grand-scale sound is Guadalupe, and the 12 men of Chanticleer played it for all it was worth.

The group has been around since 1978, although with lots of turnover over the years. Its present composition is three

each of sopranos, altos, tenors and baritones-bass. Yes, those are adult men singing falsetto, with astonishing beauty

and pliancy, up in soprano and alto registers. Top to bottom, the polish was almost superhuman.

Motets from the Renaissance and baroque periods were breathtaking in this acoustic. Sound was a physical presence in

space, moving around, engaging and rebounding off walls, ceilings and columns. The elegant counterpoint of

Palestrina’s “Ave maris stella” and the antiphonies and surprising harmonic crunches of the turn-of-the-18th-century Mexican composer Antonio de Salazar were lovingly tapered and twined. Vocal lines soared and settled.

Paradoxically, all 12 men blended impeccably in the unison plainsong verses alternating with Palestrina’s setting. The

sound was of satiny sweetness.

Modern music was no less vividly and lovingly done. Irish composer Michael McGlynn’s haunting Amhrán na Gaoithe

strung parallel lines over drones before evoking sea and wind in swirls and eddies of sound. Finnish composer Jaakko

Mäntyjärvi did similar things in his Canticum calamitatis maritimae, inspired by the 1994 wreck of the cruise ship MS

Estonia. Adding muted exhalations and whispers, it mixed a Latin narration of the disaster with verses from Psalm 107 (“They that go down to the sea in ships …”)

Close-harmony arrangements of spirituals and gospel songs are a Chanticleer signature, and the concert ended with

versions of “Deep River” (by Roy Ringwald), “The Old Ship Zion” and “Over My Head” (Gregory Peebles and Jace Wittig) and “Wade in the Water” (Joseph Jennings). All of these were done with great panache, and there were ringing

solos from upper voices as well as the booming basso Eric Alatorre.

CHANTICLEER

Indianapolis Examiner December 7, 2011

Chanticleer brings comfort and joy to Palladium BY TOM ALVAREZ

Long before a cappella groups such as Straight No Chaser and the hit NBC TV show The Sing Off became popular,

Chanticleer was and continues to be known as “the world’s reigning male chorus.” On Saturday, the 12-man choral group performed at Carmel’s Palladium as part of the Center for the Performing Arts Holiday Series.

Commencing the concert, Chanticleer began its program singing Gregorian chant in the form of Rorate caeli (also

known as The Advent Prose) backstage once the house lights went down and the stage was darkened.

Entering the stage carrying candles, they segued into O magnum mysterium by Tomas Luis de Victoria, followed by

Quam vidistis pastores by Landrea Gabriel and Pastores loquebantur by Francisco Guerrero – all from the Renaissance

period.

By the time this portion of the concert had completed, it was obvious that the Palladium venue, with its highly touted acoustics, was an ideal showcase for this group also known as “an orchestra of voices.”

Acclaimed for its vocal superiority, impeccable harmonies, distinctive arrangements, uncommon repertoire and

showmanship, Chanticleer evidenced all those properties and more during the concert, which kept the audience spellbound throughout.

Highlights during Act l were the group’s performance of Star of the East, anonymously composed in Appalachia during

the 19th century, which was a clear audience favorite, and Lulajze, Jezuniu, a Polish carol with a stunning solo by alto Adam Ward.

Act 2 began with the chorus singing a mellifluous rendition of Ave Maria by Franz Biebl, followed by Benjamin

Britten’s A Hymn to the Virgin and continuing with God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Gabriel’s Message, a Basque

carol.

Standout solo performances were given later by bass Michael Axtell in I Wonder as I Wonder and tenor Matthew

Curtis in O Holy Night.

Also receiving an enthusiastic audience response was a Christmas medley of three gospel songs that concluded the concert. It included Everywhere I Go, as well as Oh, What a Pretty Baby and Jesus, Oh What a Beautiful Child. The

medley nicely showcased the stupendous voices of alto Cortez Mitchell, soprano Casey Breves and bass Eric Alatorre.

After taking its bows to cheers and a standing ovation, Chanticleer exited the stage, only to return for a predictable encore. It was prefaced with remarks by singer Matthew Curtis, also the assistant music director, who said, “During

these times of stress, we hoped that we could bring you some comfort and joy,” after which the chorus delicately sang a

serenity-inducing Silent Night. There is no question that they mightily succeeded.

CHANTICLEER

Classics Today December 5, 2011

CHANTICLEER RINGS IN THE HOLIDAY SEASON BY ROBERT LEVINE

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; November 29, 2011

For most people, the day after Thanksgiving is the start of the Christmas season; for music-loving New Yorkers, however, it arrives when Chanticleer appears at the Met Museum. The twelve-man a capella group remains unique in

its scope, taste and daring, and this season’s presentation at the Met is no exception.

Entering while performing a Gregorian plainchant that breaks into overlapping phrases near the end, the acoustics changing as they pass through the audience, the men then launched into a Renaissance group – Victoria, Gabrieli and

Guerrero: The first’s “O magnum mysterium” starting high in the sopranos is gentle and hypnotic; Gabrieli’s “Quem

vidistis, pastores?” is a charming call-and-response with the choir separated into two groups, and Guerrero’s “Pastores

loquebantur” changes rhythms and ends with a fine, busy “Alleluia.” A medieval English number was followed by two Basque villancicos probably by Mateo Flecha; their quirky beats and nonsense syllables (E la don don; Riu riu chiu)

were accompanied by tambourine.

Benjamin Britten’s handsome “A Hymn to the Virgin” was followed by a warm Polish lullaby arranged by Stephen Stucky with dark textures highlighted by a solo high voice. Contemporary Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s

melancholy “Die Stimme des Kindes,” was filled with dusky tonal clusters. Launching into the joy of “God rest ye

merry gentlemen” was almost a shock. The three familiar carols that followed – “The Holly and the Ivy,” “I wonder as I wander” (by John Jacob Niles) and “O Holy Night” sounded anything but hackneyed in Chanticleer’s arrangements,

with bold harmonies, extremes of range and a truly weird, surprising suspension near the close of “Holly.” Tenor

Matthew Curtis’s solo in “O holy night” was glorious, with the chorus’s polyphony surrounding his pure melody;

soprano Casey Breves astounding, big high notes throughout were as thrilling as they were unexpected. A trio of carols in the Southern Baptist vocal tradition were fascinating and exotic, with alto Cortez Mitchell (sounding very much like

a soprano to my ears) and basso profundo Eric Alatorre almost walking away with the show. A stunning encore of an

“Ave Maria” brought the peace and joy of the season full circle.

With their flawless pitch, great spirit and wide-spread musical curiosity, Chanticleer is America’s a capella pride and

joy.

CHANTICLEER

Birmingham News October 8, 2011

Chanticleer: Embracing the universality of love BY MICHAEL HUEBNER

After 33 years, the a cappella vocal ensemble Chanticleer may be singing better than it has ever has.

Dozens of singers have come and gone since the San Francisco-based started in 1978. Its repertoire has continually evolved, and its singers have had the unusual benefit of full-time salaries. Its sound, rooted in impeccable pitch control

and faultless blend from sopranos to basses, remains its strongest asset.

On Friday at Cathedral Church of the Advent, the 12 men gave plenty of reasons to keep paying attention to their every move.

Thankfully, the current touring program, titled "Love Story," has nothing to do with the sappy novel and movie by the

same title. Instead, it draws from 16th century composers and their modern counterparts who were inspired by love,

from biblical and secular stories originating in Spain, Italy and France to a newly commissioned work by Stephen Paulus based on a 4th century Chinese text.

Masterfully organized and continuously engaging, the program jumped between those extremes without flinching,

giving rise to the universality of that profound human emotion. The lacey counterpoint and pure-toned harmonies in three Renaissance motets blossomed into the denser fabrics of 20th century French composers Maurice Durufle and

Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur. As if to prove love's timelessness, the choir reverted immediately to the sunny disposition and

dreamy reflection of Renaissance madrigals.

The shift to three Strauss settings from 1935 was jarring, but transitioned nicely to Steven Sametz's "Not an End of

Loving." Rife with imagery and driven by Walt Whitman's poetry, Sametz's sweeping setting of "We Two Boys

Together Clinging" was one of the concert's highlights.

The second half focused on music that bridged traditions. Eric Whitacre's "This Marriage" is based on a poem by the 13th century Persian, Rumi. In John Tavener's "Village Wedding," the choir processed in a circle remniscent of a

Russian Orthodox wedding. That set the stage for Paulus' "The Lotus Lovers," which challenged every bit of

Chanticleer's arsenal with its rich harmonic tapestry, oneness of music and text, textural evenness and pitch perfection.

Three pop arrangements -- Duke Ellington's "Creole Love Song" and "Satin Doll" and Queen's "Somebody to Love" --

balanced pop harmonies with hilarious imitations of muted trumpets and trombones.

Chanticleer has evolved, as it should. It has become more more visceral and more assured in telegraphing music to the hearts of its listeners. Underlying that, it is still Chanticleer.

CHANTICLEER

Chanticleer.com December 12, 2010

Chanticleer News: Christmas album #1 on Billboard

After six weeks, the Chanticleer album "A Chanticleer Christmas" has hit #1 on the Billboard Classical Album charts

this week!

The Grammy winning ensemble will once again appear on NBC's Today Show this holiday season — on Tuesday, Dec 21 at 8.50 am, and again on Thursday, Dec 23 at 10.50 am.

Chanticleer continues its popular Bay Area Christmas concert series with performances in Berkeley on Friday, Dec. 17;

at St. Ignatius in San Francisco on Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 18 & 19), at Carmel Mission on Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 6 & 8:30 pm, and on Wednesday, Dec. 22 at 6 & 8:30 pm at Mission Santa Clara.

CHANTICLEER

San Francisco Classical Voice September 16, 2010

Chanticleer: Out of This World BY JOSEPH SARGENT

Chanticleer’s concerts often take on wide swaths of musical history, and the ensemble’s opening concert of its 2010/2011 season, “Out of This World!” is no exception. The celestial-themed program, presented Sept. 17-26

throughout the Bay Area, gathers together a far-flung repertory drawn from the Italian Renaissance, German Romantic,

and American modern eras.

Floating among the stelle and Sterne are two premieres — Mason Bates’ Observer in the Magellanic Cloud and Erika Lloyd’s Cells Planets — that offer a special breed of eclecticism. Bates, a Berkeley composer of classical/electronic

music, as well as a disc jockey, infuses into his piece images of clouds, satellites, and the voices of ancient Maoris, an

indigenous Polynesian population of New Zealand. Lloyd’s piece, meanwhile, draws on the sounds of her indie band, Little Grey Girlfriend, for a distinctive choral/rock fusion.

Not surprisingly, Bates’ piece makes some unusual demands on Chanticleer’s dozen male singers. An entry on the

group’s blog notes, “A lot of discussion was had about the right sound for the satellite’s beeps — finding a vowel for it

that isn’t like a Maori vowel or a regular a e i o u vowel.” Trial and error was evidently part of the work process; the blog continues, “Adam [Ward, an alto] came up with one which we thought sounded more like a submarine than a

satellite. We’ll be experimenting for a while.”

Chanticleer has a solid working relationship with Bates, having recently recorded excerpts from his Sirens (which Bates composed for the group in 2008) and programming another piece later in the year. This familiarity has bred

content, as observed in another blog entry: “[Bates] really enjoyed writing for us — this time knowing exactly how

everybody sounds … and being able to write music in 12 parts knowing that we will sort it out and make a fabulous texture of it. We hope we do.”

Lloyd’s piece blends indie cred with her classical chops, which include a bachelor’s degree in early music vocal

performance from Indiana University. “I think because of that, there was an aesthetic to begin with that had the

recognizable potential for a more complex, choral version,” she says of the original rock song. As for the choral arrangement, by Vince Peterson, founder and director of Choral Chameleon, she enthuses, “He knows Little Grey

Girlfriend’s music by heart and I bet had some of these musical ideas in his head even before the prospect of arranging

it for Chanticleer came along. … He added a lot of movement and texture, built on some of the chords, and added a dash of his signature cross-genre style.”

Lloyd’s own career resonates with Chanticleer’s all-encompassing aesthetic. “As a freelance musician, I have to be as

versatile as possible to get by, but I really think it’s all one and the same, anyway,” she says. “Modern technology has made hundreds of years of music instantly accessible. Because this new generation of songwriters and performers has

such a huge range of global influences, they are naturally incorporating it into cross-genre work. I like being a part of

that. Especially in regards to an instrument as old as the human voice, not much has changed. We’re certainly singing

for the same reasons and about the same emotions. The Pixies really aren’t that far off from 11th-century troubadours.”

CHANTICLEER

Stark Silver Creek News Desk September 7, 2010

Chanticleer releases new recordings and download opportunities On the eve of Chanticleer‟s 2010-11 concert season, the Grammy Award-winning ensemble is proud to release a number of new recordings beginning with “A Chanticleer Christmas” a new collection of holiday favorites from live

performances in Stanford‟s Memorial Church as a CD and for downloads. Studio-recorded singles accompanying the

ensemble‟s 2010-11 repertoire will begin regular release.

“We are also planning to release a live recording of highlights from Out of This World!, the concert that is going on the

road this year,” stated Christine Bullin, Chanticleer‟s General Director. “This is a huge departure for Chanticleer, since

in the past our recordings have all been in-studio. But we would love to offer audiences a sampling of the concert they just attended, just as the rock people do!”

“A Chanticleer Christmas” is produced in conjunction with American Public Media (formally Minnesota Public

Radio), the largest owner and operator of public radio stations in the U.S. Their nearly 800 stations carry 20+ national

programs including A Prairie Home Companion®, Marketplace®, Performance Today® and more, reaching 16 million listeners.

“Ever since Chanticleer recorded Franz Biebl‟s “Ave Maria” in 1990, radio listeners have been reaching for the volume

dial and asking for a little quiet as the ensemble opens up into those glorious dark-chocolate harmonies,” stated Brian Newhouse, executive producer for American Public Media. “This is the music and these are the voices that, for so

many, simply mean Christmas. In 2007, American Public Media began sharing more of that magic by distributing to

public radio stations the choir‟s annual and always-sold-out Christmas concert. These are our favorite moments from

those broadcasts.”

Chanticleer is also pleased to announce the new “CLIC | Chanticleer Live in Concert” download series. The ensemble

is opening its vault of live concert recordings from the present and back through Chanticleer‟s history, giving fans

access to recorded performances.

Now available is “For Thy Soul‟s Salvation: Music for England‟s Monarchs” recorded June 5, 2010 at Mission Dolores

in San Francisco, featuring magnificent music composed for the Royal Chapels by Cornysh, Fayrfax, Tye, Tallis,

Sheppard, Byrd, Gibbons, Mundy, Wylkynson & Parsons. The San Francisco Chronicle‟s Joshua Kosman wrote: “… the ensemble‟s 12 singers, led by Music Director Matthew Oltman, rose superbly to the challenge in one of the most

alluring performances of recent seasons.” This full concert is available now at www.Chanticleer.org.

Two other “Live in Concert” full concert downloads are planned for September. The first is the highly acclaimed

performance The Singing Life, the grand finale of Chanticleer‟s first ever National Youth Choral Festival, which took place at Davies Symphony Hall earlier this year in March. Chanticleer performed with 12 high school choruses from

around the country, and the concert featured the American premiere of L‟Annonciation, by French composer Jean-Yves

Daniel-Lesur with renowned mezzo-soprano, Frederica von Stade. The second is “Comedian Harmonists: BETWEEN TWO WARS,” Chanticleer‟s 2002 tribute to the internationally famous, all-male German close harmony ensemble that

performed between 1928 and 1934 as one of the most successful musical groups in Europe before World War II.

Chanticleer‟s many past recordings are available on Chanticleer‟s website. Favorites include “Let it Snow,” a collection of Christmas music released in 2007, was on the Billboard charts for twelve weeks; “Best of Chanticleer,” a

Chanticleer

Stark Silver Creek News Desk September7, 2007

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compilation with three new tracks including Mahler‟s “Ich bin der welt” and Gershwin‟s “Summertime;” and “Colors

of Love” that won the GRAMMY® Award in 2000 for Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without Conductor)

and the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award for Best Classical Album.

The world-premiere recording of Sir John Tavener‟s Lamentations and Praises was released in January 2002 to critical

acclaim and garnered two GRAMMY® awards for Classical Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without

Conductor) and for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. A track from this recording will be featured on The

Tree of Life with Sean Penn and Brad Pitt to be released this fall. The DVD “Mission Road: Our Journey Back” has been extensively broadcast on public television. 2009 saw the release of the DVD “Fireside Christmas with

Chanticleer” – a „burning log‟ accompanied by favorite Chanticleer Christmas songs.

Called “the world‟s reigning male chorus,” by the New Yorker magazine, and named “Ensemble of the Year” by Musical America in 2008, Chanticleer will perform more than 100 concerts in 2010-11, the GRAMMY Award-winning

ensemble‟s 33rd Season. Chanticleer will tour to Canada and 22 of the United States, including appearances at Walt

Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, New York‟s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National American Choral Directors Association Conference in Chicago.

In early 2010, Chanticleer gave 14 concerts in 11 European countries, appearing at many of Europe‟s legendary concert

halls. In June, Chanticleer returned to Shanghai (after its May 2009 China debut tour) as part of the San Francisco

delegation to Expo 2010.

Chanticleer is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices” for the seamless blend of its twelve male voices

ranging from countertenor to bass. Founded in San Francisco in 1978, Chanticleer has developed a worldwide

reputation for its impeccable musicianship, beauty of sound, and wide-ranging repertoire from Renaissance and Mexican Baroque to jazz, gospel, folk, and adventurous new music.

CHANTICLEER

New York Times May 28, 2010

Embracing the Renaissance and YouTube, Too BY CHLOE VELTMAN

A few days after Jay Leno had seen the all-male a cappella ensemble Chanticleer singing Christmas songs on the

“Today” show last December, he poked fun at it during the monologue on his own show. After asking his audience if it

had ever heard of the group (a voice offstage answered no), Mr. Leno showed a clip of group members singing, and

then cut to a shot of himself in white tie, holding a score and singing in falsetto.

Within a few days the group had created a tongue-in-cheek vocal tribute to Mr. Leno, which it posted on YouTube

(youtube.com/watch?v=glRVCl14sbU). The video has received almost 18,000 views to date.

Until about a year ago, it would have been hard to imagine this pristine-toned, Grammy-winning ensemble doing such a

thing. But under its recently appointed music director, Matthew Oltman, Chanticleer seems to be entering a more

media-savvy phase, just one indication of changes taking place in the group these days. The evolution, both artistic and

organizational, could give Chanticleer, one of the few full-time professional choruses in the United States, even greater

visibility.

Mr. Oltman, 35, became the group’s artistic director last July after 10 years as a member of Chanticleer under its

longstanding predecessor, Joseph Jennings. In less than a year, the reedy, bespectacled Mr. Oltman has begun placing

his imprint.

In concert, its 12 vocalists seem more self-assured and able to show off their individual personalities while still

blending in musically with the whole. The repertory is more balanced, with less emphasis on gospel and spiritual songs.

The ensemble’s once formal image has softened slightly. The singers still often wear tailcoats, white shirts and bow

ties, but they now also perform in more casual attire, sometimes switching between sweaters and slacks and tuxedos.

Audiences have noticed. “The quality of the sound is more joyful and full-throated,” said Vance George, director

emeritus of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and a regular at Chanticleer shows. “The guys are singing out. But at

the same time, I also find them capable of intimate, soft delivery.”

Other changes are also afoot. Chanticleer is touring more widely than ever before. In June it will make its second visit

to China in a year. And there are signs that Chanticleer and groups like it are inspiring a new generation. The inaugural

National Youth Choral Festival, held in San Francisco this spring, was attended by more than 400 high school students

from around the country. The newly formed Louis A. Botto Choir, a small youth chorus for Bay Area singers aged 14

to 20, named after the musicologist and tenor who founded Chanticleer, will hold auditions throughout the summer and

have its first rehearsal over the Labor Day weekend.

Chanticleer has come a long way since the late 1970s, when a collection of talented amateur singers led by Mr. Botto,

who died in 1997, began performing mainly Renaissance music. After struggling financially early on, the group

ultimately became a fully professional ensemble, though turnover among the singers has been particularly high in

recent years, partly because of the grueling touring schedule.

In addition to appearing regularly in the Bay Area, the ensemble has performed in halls like the Barbican Center in

London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Walt Disney

Chanticleer

New York Times May 28, 2010

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Concert Hall in Los Angeles. When not traveling, performing or rehearsing for four hours a day, five days a week, the

singers spend much of their time involved in outreach programs in schools nationwide.

Despite the changes, Mr. Oltman still honors Chanticleer’s past; for example, he remains passionate about Renaissance

music. This week Chanticleer performs a series of concerts featuring music by 16th- and 17th-century English

composers like Thomas Tallis, William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons. Mr. Oltman also intends to continue

commissioning new works, especially by young composers and arrangers like Vince Peterson. He is arranging “Cells

Planets,” by the New York indie rock band Little Grey Girlfriend, for the ensemble’s tour next season.

Although the spirituals that Mr. Jennings favored aren’t as prominent in Mr. Oltman’s programming (Mr. Jennings’s

roots lie in the Deep South, Mr. Oltman’s in Iowa), the new music director retains some in the choir’s repertory in

honor of his predecessor. Last year’s Christmas program, as usual, included a medley of seasonal spirituals arranged by

Mr. Jennings.

Mr. Oltman seems to be off to a good start. With 42.6 million Americans singing in some 270,000 choruses, according

to the latest statistics by the choral service organization Chorus America, Chanticleer has the potential to reach a vast

audience, especially if its maintains its current level of touring and educational pursuits.

But challenges remain. Mr. Oltman has to continue to improve the performance of an already high-quality group in

light of turnover among the members. Balancing the audience’s expectations of the more formal side of Chanticleer

with its newer, more casual side will require careful management. The mild-mannered Mr. Oltman must also forge an

identity for himself independent of that of Mr. Jennings, a charismatic leader of international reputation.

Mr. Oltman is seemingly aware of the hurdles ahead. “Continuing to make progress is daunting,” Mr. Oltman said.

“But it’s a good kind of daunting.”

CHANTICLEER

21C Media Group May 21, 2010

Chanticleer Wins 2010 Chorus America Education Outreach Award

Chorus America, the non-profit service organization for Choral Music, has just announced that Chanticleer has won the 2010 Chorus America Education Outreach Award. Chanticleer’s Director of Education, Ben Johns, will be

on hand on June 18 for the organization’s annual conference in Atlanta, where many of this year’s Chorus America

Awards will be presented. The ensemble, however, will not be able to attend; on the date of the conference, for the second consecutive season, Chanticleer will be on tour in China, where it is scheduled to join San Francisco’s

delegation and perform at Shanghai’s Expo 2010 (June 16-23).

Chanticleer’s President and General Director, Christine Bullin, commented:

“The times we spend with students, learning and making music together, are some of our favorite moments. We have been dedicated to the growth of our education program, so that now we are able to work with over 6,000 students each

year through all our programs. We are honored and humbled that these efforts are recognized by our peers in Chorus

America.”

The award comes during a season in which the Grammy Award-winning ensemble mounted its single biggest

educational effort to date, Chanticleer’s first National Youth Choral Festival™, which took place in San Francisco in March. The four-day festival featured Chanticleer hosting twelve high school choirs – 416 students in all – from across

the country in a four-day choral immersion, including master classes, language coaching, and a host of interactive

educational activities, culminating in a gala concert at Davies Symphony Hall with the massed choirs, an orchestra comprised of Bay Area student instrumentalists, and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade.

Chanticleer’s first National Youth Choral Festival™ also marked the tenth anniversary of the creation of Chanticleer’s Youth Choral Festivals™, a central component of the ensemble’s wide-ranging and multi-faceted education program.

Two years ago, Chanticleer was honored with the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming and the inaugural Dale Warland Singers Commission Award, Musical America named Chanticleer its 2008 Ensemble of the

Year.

A complete list of this year’s Chorus America Award winners can be found here:

www.chorusamerica.org/conf2010wp/?p=159 <http://www.chorusamerica.org/conf2010wp/?p=159> .

www.chanticleer.org <http://www.chanticleer.org/sing/>

# # #

© 21C Media Group, May 2010

Chanticleer San Jose Mercury News • March 31, 2010

Closing concert of Chanticleer's first National Youth Choral Festival was a resounding success BY RICHARD SCHEININ SAN FRANCISCO — A 2009 study found that 42.6 million Americans sing in 270,000 choruses around the United States. Monday night, a high-class representation of those singing millions filled the stage at Davies Symphony Hall — over-filled it, in fact, spilling into the surrounding balconies and then flooding the concert hall with sheer exuberance and refined song.

As the night's organizers kept saying, it was an incredible sight: 416 high school singers from a dozen top choruses, standing elbow to elbow and serving up a world of music, from Gabrieli to Gaelic and Kenyan songs. A few other adjectives apply, too: melodious, light-filled, inspiring.

The choruses had traveled from as far as Georgia and Hawaii, and from as close by as Palo Alto and Piedmont, to participate in the annual National Youth Choral Festival organized by Chanticleer, the San Francisco-based male chorus that pretty much defines the art of singing. After four days of rehearsals, lessons and master classes — some taught by Frederica von Stade, one of our epoch's greatest mezzo-sopranos — the groups gathered at Davies en masse to join in "The Singing Life," as Monday's festival-capping event was titled.

"Absolutely stunning and amazing," said Matthew Oltman, Chanticleer's music director.

He was grinning. The massive chorus had just finished singing Gabrieli's "Jubilate Deo," a program-opening performance filled with gladness. Even better was what followed: William Byrd's "Ave Verum Corpus," which ushered in a hushed, merciful peace across the concert hall.

The hall, filled with the singers' families and friends, was abuzz as the program advanced. An honors choir, drawn from the larger group and augmented by several Chanticleer members, sang the English madrigal "Sweet Honey Sucking Bees," by John Wilbye, with appropriate mischief. "Chou Nu Er," by Taiwanese composer Yi-Wen Chang — 2009-10 winner of Chanticleer's Student Composer Competition — drew a mood of glowing melancholy from the 416 voices.

Next came the night's centerpiece: the American premiere of "Annonciation," a largely forgotten cantata by the late French composer Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, who was a contemporary and friend of Olivier Messiaen, and whose music has been championed by Chanticleer.

His cantata, setting the religious poetry of Loys Masson, was commissioned by Radio France and performed on a live Christmas Eve broadcast in 1951. But, until Monday, an American audience had never heard it performed — not one of those 270,000 American choruses had ever performed it, it seems. (That study, by the way, was conducted by Chorus America, a nonprofit arts service group.)

"Annonciation" is a quintessentially French affair — transparent, refined, unfolding in 10 movements and bearing a resemblance to Messiaen, with chords that conjure blinding light pouring through stained glass, and celestial sonorities gilded by harp and celesta.

Chanticleer San Jose Mercury News • March 31, 2010 page 2 of 2 Given the limited rehearsal time, this was an impressive performance. Von Stade narrated in French, displaying her impeccable diction. She was joined by an orchestra — drawn from youth orchestras around the bay — which played this challenging piece with control and sensitivity, and by a pair of exceptional high school soloists, soprano Patricia St. Peter and tenor Matthew Curtis.

Tossing in hundreds of additional voices — choral outbursts at once delicate and ecstatic, with Chanticleer's 12 singers peppered among the high schoolers — this was an important exercise in collaboration for everyone involved.

Then what everyone was waiting for happened next: Chanticleer itself. The chorus performed two numbers with its usual astonishing flair and absolute precision of detail, coupled with depths of soul.

"Summertime," featuring the stratospheric solo work of alto Cortez Mitchell, brought down the house before the evening finished on soothing notes. There was "Shenandoah," featuring von Stade as soloist. Finally, the directors of all 12 high school choruses — Palo Alto High School, Piedmont High School, San Francisco School of the Arts High School and all the rest — came out to stand beside their 416 students, joining them to sing a heart-melting "Ave Maria."was what followed: William Byrd's "Ave Verum Corpus," which ushered in a hushed, merciful peace across the concert hall.

Chanticleer 21C Media Group • March 18, 2010

Chanticleer’s First National Youth Choral Festival™ Takes Place in San Francisco, March 26-29

Festival Culminates on March 29 with “The Singing Life”:

Chanticleer Performs with 416 High School Singers at Davies Symphony Hall “This is the biggest thing we’ve ever done.”

– Matthew Oltman, Chanticleer’s Music Director Hot on the heels of a triumphant European tour, Chanticleer, Musical America’s 2008 Ensemble of the Year, takes its extensive nationwide education program to new heights this month with its first National Youth Choral Festival™. The festival, which takes place between March 26 and 29 in Chanticleer’s hometown, San Francisco, will bring together twelve high-school choirs comprising 416 student singers from across the country: five choirs from the Bay Area, and seven from as far east as Woodbridge VA and as far west as Honolulu HI. During the four-day choral immersion, the visiting choirs will interact closely and intensively with the members of Chanticleer, who will coach them in all areas critical to the choral art. The climactic event on March 29, “The Singing Life”, will feature Chanticleer and the choirs in a day-long residency at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, where the choirs will be given the opportunity to perform individually on the stage, and to attend vocal master-classes led by mezzo-sopranos Frederica von Stade and Zheng Cao. That evening, all twelve choirs will come together with Chanticleer and von Stade for a gala concert under the direction of the group’s music director, Matthew Oltman. The program includes the American premiere of Annonciation, a cantata by French composer Daniel-Lesur, and a not-to-be-missed monumental performance of the Ave Maria by Franz Biebl, one of the most popular choral pieces of the 20th century. Below, Matthew Oltman, who sang as a tenor in Chanticleer for ten years before becoming its Music Director last season, discusses the festival, which he describes with great enthusiasm and a twinge of trepidation as “the biggest thing Chanticleer has ever done.” A Conversation with Matt Oltman, Music Director of Chanticleer It’s now countdown time for Chanticleer’s first National Youth Choral Festival™, which will take place in the group’s hometown, San Francisco, March 26 to 29. How are you feeling about it? Bringing this festival together has been an enormous undertaking. The logistics are somewhat mind-boggling, involving more than 400 students from as far away as Hawaii and Atlanta in a huge array of activities and events. There are so many different components: individual choral master classes, many hours of rehearsal, vocal lessons for individual student singers with members of Chanticleer, public master classes in solo singing, classes for students and directors in the fundamentals of the choral art, and even a little time to explore our wonderful city. On the final day, each of the participating choirs will perform individually on stage at Davies Symphony Hall; in addition to those morning performances that day, there will also be a public master class led by Frederica von Stade and Zheng Cao, as well as our dress rehearsal, not to mention the big evening gala performance! I will also put together an honor choir

Chanticleer 21C Media Group • March 18, 2010 page 2 of 3 (comprised of 24 auditioned singers) to perform one piece – a madrigal – in the way that Chanticleer does. That is, they won’t know what the piece will be until we rehearse it, and they will have to learn it and perform it on their own—without a conductor. On top of this, we have put together a 40-piece orchestra of high school students, drawn from the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose youth symphonies: the very best players from throughout the Bay Area, playing together for the first time. Somehow, amidst all of this activity, we’ll all have to make time for 16 hours of rehearsal for the gala show! Chanticleer has always had an ambitious education program, and working with young singers is an ongoing part of your activities, but this festival is on an entirely different scale. Yes, it’s no exaggeration to say that this is the biggest thing Chanticleer has ever done. It has involved literally every aspect of our organization and its administration: me, the group’s music director; our Director of Education, Ben Johns; the entire ensemble; the staff; and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, which has helped us to make this event free to the participating choirs. For months, the students have been preparing for the trip, blogging about it, and talking it up in their local newspapers. Many of the participants have told us this is the most exciting thing they’ve done in their high school choral careers. Chanticleer is always extremely busy during the holiday season, when we tour the country with our holiday program, but this festival has kept us even busier than that because there are so many pieces and so many individuals to bring together at once. Christmas we know all about, but this is something completely new. What are you hoping to achieve with the program you have put together for this festival? I’m trying to construct an event that will be as unforgettable as possible for the participants. A lot of that has to do with taking the students as close as possible to the music. Each of the pieces on the program has its own little drama around it that I suspect will really draw in the singers. For example, we’ll be giving the American premiere of Annonciation, a cantata by French composer Daniel-Lesur, and the son of the composer will be coming to introduce and discuss the piece. We’ll have mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao helping the students with the Chinese pronunciation of the winning piece from our most recent student composition competition—a piece by a talented young Taiwanese composer named Yi-Wen Chang. Composer Michael McGlynn will be Skyping in at 5 AM Ireland time to help everyone with their Gaelic. For a high school singer, reading lots of black dots on scores isn’t always the most exciting thing to do, but interacting with composers will create a much more memorable experience. Working with a legendary singer like Frederica von Stade, and getting to walk onto the stage of Davies Symphony Hall for the first time, is going to be something unforgettable and monumental for them. You mentioned Skyping. With so many students coming from so many places, how have you utilized technology in your preparation for the festival? Virtually everything we’re doing has been facilitated by technology in some way: We’ve sent scores over the internet to our students; Yi-Wen is going to introduce herself to the singers with a video that she is sending to us as a Google doc; we’ve sent out recordings of texts being read by native speakers in .mp3 formats; and I’ve already mentioned our use of Skype when connecting with Michael McGlynn in Ireland. Our education director has been working directly with many of the students thanks simply to his ability to email them. We’re even going to have a cell phone and Twitter break during the final concert itself, so that the students as well as the audience can communicate about their experiences in live time. Besides working closely with composers and professional singers, what other aspects of the festival will be particularly memorable for the participants?

Chanticleer 21C Media Group • March 18, 2010 page 3 of 3 Well, one important element is that for the gala event they will not be sitting with their own choir members. Instead, they will be distributed in quartets and quintets made up using combinations of singers from different schools so that they can bond with each other, learn from each other, and, I hope, even make lifelong friends. I hope that this kind of interaction will instill in them a love of music that will last for the rest of their lives. It’s why we’re calling this last day of events “The Singing Life.” This has already been an incredibly busy season for Chanticleer. How does the group find time to do such a huge festival in a season that includes so many performances across the country and abroad, not to mention the dozens of educational activities that Chanticleer does as a matter of course? I don’t think anyone can say that Chanticleer is sitting around resting on its laurels! We just finished an enormous Europe tour, as well as appearances at two American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) conferences, where we led workshops for around 700 choir directors. At two concerts for these conferences we sang for a total of more than 3,000 choral directors and students and it was an extraordinary experience. But this has been a real breakthrough season for our educational program. Being active in the grass roots of choral singing is very important to us, and that’s what these programs – including the many day-long Youth Choral Festivals that we do across the country – are all about. The festival this month in San Francisco is the pinnacle and the crowning event of ten years of focused energy in the educational arena, which is an ever-growing part of what we do. When you see the huge audience for the television program Glee, do you think there’s a huge potential audience out there that hasn’t discovered Chanticleer? While the singing they do on Glee is a different style of singing from what Chanticleer does, the experience it touches on is the same. It’s all about what people can get from being in a choir: the experience of sharing and interacting and building the trust you need to have with your fellow singers if you want to reach your potential. You have to give of your heart and your soul, and you have to do a lot of hard work, but if you do all of this, the reward is tremendous. At its core, I believe this is the message of Glee – and it is the message of our educational program as well. Anything else you want to add? I want to underline again that we’re making little mini groups of singers for the big group that will perform at the gala concert, instead of having each participating choir singing in their usual configuration. Doing things this way makes me (and probably some of the singers) nervous, because individual singers will need to be more independent and work outside of their usual group comfort zone. But sharing and exchanging and bonding through the music itself is an integral part of the experience, and this will be both an overwhelming responsibility and a priceless opportunity for a young singer. I keep thinking about and remembering myself in high school. I attended big choral events that were incredibly exciting and created life-long memories – and I didn’t even have the added adventure of traveling thousands of miles to a place like San Francisco! Knowing what is in store for these singers, I can only imagine what it will be like for them to come here and meet and work with singers their age from so many different places. Chanticleer’s First National Youth Choral Festival™ March 26-29 in San Francisco Includes “The Singing Life”, a day-long residency at Davies Symphony Hall, which concludes with an 8 PM performance by Chanticleer and 416 high school singers from across the country and San Francisco’s Bay Area.

www.chanticleer.org

Chanticleer

21C Media Group January 28, 2010

Chanticleer’s First National Youth Choral Festival™ Takes Place in San Francisco (March 26-29), Bringing Twelve High-School Choirs to Bay Area for Rehearsals, Clinics, Intensive Coaching

Sessions, and Performances with Multiple Grammy Award-Winning Ensemble

Climactic Event on March 29 Will Be “The Singing Life,” at Which Chanticleer and Twelve Participating Choirs – 416 Student Singers from All Over the Country – Will Perform an Evening Concert at Davies

Symphony Hall Featuring American Premiere of Daniel-Lesur’s Cantata, L’Annonciation SAN FRANCISCO, January 28, 2010 – Called “stunningly expert” by the New Yorker, Chanticleer – Musical America‟s

2008 Ensemble of the Year – takes its extensive nationwide education program to new heights with its first National Youth

Choral Festival™. The festival, which takes place between March 26 and 29 in Chanticleer‟s hometown, San Francisco, will

bring together twelve high-school choirs comprising 416 student singers from across the country – five choirs from the Bay

Area, and seven from as far east as Woodbridge VA and as far west as Honolulu HI (see complete list below). The four-day

choral immersion will place the visiting choirs in close, intensive interaction with the members of Chanticleer, who will

coach them in all areas critical to the choral art. The climactic event on March 29, “The Singing Life,” will feature

Chanticleer and the choirs in a daylong residency at San Francisco‟s Davies Symphony Hall, where the choirs will be given

the opportunity to perform individually on the stage, and attend vocal master-classes led by mezzo-sopranos Frederica von

Stade and Zheng Cao. That evening, all twelve choirs will come together with Chanticleer and von Stade for a gala concert

under the direction of the group‟s music director, Matthew Oltman, for a program featuring the American premiere of

L’Annonciation, a cantata by French composer Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur.

Ben Johns, Chanticleer‟s Director of Education and a member of the ensemble between 2003 and 2006, comments:

“„The Singing Life,‟ Chanticleer‟s National Youth Choral Festival™, is the most comprehensive and specialized education

event that Chanticleer has hosted to date. It commemorates the 10th year of our Bay Area Youth Choral Festival and

expands that festival from one day and six participating schools to four days and twelve participating schools. „The Singing

Life‟ layers activities that are designed for students, teachers, conductors, composers, small ensembles, large ensembles, and

honor choirs with Chanticleer interaction threaded throughout. We‟re thrilled to be working with special teaching guests

including San Francisco Symphony Chorus Conductor Emeritus Vance George, legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica von

Stade, and San Francisco Opera's Zheng Cao.

“Considering how much energy flows through our normal Bay Area festival, this weekend in March is going to be absolutely

atomic. It‟s my hope that this festival will impress indelibly on our collective social consciousness the relevance of music

education in our schools.”

The participating choirs were selected by invitation, all of them having some prior experience in Chanticleer‟s education

programs here and across the country. The gala concert program for “The Singing Life” will also include Renaissance

masterpieces by Gabrieli and Byrd as well as the winning composition in Chanticleer‟s bi-annual Student Composition

Competition, Chou Nu Er, by Taiwanese composer, Yi-Wen Chang. Irish composer Michael McGlynn, a Chanticleer

favorite, is represented by a lively folk-song arrangement with the composer participating in the rehearsals via Skype, to help

Chanticleer

21C Media Group January 28, 2010

page 2 of 3

with tricky Gaelic pronunciation. Von Stade will join the group for a performance of another Chanticleer staple:

Shenandoah.

The music of Daniel-Lesur has become a favorite with Chanticleer audiences, thanks to performances of selections from his

spectacular setting of The Song of Songs for twelve-part chorus. L’Annonciation features the composer‟s characteristically

deft use of dense French harmonies and soaring melodic lines. Scored for chorus, chamber orchestra, and tenor soloist, the

piece also calls for dramatic narration, recited by von Stade in this performance. Daniel-Lesur sadly passed away recently,

but his son is ecstatic about the American premiere and hopes to attend the performance and give the students further insight

into his father‟s music.

Chanticleer‟s first National Youth Choral Festival™ marks the 10th anniversary of the creation of Chanticleer‟s Youth

Choral Festivals™, a central component of Chanticleer‟s wide-ranging and multi-faceted education program. In addition to

Chanticleer Youth Choral Festivals™, which the group has offered in the Bay Area, around the country, and as far away as

Tokyo, Japan, the ensemble regularly gives in-school clinics and workshops, master-classes for university students

nationwide, and the Chanticleer in Sonoma summer workshop for adult choral singers. This season, the group will preside

over eleven interactive educational events, including one in Vienna, Austria, where the ensemble will perform this month in

the city‟s renowned Musikverein for the third time. Additional Regional Youth Choral Festivals™ will also be held this

season in Darien CT (March 9) and Lima OH (April 23). Chanticleer will also participate in and perform at two meetings of

the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA): the Central Division conference in Cincinnati OH (Feb 25 & 26) and

the Western Division conference in Tucson AZ (March 4 & 5).

Chanticleer‟s mission and remarkable ability to inspire young singers from across America was documented last season in

The Singing Life – the inspiration for the title of the gala concert at Davies – which has aired extensively on public television

stations and is now available on DVD. The ensemble began its education program (originally called “Singing in the

Schools”) in 1986, and with the help of individual contributions and foundation and corporate support, the program has

evolved and grown substantially.

The National Youth Choral Festival™ is being funded primarily by a generous grant from the William Randolph Hearst

Foundation, along with other individual patrons.

Chanticleer‟s full season calendar and other information are available at www.chanticleer.org <http://www.chanticleer.org> .

Chanticleer’s First National Youth Choral Festival™ – the twelve participating choirs

San Francisco School of the Arts High School Choir

(Todd Wedge, Director, and former Chanticleer member)

San Francisco, CA

Sandy Creek High School Select Mixed Chorus

(Millie Turek, Choir Director)

Tyrone, GA

Pacific Youth Choir

(Mia Savage, Artistic Director)

Portland, OR

C.D. Hylton High School Troubadours

(Thomas Tutwiler, Director)

Chanticleer

21C Media Group January 28, 2010

page 3 of 3

Woodbridge, VA

Members of Gioventù Musicale of the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus

(Nola Nahulu, Director)

Honolulu, HI

Templeton Concert Choir (Templeton High School)

(Jo Anne Stoddard, Director)

Templeton, CA

Lowell Choir (Lowell High School)

(Jason Chan, Director)

San Francisco, CA

Palo Alto High School Concert Choir

(Michael Najar, Director)

Palo Alto, CA

Santa Rosa High School Chamber Singers

(Kira Bombace, Director)

Santa Rosa, CA

Bishop Amat Memorial High School Choir

(Jennifer Srisamai, Director)

La Puente, CA

Piedmont High School Acappella Choir

(Joe Piazza, Director)

Piedmont, CA

Paso de Robles High School Las Voces Celestiales

(Mary Schmutz, Director)

Paso Robles, CA

www.chanticleer.org <http://www.chanticleer.org>

# # #

© 21C Media Group, January 2010

Chanticleer

The New York Times April 20, 2009

For Song’s 250th Birthday, Voices Ring Out in Praise BY VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Anniversaries often provide fodder for concert programmers, composers’ and performers’ birthdays being the

favorites. On Wednesday evening the superb a cappella men’s choir Chanticleer celebrated a less heralded occasion:

the 250th anniversary of “My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free,” said to be the earliest surviving American secular

song.

Strangely, that work, by Francis Hopkinson (a friend of George Washington’s and a signer of the Declaration

of Independence), was not included in Chanticleer’s engrossing program in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan

Museum of Art. With remarkable elegance and fluidity, the ensemble explored a melting pot of styles.

The program opened with “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” an English hymn set here to a melancholy,

traditional Appalachian melody. There were also examples of shape-note music, an American tradition that adds a

further graphic element to the notation to facilitate congregational and group singing. A harmonically rich, earthy

arrangement of “David’s Lamentation” from “The Original Sacred Harp” by Joseph H. Jennings, Chanticleer’s artistic

adviser, was particularly striking. The song “Jefferson,” written during the Revolutionary War in 1779, signified the

new patriotic American spirit.

“Night Chant” by the contemporary composer Brent Michael Davids reflects his heritage as a member of the

Mohican Nation, evoking traditional ceremonies with Mohican words. At one point the sopranos, accompanied by the

earthy sounds of a nose flute, sang over rhythmically intense chants.

Chanticleer

Classical Singer March 2009

page 2 of 2

“The Homecoming: In Memoriam Martin Luther King Jr.,” a soulful work by David Conte with a text by John Stirling

Walker, traversed several keys and moods before ending tranquilly.

The concert also included music from the 17th century by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, a Spanish-born composer

who moved to Mexico and wrote solemn liturgical works in Latin, and Juan de Lienas, a Mexican. After a haunting

rendition of de Lienas’s eight-part setting of Psalm 115, in which the men’s voices swelled in an immaculate crescendo

on the final “Amen,” the mood lightened with “The Queen to Me a Royal Pain Doth Give” and “My Bonnie Lass She

Smelleth,” attributed (by Peter Schickele) to P. D. Q. Bach.

Chanticleer also offered deeply felt, expressively shaded interpretations of “Reincarnations” (Op. 16) by

Samuel Barber, a setting of three poems on Irish themes by James Stephens.

The program ended with songs by Eric Whitacre and by Stephen Foster, including the lively “Nelly Bly.” As

encores, the ensemble offered selections including a striking arrangement of “Summertime,” with dazzling

contributions from the sopranos.

Chanticleer

Classical Singer March 2009

Cheaper By the Dozen: Clearly Chanticleer BY KATHERINE KELTON

In early 1978 Louis Botto brought together a group of male friends for an evening of music making. Sitting around a

dining table, they sang through some medieval and Renaissance choral music. A musicology student in the Bay Area at

the time, Botto wondered why so little of this vast repertoire was so rarely, if ever, performed. The music was readily

available, musically accessible, and originally composed to be sung by men—all of the ingredients needed for a

delightful evening of singing. Little did he know that this idea would lead to the development of a group that would

share the joy of music with millions of people worldwide.

The men enjoyed themselves so much at that musical get-together that Botto invited the best male singers he knew for

further, more formal practice with the goal of sharing more of this “forgotten” music with the public. Botto, well

connected with the singing community in the Bay Area, soon formed an ensemble of nine men, including himself.

Then it was time to do what can be one of the most difficult things for a newly formed group: agree on a name.

Founding member Charlie Erikson suggested “Chanticleer,” after the “clear singing” rooster in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale

from Geoffrey Chaucer‟s Canterbury Tales, which he was reading at the time. Chaucer had in turn borrowed the term

from the ancient French tale, Renard the Fox. It is a combination of the French chanter, “to sing,” and clair, meaning

“clear.”

Following the group‟s successful debut before a capacity crowd at San Francisco‟s historic Old Mission Dolores in

June 1978, the singers agreed to continue rehearsing, setting a goal of performing a new concert approximately every

four months. In 1981 they expanded beyond the Bay Area with their first national and international concert tours. Tours

during the group‟s early years were long and exhausting, including as many as 180 concerts in one season and nine out

of 12 months on the road, eight to 10 weeks at a time. Traveling by van, the men sang in every U.S. state, frequently

performing a dozen concerts in as many days, often in small towns.

Today Chanticleer performs to sold-out audiences all over the world in an annual touring schedule of 25 weeks.

Currently, that concert season lasts from late July until late June and includes 100 to 110 performances. This year the

group will sing concerts in the People‟s Republic of China for the first time.

In the early years, singing in Chanticleer was just one of its members‟ many “part-time gigs” and earned the singers

very little money. Varying numbers made up the ensemble until 12 singers eventually became the ideal number. From

the beginning, Botto‟s goal was for Chanticleer to provide full-time, salaried employment for its singers. By 1991, all

12 members were full-time employees. Currently, Chanticleer provides full-time, salaried positions with regular raises

for its members, proportionate to their years of service.

Hiring countertenor Joseph Jennings in 1983 proved to be perhaps the most propitious move Chanticleer ever made. An

accomplished pianist, prolific composer and arranger, and skilled singer, Jennings found the ideal creative outlet in

Chanticleer. Soon after becoming the group‟s music director, Jennings began arranging spirituals, gospel music, and

jazz standards for the group, contributing immeasurably to the group‟s popularity. (Many of his works are available in

Chanticleer

Classical Singer March 2009

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Hinshaw Music‟s Chanticleer Choral Series, at Yelton Rhodes Music, and at Oxford University Press.)

Members of the group share many of the tasks involved with preparation and rehearsal, but Jennings does all of the

concert planning. His repertoire selection has helped create the distinguishing characteristics of the ensemble, namely

Chanticleer‟s ability to offer a variety of musical timbres and styles while maintaining a continuity of sound.

“Very often programs structure themselves,” Jennings said, when asked about programming. “It may start with an idea,

or a theme, or even a specific type of music, and then everything builds around it.” In addition to his already large

knowledge of the literature, he “looks at a lot of music.” Jennings usually plans programs and seasons two or three

years in advance to accommodate newly commissioned works and allow adequate rehearsal time.

Jennings‟ approach to rehearsing is to “try to build a piece so that it has room to grow. The most important thing is that

everyone understands the piece. That way, it can have a life of its own. Since we sing unconducted, this is essential. At

some point I have to step back and let them have it. My biggest job is to make myself dispensable.”

With 30 recordings to Chanticleer‟s credit, it‟s difficult to believe that a contract with a major recording label once

eluded the group. Chanticleer released its first commercial recording in 1982, and in 1987 (the group‟s 10th

anniversary) created its own independent label, Chanticleer Records, which issued an impressive 10 discs in just six

years. Recordings sold well at concerts but had no national or international distribution. Signing an exclusive contract

with Teldec Classics International in 1994 remedied that, making worldwide recognition possible.

Awards for Chanticleer‟s recordings include a Grammy nomination in 1997, a Grammy award in 2000 for Best Small

Ensemble Performance, and two Grammy awards in 2004 for Best Small Ensemble Performance and Best Classical

Contemporary Composition.

Many view Chanticleer as an “a cappella group,” but the group‟s repertoire is not limited to a cappella works.

Chanticleer has taken on adventurous and ambitious projects, including programs of unknown works by 18th century

Mexican composers performed with period instruments; Monteverdi‟s Vespers with orchestra; a fully-staged

production of Benjamin Britten‟s opera, Curlew River; and a dramatic work by Sir John Tavener, Lamentations and

Praises. Chanticleer has also collaborated with many artists, including Frederica von Stade and George Scheer. In

recognition of its commitment to creative programming and new works, the ensemble received the inaugural Dale

Warland Singers Commission Award in 2008 and the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming

that same year.

Since 1983, Chanticleer has commissioned more than 70 composers to write new works for the group. Other efforts to

encourage a new generation of composers include a three-year composer in residence program, established in 1993, a

composer symposium in 2001, and a biennial Student Composer Competition. Hinshaw Music published the winning

works as part of the Chanticleer Choral Series. The next Student Composer Competition is this year. (See

www.chanticleer.org/music_write.cfm.)

Fostering the development of young composers is just one of Chanticleer‟s educational outreach programs. Jennings‟

enthusiasm for teaching young singers led to the development of “Singing in the Schools” residencies in 1986.

Nurtured by individual contributions and foundation and corporate financial support, this program allows Jennings and

special guest artists to visit schools in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and work with choral students in grades five

through 12.

Chanticleer‟s educational outreach programs have grown to reach singers of all ages and levels of musical ability. The

Chanticleer

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group provides nationwide college and university residency workshops as part of its touring schedule. Chanticleer also

began the annual Chanticleer Youth Choral Festival in 2000, a non-competitive, daylong series of workshops and

exchanges with the ensemble culminating in a full-scale evening performance.

In 2005, in collaboration with Robert Worth, director of choral music at Sonoma State University, the group established

the annual “Chanticleer in Sonoma” summer workshop, offering 64 experienced adult choral singers an intensive five-

day program of coaching, classes, and rehearsals.

Chanticleer produces its distinctive sound by singing all the parts of a “mixed” choir (SATB) but with male voices. It‟s

the vocal equivalent of a recorder consort or a string quartet: the same timbre from low to high with the main difference

between instruments being their size and range. This allows for an unparalleled blend of voices, not just between

singers of the same part, but among all voice parts.

What is it like to sing with this “orchestra of voices”?

I asked current and former members to talk about their experiences in the group. Former member and countertenor Jay

White remarked that the unmatched high quality of music making is what he truly misses about singing with the group.

“Of course, there is the great joy of making a living doing what you love,” said tenor and recently named music

director Matthew Oltman. “But in musical terms, the wide variety of repertoire that Chanticleer performs is ever-

challenging, requires a great amount of vocal flexibility, and always tries to include the audience in the execution,

which makes each and every concert a new and satisfying experience.”

How should a young singer best prepare for a Chanticleer audition? Former member and countertenor Steven Rickards

had only one thing to say: “Be able to sight-read!” A beautiful voice, musicality, musicianship, and technical flexibility

are all essential, but sight-reading ability often determines whether a singer gets the job.

The first step in the application process, due each November, is to submit a preliminary application, résumé and

recording. The artistic advisor and the music director review the applications and invite approximately 12 finalists to a

weekend-long live audition in San Francisco in February. The weekend‟s activities include individual sight-reading and

vocal testing, as well as “plugging” applicants into the group in different combinations to test blend, stamina, innate

musicality, language skills, interpretation, etc. Each finalist also presents a solo recital for the other applicants,

members of Chanticleer, Chanticleer‟s staff and board, and invited guests. Following the auditions everyone usually

enjoys some well-deserved social time.

Singers accepted into the group are often surprised by the toll that busy rehearsal and performing schedules can take on

their voices. When in San Francisco, the group rehearses four hours a day, five days a week.

“We go through college singing virtually every day,” said White, “but not at that level and certainly not for

concentrated periods of time.”

“It takes quite a bit of vocal stamina to sing in Chanticleer,” agrees Oltman, “what with singing about 110 concerts a

year. Developing that stamina can be difficult, and even after 10 years (in my case) it can still take a while to get a

piece of music „in your throat.‟

“The intensity of energy required to get through a two-hour long concert can also be challenging—not just the energy

required to sing, but also to emote, move, interpret, enunciate, and generally bridge the gap between stage and audience

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so that we can all have one unique shared experience.”

Jennings said that changes in the group‟s membership create the excitement and challenge of training the new group

how to “be” Chanticleer.

“They must learn how to work together and more importantly how to trust each other,” he said. “They must realize they

are no longer individual singers but all one voice. We work on building group technique and they get to know each

other‟s voices. They must learn how to interrelate.”

Do singers in Chanticleer feel they need to alter their vocal production for various styles and to blend?

“Blend is always an issue, but maintaining an individual sound is also desired,” said Oltman. “We try to strike a

balance between being 12 soloists and 12 indistinguishable voices.”

The biggest surprise for Oltman when he began singing in the group was the amount of rehearsal time devoted simply

to talking about the music.

“We talk a lot,” he said. “It is necessary, as we don‟t use a conductor and each of us 12 singers must come to a

consensus as to the interpretation of a piece of music so that we perform it with a certain amount of single-

mindedness.”

Jennings described the typical rehearsal structure as singing, after talking. “There are many aspects that must be

addressed, depending upon the piece,” he said. “These aspects include style, diction, and what key works best for the

group. For more difficult pieces, the difficult aspects may be notes and rhythms.

“Probably the thing that we spend the most time on, especially when we first hand out a piece,” continued Jennings, “is

the voicing. It does not always work out that it is clear-cut. Even when we do 12-part music, there are times, especially

when things are doubled, that we have to address the issue of balance.”

The men don‟t do group warmups to work on blend. “All of our coalescing occurs in the course of working on music

and singing,” said Jennings.

The group usually sings through a new piece of music first, followed by the sections looking at their parts to decide

who will sing what in any divisi sections. Jennings works to pace rehearsals so that the singers have adequate downtime

and rest periods. The group does not adhere to a typical routine of rehearsing for an hour and taking a break. The daily

four-hour rehearsals include a lunch break about halfway through.

“Of course, we are not singing for two hours straight,” said Jennings. “There has to be time to stop and discuss, and

digress, and joke around, and play.” His approach to phrasing and dynamics is organic. “They must all relate to the

music and the text and the composer‟s intentions. I try to help [the group] discover the reason for a particular dynamic,

or tempo, or articulation as it serves the music and the text.”

Is it possible to continue to pursue a solo career while singing with the ensemble? Oltman said that the group sings so

much “the last thing you want to do with your time off is sing some more.” The intense schedule precludes doing much

additional solo work. Members may get opportunities they can accept from time to time, but this is rare.

Some members are able to continue taking voice lessons while in San Francisco, even with the group‟s schedule

Chanticleer

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demands, “although it is difficult to find a teacher who understands the vast array of vocal techniques needed to sing

the wide variety of music our concerts demand,” said Oltman. “Having a solid basic technique is essential (breath

control, relaxation, alignment, etc.), but too much concentration on perfecting one „color‟ can actually be detrimental in

our line of work.”

Members say the amount of singing they do for their “day job” means they don‟t have time, energy, or interest in

maintaining practice time for their own solo technique. “Trust me,” Oltman said, “sometimes we are singing so much

that the thought of even humming in the shower can make your stomach turn. This is especially true during the

Christmas season, when we even cut down our warmup rehearsals to save as much voice and energy for the concert and

not waste it in rehearsal.”

“When you do 100 concerts a year,” agrees White, “you cherish the times you are not singing.”

Members do get some much needed downtime, with days off similar to those of any corporate worker: weekends

(except when on tour), major holidays, and 10 days of paid vacation. To make up for the weekends lost on tour, the

singers make up for vacation time at some other time, typically after the “Christmas Juggernaut” (which lasts about two

weeks) and during another three busy weeks or so during the summer.

Maintaining such a demanding schedule makes it challenging to develop new friendships or nurture existing

relationships. Friends and family must accept that the singers are out-of-town for two weeks every month. Chanticleer

has always included members who are either married or in long-term relationships. Currently none of the members has

children, although the group has included fathers in the past. Several of these singing dads discovered that their work

with the group took too much of a toll on their relationships with their children and they left the group.

Obviously, it takes a singer with robust health to maintain the demands of “Chanticleering.” How do members stay in

good health? “Sleep, sleep, sleep,” replied all of the singers I interviewed.

What happens when someone is ill and cannot sing? “There is no „sick‟ in Chanticleer,” said Oltman. “Seriously—you

sing anyway.

“Did you hear that, all you students out there taking a „vocal rest‟ day?” he continued. “Get off your butts and learn to

sing over your illness! It is called technique. And when the times come that you need to sing in order to eat, you‟ll be

glad you learned to sing with a cold, the flu, measles, mumps, what-have-you.”

Infrequently a case of total laryngitis may cause a singer to have to sit out a performance. If a singer can stand up,

however, he is on stage, singing whatever he can. On those rare occasions when a member is absent the other singers

do their best to cover his part, or sometimes, if they can‟t cover that part, cut pieces.

How much time should the singers expect to spend working on music outside of rehearsals, given that members of the

group are expected to be able to read Renaissance music, folk song arrangements, and choral standards nearly perfectly

from the get-go? This varies from singer to singer, depending upon musical skills. A new member has a tremendous

amount of music to learn, so individual work outside rehearsals is necessary. Contemporary pieces might also require

extra practice, but, Oltman explained, difficult contemporary works are often best learned as a group.

“In general, the more difficult the music (new commissions, large-scale pieces, pieces in strange and wondrous

languages), the more time we spend learning the music together,” he said. “Sometimes the music is so difficult or your

part is so reliant on other parts that practicing alone isn‟t really all that productive.”

Chanticleer

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Uniform understanding and execution of proper pronunciation contribute immeasurably to the group‟s characteristic

sound, so the singers strive to be as thorough as possible when learning text. Group members handle much of the duties

of diction coaching. Currently, Eric Alatorre (of Mexican descent and married to a German) coaches German and

Spanish. Todd Wedge (who has had extensive Italian diction study) coaches Italian, and Oltman (for whom French

diction is a specialty) coaches French.

If a piece in an unusual language or dialect is short or has few words, the group may pool its knowledge and use online

resources to work out pronunciation. Usually they bring in a native speaker to coach the ensemble. In recent years, the

men have received coaching in Hungarian, Chinese, Armenian, Russian, Irish Gaelic, and more.

The “Chanticleer sound,” though always identifiable, has evolved through the years with changes in personnel, playing

on the strengths of members during their time in the group. “New members have . . . created their own unique sounds

and that‟s a wonderful thing,” said White.

In addition to that distinctive sound, the group maintains the tradition of a “Chanticleer look,” which includes white tie

and tails for concerts. Staff members—in consultation with the group‟s marketing directors, agent, and the singers—

make decisions about attire for other performances and publicity but always try to stay with this “look.”

After so many years of living this all-consuming lifestyle, some men need time to “regroup” after leaving the ensemble.

They may choose to separate themselves from the organization for a time while they are making the transition back to

“normal life.” Occasional reunions, most recently in 2007 for the 30th anniversary, allow former and current members

to meet and network.

All members, present and past, have had the great fortune of making music at a very high level.

“Periodically I remind us of why we do what we do,” said Jennings. “It is not for money or fame. We have been called

to serve art and its creator and that is a high calling. We have the opportunity to touch many lives in ways that we

cannot fathom.”

Indeed, through sharing their gifts, the singers in Chanticleer are an inspiration to listeners the world over. Chanticleer

is an American institution that shall, as White says, “live as long as there are men to sing and an audience to listen.”

Katherine Kelton, mezzo-soprano, is an associate professor of music at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind., where she teaches

applied voice, class voice, diction, song literature, and honors courses to undergraduate and graduate students. She also maintains

an active and varied singing career, appearing frequently as a soloist and recitalist singing an eclectic range of music throughout

the United States. Her critically acclaimed CD, Amy Beach: 36 Songs, was issued in 2004 on the Naxos label. Dr. Kelton’s interest

in German language, literature, and culture has led to receiving several grants for study in Germany, as well as the opportunity, in

2003, to teach at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. She received a doctor of musical arts and a master of music in

applied voice from The University of Texas at Austin. She also holds a B.M. in applied voice and a B. S. in education, both summa

cum laude, from The University of Alabama, and did additional graduate study in applied voice at Florida State University. Dr.

Kelton currently serves as the president of the Indiana Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and as faculty

advisor to the Kappa Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon.

Chanticleer BBC Music Magazine • September 22, 2008

Men In Black As San Francisco-based male vocal ensemble Chanticleer celebrates its 30th anniversary Chloe Veltman finds out why

its sound has composers queueing.

On a warm evening in May, a group of young men dressed in baggy shorts, trendy T-shirts and flip-flops sauntered into

an upscale bar in San Luis Obispo. A hostess ushered the men to seats on the bar's palm-fringed patio. They ordered

drinks. Very soon, they were sitting chatting with a bunch of girls. Resembling surfers or graduate students, the men

looked like they fit right into this laid-back, California beach town. It was hard to picture them doing anything else.

Yet only an hour earlier in the town's ornately decorated, 18th century mission building across the street, these same

men, clothed in sombre black button-down shirts, polished black shoes and sharply-pressed black slacks, had stood

together in front of more than 500 enthralled listeners, singing long-forgotten hymns to the Virgin Mary. With pristine

clarity and depth of feeling, they resurrected works by some of the greatest composers of the Mexican Baroque era,

including songs by America's answer to Handel, Manuel de Sumaya, that hadn't been heard in more than 200 years.

The 12 members of the internationally renowned, San Francisco-based male vocal ensemble Chanticleer took the

audience on an engrossing musical journey into the past that night. Only when sitting in the bar after they had sung

amidst candy-coloured lights and techno music was it possible to return fully to the present.

Chanticleer's two-week pilgrimage along California's legendary Camino Real included stops in eight mission cities

including San Luis Obispo, San Francisco (where the group debuted on June 27, 1978) and Santa Cruz. Wedged

between the New York premiere of a newly commissioned song cycle and an appearance with Bobby McFerrin in

Washington DC, the Mission Road concerts formed the backbone of the ensemble's busy 30th anniversary season. With

an annual tour roster consists of around 100 concerts, stamina seems to be as integral a requirement for joining

Chanticleer as vocal ability. In addition to performing regularly in the Bay Area, the ensemble travels to such venues as

London's Barbican Center, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Walt

Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. One of only very few full-time professional vocal ensembles in the US,

Chanticleer rehearses four hours a day, five days a week. Its members spend ample hours cohabiting on buses and in

Chanticleer BBC Music Magazine • September 22, 2008 page 2 of 4

hotels. "This job isn't just a job, it's a lifestyle," says longtime Chanticleer bass Eric Alatorre. "You give up control over

certain aspects of your life. This suits some people for longer periods of time than it does others. I still love the music

and want to do this for as long as I can, though the travel gets a little wearying at times."

As hectic as the group's schedule seems, Chanticleer's workload is cushy compared to what it once was. Back in the

early 1980s, when the choir consisted of nine or ten talented part-timers led by the late musicologist and tenor Louis

Botto, there was little time for singers to enjoy post-gig flirtations over cocktails with fans. "We were on the road for

about nine months out of 12," recalls Chanticleer's music director Joe Jennings, who joined the group's countertenor

section in 1983, and became its music director soon thereafter. "One year, we did 180 concerts and hardly any of them

were in San Francisco. The pattern in those early years was drive-sing-drive-sing-drive."

Chanticleer's decision in 1991 to create 12 full-time salaried positions vastly improved its members' lives. Nevertheless,

the ensemble's lifestyle is as all-consuming as it ever was. Partly owing to the demands of singing with the choir,

around 100 vocalists have passed through the organization over the years. Recently, however, the turnover has radically

increased. In 2006, Jennings replaced six singers. Countertenor Jesse Antin, who joined Chanticleer at the age of 22

and left after five years to found his own vocal group, recalls the challenges of being part of the ensemble, when seven

longtime members simultaneously departed in 2003. "When I started, it was easy for me to fit in because I had a guy

who'd been singing with the group for ten years to my left and a veteran of eight years to my right," says Antin. "When

Joe brought in seven new singers it was hard to maintain the consistency of sound. The quality remained high but we

had to re-find ourselves again as an ensemble."

Executive Director Christine Bullin attributes the recent rash of comings and goings to singers' changing priorities.

"The current wave of 25-year-olds may not be as inclined to put their faith in an institution as the founding generations

who signed up and let the chips fall where they may," says Bullin. "Singers today eventually get fatigued with the road.

They've seen their parents get let go from jobs. These are less stable times. They have ideas about what they want to do

next." Antin agrees. "When I joined, some people had been in the group for 15 years. Now singers don't view being

part of Chanticleer as the pinnacle of their careers; it's a stepping stone to other things." Besides founding their own

choirs, ensemble members have moved in a variety of directions post-Chanticleer. Countertenors Ian Howell and

Randall Wong have prestigious solo singing careers; Philip Wilder has become an arts consultant in New York.

Singers come and go. But audiences remain devoted to Chanticleer's mesmerising sound, a timbre characterized by the

ensemble's six-member countertenor section as much as anything else. It's what caused The New Yorker, in 2007, and

Chanticleer BBC Music Magazine • September 22, 2008 page 3 of 4

The Washington Post, earlier this year, to declare Chanticleer, respectively, "the world's reigning male chorus," and

"the reigning gods of the men's chorus world." It's why the choir's latest Christmas album, Let It Snow, was the number

one download on iTunes last December, and why Musical America voted Chanticleer ‘Ensemble of the Year 2008.'

"There's a kind of translucency to the ensemble's texture that allows you to hear the counterpoint that is at the heart of

the music," says San Francisco Chronicle classical music critic, Joshua Kosman, who has followed Chanticleer for 25

years. "The group doesn't produce sound in big, weighty blocks like a "Hallelujah" chorus. Each of the 12 parts can be

heard and has a distinctive character. The singers simultaneously enable us to picture the individual threads that make

up the musical tapestry and the tapestry as a whole."

The unique Chanticleer sound is also what attracts some of contemporary music's leading composers to collaborate

with the group. Though Chanticleer originally specialised in performing Renaissance and Mediaeval music, it has since

branched out. Today, the choir's repertoire features jazz and pop standards, Jennings' trademark gospel arrangements,

choral masterworks, rediscoveries of long-neglected compositions, and groundbreaking new commissioned pieces.

"The group's virtuosity and distinctive sound were particularly inspiring to me," says the New York-based composer

Douglas Cuomo, who wrote the ‘Kyrie' section for the ensemble's 2007 multi-cultural mass, And On Earth, Peace.

"Because the members are all such good singers, I was able to write technically challenging parts and have confidence

that they would make them sound the way I imagined them." Composer Augusta Read Thomas, whose longstanding

relationship with Chanticleer extends back to the whimsical 1992 song, "The Rub of Love," adds: "The biggest

challenge is writing a piece that's worthy of the group's greatness."

Chen Yi, who has worked with the group since 1993, appreciates the ensemble's discipline. According to Yi, the

singers struggled to get the "primitive, raw sound" that the composer desired for her 1996 Chinese Myths Cantata, but

they persevered to capture the power of the work's accented notes and roughness of timbre. "The outcome was effective

eventually after very hard work in rehearsals," says Yi. While rehearsing the song cycle From the Path of Beauty,

which Chanticleer premiered last March in San Francisco with the Shanghai String Quartet and will perform at the

newly opened China National Theatre in Beijing next May, the group's attention to detail amazed the composer. "They

even asked me to email them my computer notated files so they could listen to the complicated pitches precisely at

whatever speed they wanted for practice purposes," Yi says.

Even when a composer isn't able to attend rehearsals, Jennings and his vocalists are punctilious about realising his or

her vision. Irish composer Michael McGlynn, another serial Chanticleer collaborator, held a meeting with Jennings and

tenor Brian Hinman via Skype to hone the finer points of his ‘Agnus Dei.' Hinman had been drafted to sing a big solo

Chanticleer BBC Music Magazine • September 22, 2008 page 4 of 4

in the composer's contribution to And On Earth, Peace. "There was some hilarity over Brian's pronunciation of the Irish

language, but on the recording he is excellent," says McGlynn. "Joe had many questions about the piece and how his

singers would sing it. I don't often get questioned about why I have written something. But Joe is a very fine composer

and arranger himself. It was obvious that I wouldn't get away with any ‘composer waffle' with him."

As much of an impression as the group leaves on composers, its effect on listeners is at least as great. From leggy

southern Californian belles to earnest Austrian music-lovers, audiences can't seem to get enough of the choir. When the

UK's King's Singers visited Salzburg last spring, the Chanticleer sound was ringing in listeners' ears, like the "clear

singing" rooster in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales from which the ensemble takes its name. "Chanticleer is a shining

beacon of singing excellence," says King's Singers countertenor Robin Tyson. "When we passed through Salzburg on

tour earlier this year, people at our concert were still talking about a Chanticleer concert a week previously."

Chanticleer

New York Times April 11, 2008

From Songs East and West, a Harmonic Divergence BY BERNARD HOLLAND

Chen Yi’s “From the Path of Beauty” and Ligeti’s “Idegen Foldon” use similar thinking to arrive at different places.

Ms. Chen’s piece is a seven-part song cycle for mixed chorus and four strings. It was commissioned by the all-male

singing ensemble Chanticleer and the Shanghai Quartet, who performed it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s

Temple of Dendur on Wednesday night.

The Ligeti songs were constrained by the cultural populism of Communist Hungary at the end of World War II. Like

“From the Path of Beauty,” they invent a folk music that may sound Hungarian or Chinese but is really made up. Ms.

Chen is relentlessly theatrical, alternating between misty vocal lines and violently busy string-writing. Her singing parts

can be quiet vocalises supporting the strings, or else shouts, sound effects and a nonverbal cross between scat singing

and the Swingle Singers.

Ms. Chen wants her listeners to think of Chinese calligraphy and opera, but there are also visits to a simpler, popular

modal melody. Her hard work showed up in the virtuoso demands made on everybody. Chanticleer’s 13 singers were

admirable.

The huge, echoing hall served “From the Path of Beauty” well. Sheer sound color is a major ingredient here. Plucked

strings resounded like cannon shots, and if the audience heard some of this music once and then once again on the

immediate rebound, the more the better. Ligeti’s part songs, which included “Papaine” and “Magany,” were quieter but

infinitely more potent, with a magical spilling-over of crossing voices, at once harmonious and ambiguously at odds.

Their beauty sticks in the mind.

The rest was Ravel: a choral transcription of “Soupir” from the “Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé” and the ever

lovely String Quartet in F. “Soupir” was interesting for its whistling accompaniments. The Shanghai players are very

good but pushed Ravel hard. The Quartet, I confess, was a teenage obsession of mine; just having it around made me

happy. I could argue about the Shanghai’s fast tempos but prefer not to.

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1 6 2 W E S T 5 6 T H S T , S U I T E 5 0 6 , N E W Y O R K , N Y 1 0 0 1 9 • T ( 2 1 2 ) 2 4 5 - 2 1 1 0 • F ( 2 1 2 ) 2 4 5 - 1 9 6 5 • I N F O @ 2 1 C M E D I A G R O U P . C O M

____________________________________________________________

CHANTICLEER The multiple Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble at a glance Ensemble information: Established: Founded by Louis Botto in 1978 in San Francisco

Members: The multiple Grammy Award-winning all-male vocal ensemble is

comprised of 12 singers hailing from across the U.S. Joseph

Jennings began his career with Chanticleer as a singer and has

been its Music Director for more than two decades.

Repertoire: Chanticleer’s repertoire spans ten centuries from Gregorian

chant, Renaissance polyphony and Romantic art song to

contemporary music, jazz, spirituals and world music.

Concerts: Chanticleer gives approximately 100 concerts a year throughout

the world, appearing regularly in New York, Boston, Los Angeles,

Washington, DC, Chicago, Toronto, Tokyo, and Paris, as well as

its home base of San Francisco.

2007-08 highlights (Chanticleer’s 30th anniversary season) A Holiday Tradition: A new album of popular Christmas songs, Let It

Snow, will be released on Rhino/Warner Classics on October 16 and features

favorites such as “The Christmas Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little

Christmas.” Chanticleer has become synonymous with Christmas music,

which it performs each year on tours across the U.S. (25 performances in

twelve cities this year; see dates below). The New Yorker has observed,

“Nobody does a better choral Christmas than the virtuoso male voices of

Chanticleer.” The New York Sun called Chanticleer’s annual Christmas

concerts at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art “one of New York’s best

Christmas traditions – right up there with Santa Claus at Macy’s.”

European Tour: Eight-city tour begins in Paris on January 30 and includes

return engagement at Vienna’s world-renowned Musikverein on February 5.

The Music of our Time: Celebrated for its commitment to new music,

Chanticleer will give the world premiere of Chen Yi’s From the Path of

Beauty at the new hall in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on March

13 and in NYC in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on

April 9. The Shanghai Quartet will join the group for this piece, which

celebrates the friendship between sister cities San Francisco and Shanghai.

“El Camino Real”: From May 15 to May 29 Chanticleer will perform

concerts of Mission-era music in nine California missions as part of “American

Masterpieces – California”, a program supported by the California Arts Council

and the National Endowment for the Arts. Chanticleer’s debut 30 years ago

was in San Francisco’s Mission Dolores.

2 1 C M E D I A G R O U P , I N C .

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Chanticleer at a glance Page 2 of 3

Some interesting facts: Chanticleer is named after the clear-singing rooster in Chaucer’s Canterbury

Tales and frequently called “an orchestra of voices”.

All 12 singers are full-time personnel on annual salaries, which is

extremely rare for a vocal ensemble.

A prolific recording ensemble, Chanticleer has made more than a dozen

albums for Teldec and now Rhino/Warner Classics, with whom the group

records exclusively. Their previous recording, And On Earth Piece: A

Chanticleer Mass, featured individual Mass movements by five dynamic

composers from different musical and cultural backgrounds. The album hit

the Top 5 on Billboard’s Classical chart and was described by the Wall Street

Journal as “beautiful and deeply moving.”

Music Director Joseph Jennings, who won Chorus America’s prestigious

Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art

in June 2007, arranges most of the pop, jazz and spirituals sung by

Chanticleer.

Chanticleer’s acclaimed educational programs – including “Singing in the

Schools” and “Youth Choral Festivals” – bring the group frequently into

schools to inspire young singers and develop their interest in choral music.

What the critics are saying:

“The singing of Chanticleer is breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity

of blend, variety of color and swagger of style.” – The Boston Globe

"Precise, pure and deeply felt singing.” – The New York Times

"Chanticleer fascinates and enthralls for much the same reason a fine

chocolate or a Rolls Royce does: through luxurious perfection.” – Los Angeles

Times

“The world’s reigning male chorus.” – The New Yorker

The San Francisco-based male vocal ensemble [Chanticleer] … actually

resides in divine artistic regions.” – Cleveland Plain Dealer

Awards, media recognition and special achievements:

Has made several morning television appearances including NBC’s Today

Show and the CBS Early Show.

Featured many times on NPR’s All Things Considered, Morning Edition and

Performance Today

Have been profiled by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and

numerous publications, including a cover story in Gramophone

Has won Grammy Awards for its albums Colors of Love and Sir John

Tavener’s Lamentations and Praises

Christmas with Chanticleer: An Orchestra of Voices was broadcast

nationwide on public television in 2002 and is available on DVD

Chanticleer has been named one of Billboard magazine’s Top 10 best-selling

classical artists

2 1 C M E D I A G R O U P , I N C .

1 6 2 W E S T 5 6 T H S T , S U I T E 5 0 6 , N E W Y O R K , N Y 1 0 0 1 9 • T ( 2 1 2 ) 2 4 5 - 2 1 1 0 • F ( 2 1 2 ) 2 4 5 - 1 9 6 5 • I N F O @ 2 1 C M E D I A G R O U P . C O M

Chanticleer at a glance Page 3 of 3

Upcoming dates – fall 2007

OCTOBER 2007 01 Lima, OH Education Residency, TBA 02 Akron, OH E.J. Thomas Hall, 8 p.m. 03 Oberlin, OH Finney Chapel, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, 8 p.m. 07 South Orange, NJ South Orange Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m. 09 Westerly, RI George Kent Performance Hall, TBA 10 Manchester, NH Dana Humanities Center, Saint Anselm College, 7 p.m. 11 Waterville, ME Lorimer Chapel, Colby College, 8 p.m. 22 San Francisco, CA Chanticleer Youth Choral Festival 25 Stanford, CA Stanford University Education Residency 28 Burlingame, CA Kohl Mansion, TBA

NOVEMBER 2007 04 La Jolla, CA TBA, 4 p.m. 06 Muncie, IN Sursa Hall, Ball State University, 8 p.m. 08 Austin, TX First Presbyterian Church of Austin, TBA 09 Brazosport, TX The Clarion at Brazosport College, 7:30 p.m. 11 San Antonio, TX Temple Beth-el, 3:15 p.m. 23 Palm Desert, CA St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, TBA 25 Boston, MA Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, 3 p.m. 27 Platteville, WI Center for the Arts TBA 28 Chicago, IL Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, TBA 29 Chicago, IL Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, TBA 30 St. Louis, MO Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, 8 p.m.

DECEMBER 2007 02 New York, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m.

02 New York, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, 8:30 p.m. 04 New York, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m. 04 New York, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, 8:30 p.m. 05 New York, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m. 05 New York, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, 8:30 p.m. 10 Berkeley, CA First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 8 p.m. 11 Stanford, CA Memorial Church, 8 p.m. 12 Stanford, CA Memorial Church, 8 p.m. 14 Petaluma, CA St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 6 p.m. 14 Petaluma, CA St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 8:30 p.m. 15 San Francisco, CA St. Ignatius Church, 8 p.m.

16 Davis, CA Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts 3 p.m. 18 Los Angeles, CA Walt Disney Concert Hall, 8 p.m. 20 Santa Clara, CA Mission Santa Clara, 6 p.m. 20 Santa Clara, CA Mission Santa Clara, 8:30 p.m. 21 Carmel, CA Carmel Mission Basilica, 6 p.m.

21 Carmel, CA Carmel Mission Basilica, 8:30 p.m. 22 Fremont, CA Mission San José, 3 p.m. 23 San Francisco, CA St. Ignatius Church, 8 p.m.

Contact: Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group, Inc., (212) 625-2038 gpetry@21cmediagroup.com

ARTISTS

Proudly congratulates

ROBERT SPANOConductor of the Year

CHANTICLEEREnsemble of the Year

Opus 3 Artists · 470 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016T 212 584 7500 · F 646 300 8200 · info@opus3artists.com · www.opus3artists.com

Chanticleer

New York Sun December 7, 2004

Clear, Pure and Holy BY JAY NORDLINGER

It has become one of New York's best Christmas traditions - right up there with Santa Claus at Macy's. (Does Santa still

drop by, or have miracles ceased on 34th Street?) I'm speaking of the Chanticleer Christmas concert held in the

Medieval Sculpture Hall of the Metropolitan Museum, right in front of the big tree and the Neapolitan Baroque creche.

Sunday night's concert was ... it was sublime, really. It's safe to say that everyone in attendance felt privileged to be

there.

Chanticleer is the 12-man singing group from San Francisco. They have made almost 30 records, and Christmas is

practically their specialty: This year, they're giving 22 concerts between Thanksgiving and the big day. They are a

"fun" group, yes - enjoyable to hear and to follow. But they are superbly musical, a splendid collectivity.

On Sunday night at the Met Museum, the group began out of view, and in separate clusters. They processed to "Veni,

veni, Emmanuel." They began to sing without any forewarning - and I have never heard a crowd hush so quickly. They

stayed hushed for the next hour and a half, except for frenzied applauding and shouts of "Bravi."

As this group processed, "Veni, veni, Emmanuel" blended with "Corde natus ex Parentis," and those blended with

"Adeste, fideles." The singers were in perfect balance - as usual - and in perfect tune (or nearly perfect tune).

Technically, they hardly put a foot wrong, and, musically, they are very sensible, and often moving. This is not a group

of excess or emotionality or vulgarity - neither are they studiedly cool. "Adeste, fideles," for example, was clear, and

pure, and holy. And those three words can apply to most of the evening.

Some Eastern exoticism came with a work by an Armenian monk, that man being Komitas Vartabed (born Soghomon

Soghomonian, in 1869). Chanticleer sounded like an organ set up in the ideal way. And when they end a piece, they

don't choke off the sound, but give the impression that the sound continues. Gaiety came in with "Hodie nobis

coelorum Rex," a six-voice motet from the 16th-century composer Philippe de Monte. Here, as elsewhere, Chanticleer

showed their talent for keeping every part clear, while providing an overall richness. And that brilliant Spaniard Tomas

Luis de Victoria was wonderfully represented by "Magi viderunt stellam."

The 15th-century English carol "Nowell" requires vigor and virility, as indicated by its opening words, "Nowell! Out of

your sleep arise and wake" - and Chanticleer delivered. After a still earlier English carol - "Ecce, quod natura" - came a

piece by contemporary Estonian "holy minimalist" Arvo Part. This was "Bogoroditsye Dyevo," a rapid, stirring thing. I

thought, "Put it on a 45, and it'll sell a million copies." Well, maybe not, but few could fail to enjoy it. It deserves to be

a hit.

The high point of the evening - and its centerpiece - came in the form of Cui's Magnificat, Op. 93. Cesar Antonovich

Cui was one of the Russian "Five" (with Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, et al.). The Magnificat is redolent of the Russian

church, and Chanticleer sang it with extreme beauty and power. The audience responded as though at a rock concert,

and Chanticleer beamed, seeming to know that they had done something extraordinary.

One of Britten's main contributions to the choral literature was "A Hymn to the Virgin" (beloved of the late Robert

Shaw, by the way). Chanticleer did not begin it cleanly, but this was a rare hitch. Also, they sang it too slowly for the

music's absolute good - but they still shone. Then, their "Rejoice and Be Merry" was quintessentially English, all figgy

Chanticleer

New York Sun December 7, 2004

page 2 of 2

pudding. Later in the program, they did "Good King Wenceslaus," which was crisp and even, if not deep. Chanticleer

even proffered a page and a monarch (singers who took those "roles").

Our 12 closed the printed program with a medley of Christmas spirituals, arranged by their music director, Joseph

Jennings. Some were toe-tapping, some were heart-gladdening, some were both. Chanticleer sang in a manner both

authentic and musical (and, of course, the authentic manner is musical).

Their encore was an inevitable one, Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria," the Chanticleer signature number. How does it

transport and exalt, every time? Because - for one thing - Chanticleer never tires of it, at least outwardly. As the

audience (reluctantly) filed out, one lady said to her friend, "Now it can be Christmas."

Ah, yes, Christmas. This was a Christmas concert - not a "holiday concert," and certainly not a "winter concert." It

almost counts as a miracle that Chanticleer continues to sing Christmas loud and clear. Sure, in their spoken remarks to

the audience, they said "holiday" this and "holiday" that - "Have the happiest of holidays." But in an age where the

word "Christmas" is virtually taboo, Chanticleer is marvelously defiant.

A carol on this program - "See Amid the Winter's Snow" - ends with the words, "Sing through all Jerusalem, Christ is

born in Bethlehem." That is the message, and the spirit, that blew through this concert, than which there will be none

more satisfying, in any month of the music season.

Chanticleer

Vancouver Sun May 2, 2004

A Cappella with Polish from Chanticleer BY DAVID GORDON DUKE

After 25 years of touring and recording, San Francisco's all-male a cappella ensemble Chanticleer is finely tuned and

uncannily precise.

Where most choirs must work long and hard on their blend, the Chanticleer singers begin with utterly matched voices

and impeccable intonation, then go on to colour vowels, synchronize vibratos, create tricks with diction, and create

dozens of further effects with articulation, tone, and dynamics.

Purists might question their willingness to embrace showy, even show biz, values, but at the Chan it was as hard to

fault either their fundamentally serious choice of repertoire or their obvious technical mastery. Even their quasi-

choreographic regroupings made solid musical sense, creating shifts in micro-acoustics and, for a conductorless

ensemble, optimal cuing.

The program began with a short Gloria by the 15th century Flemish master Guillaume Dufay, which segued

immediately into contemporary French composer Jean Daniel-Lesuer’s vibrant Le Roi Salomon, Following significant

Renaissance and Baroque repertoire and a group of songs for male choir by Robert Schumann, the choir’s most

demanding workout came in two excerpts from American composer John Musto’s 2001 Five Motets —songs of almost

transcendent difficulty which layer complex sonorities and stretch the range of choral writing in compositions simply

unconceivable for any other ensemble.

The second half looked, at first glance, less demanding, but Estonian composer Veljo Tormis’ Helletused, patterned on

traditional children’s herding calls, proved an extended work of quality and rugged individuality. Sarah Hopkins’

subsequent Past Life Melodies is perhaps less outstanding music, but her use of extended vocal techniques, including

overtone singing, was stunning: at the conclusion harmonic partials hung shimmering in the air like the sonic

equivalent of the aurora borealis.

A group of four Asian, Carribean, and Scottish folk songs and a popular American encore group rounded out a

memorable evening.