Back to the Mother Ship – St. Ignatius- for our last ( of 26 ) concerts this Christmas season. As always, a real 'home' audience was in a holiday mood.

A successful Christmas takes a lot of support – thanks to our volunteer ushers, our staff which does everything including man the CD stands, and of course our faithful and fantastic audiences. A big shout out to our LAB Choir volunteers. Lila was indefatigable in promoting our education program, and had quite a bit of success.

Bye for now – we're spreading out across the country to visit family and have a rest before what will be an intense New Year. We'll hope to see you on the blog on our European tour, starting January 15 in Italy, and ending February 13 in Spain, with just about everything in between.

We drove up the Mission Road from Carmel to Santa Clara, another beautiful and familiar place for Chanticleer.  We've never seen so many people packed into the mission – 800 for each performance, not a ticket to be had at the door.   

The decorations here are always breathtaking.

Looking pretty good after 25 concerts…

The Santa Clara audience is fun to perform for – there are many many who go back to the very first Chanticleer concerts here in the Mission, and greet every successive generation of ensemble members with the same warmth as they have displayed since the beginning.

Hard to believe, but our 2011 Christmas odyssey comes to an end tonight back at St. Ignatius.  It always feels good to end up at the Mother Ship, and close to our SF homes for many early morning departures on Saturday.

We made this as we warmed up here and there around the country to wish you happy holidays and all the best to come in the new year.

http://www.youtube.com/sfchanticleer#p/u/0/5tiyUt1SNaU

A very favorable review from last night's concert by Reg. Huston appeared almost immediately.

Our Christmas concerts in Carmel are  always special.  The Carmel Mission is the smallest of our Christmas venues ( 330 seats – always full,) and the audience has been with us a very long time.  The concert is always very close to Christmas, and – unlike any other of our venues-  is a destination for people who make it the feature of a one or two night vacation in this most beautiful part of California.  Stories abound among them of how they came to discover Chanticleer many years ago, and what a special place in their Christmas celebration is occupied by their escape to Carmel.     It was a beautiful cold winter day 

which, by evening,  was very winterish, for California

The sanctuary is warm and intimate and always looks beautiful at Christmas

We share the appreciation of our Carmel audience for the special moment that it is possible to create in this place.  We look forward to being back on our Mission Road tour in June.

Tonight we sing in another beautiful mission – that of Santa Clara.

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On our way to Carmel….