SAN FRANCISCO, October 17, 2011— Following the chart-topping success of last year’s “A Chanticleer Christmas”, the celebrated ensemble releases their most beloved seasonal songs in the second installment of holiday radio broadcast performance recordings, aptly titled “Our Favorite Carols.” This new collection was recorded live at Stanford Memorial Church. The recording will be available on CD and as a download on October 24, 2011 at all retail locations and at www.chanticleer.org.
“This is the music and these are the voices that, for so many, simply mean Christmas,” stated Brian Newhouse, executive producer for American Public Media. In 2007, American Public Media began distributing the choir’s annual sold-out Christmas concert to over 200 public radio stations.
“Christmas is our favorite time of the year to sing,” says bass Eric Alatorre – a 21 year veteran of Chanticleer’s annual Christmas tour, “Every year from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve, our caroling takes us around the country and into some of its warmest and most beautiful churches, missions, cathedrals, and concert halls. We especially love singing these familiar and uplifting songs, knowing that our audiences too are singing them at this most wonderful time of the year.”
Eleven performances of A Chanticleer Christmas will be given in Northern California from December 10 – 23 beginning in Oakland at the magnificent Cathedral of Christ the Light, and continuing in Petaluma, Sacramento, San Francisco, Berkeley, Carmel and Santa Clara. Legendary choral musician Dale Warland has been invited by Chanticleer to prepare the program.
Called “the world’s reigning male chorus,” by the New Yorker magazine, and named “Ensemble of the Year” by Musical America in 2008, Chanticleer performs over 100 concerts a year all around the world, but it is a Christmas that Chanticleer is most sought-after. In its extensive discography (including several Grammy® winners), Chanticleer’s Christmas recordings are the best sellers. Their annual holiday appearances include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, national television performances, the Walt Disney Concert Hall. These concerts combined with this new recording are Chanticleer’s Christmas gift of joy and serenity to its fans at Christmas time.
Selections on the release include: A Babe is Born in Bethlehem, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Rejoice and Be Merry (medley), Good King Wenceslas, Gabriel’s Message, Star of Wonder/We Three Kings of Orient Are/No Small Wonder (medley), I Saw Three Ships, A Virgin Unspotted, Huron Carol, A Christmas Carol, I Wonder as I Wander, See, Amid the Winter's Snow, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, The Town Lay Hushed, This Have I Done for My True Love, The Holly and the Ivy, In The Bleak Midwinter and Silent Night.
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.
For information on recordings and downloads, as well as the 2011-12 Season, visit the website: www.chanticleer.org.
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