SAN FRANCISCO, November 14, 2012—The Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, celebrating its 35th anniversary season, keeps its oldest and most well-loved tradition with 11 performances of A Chanticleer Christmas, ringing in the holiday season with profound, peaceful and joyous music in beautifully decorated missions, churches and cathedrals around the Bay area. 11 performances of A Chanticleer Christmas will be given from December 10th beginning in Berkeley and continuing in Oakland, San Francisco, Petaluma, Sacramento, Carmel and Santa Clara.
Welcomed in early December by sold out audiences in New York, Los Angeles, and Boston, this year’s national Chanticleer Christmas tour also includes stops in Santa Fe, New Mexico; South Orange, New Jersey; and Fairfax, Virginia. A Chanticleer Christmas receives the highest acclaim, with the New Yorker declaring, “No one does a better choral Christmas than the virtuoso male voices of Chanticleer.”
Chanticleer’s most popular recorded song, Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria”, is always a feature of A Chanticleer Christmas. This year’s program also includes seasonal songs by the Finnish master Arvo Part, the stunning Praetorius “Est is ein Ros enstprungen (arranged by Jan Sandström), 14th century Spanish Classics, Poulenc’s “O magnum mysterium” and a selection of festive and familiar carols and gospels arranged by Jennings, Rutter, Echols and others.
A Chanticleer Christmas will also be broadcast on over 300 national public radio stations across the country. To round out the holiday season Chanticleer will appear live on January 12 on A Prairie Home Companion in the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. An anniversary celebration on March 22, 2013, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music will include guest star Nellie McKay, and Bay Area vocal ensembles Clerestory (whose membership includes many former Chanticleer singers) and Musae in a festive evening celebrating Chanticleer’s 35 successful years.
La Serenissima will complete the season as Chanticleer returns to its early music roots with music from the glorious Venetian School.
Chanticleer’s 2012-13 season features the release of a number of new recordings, including its first studio recording since 2007, By Request, as well as a recording of live concert highlights from its current touring concert, The Siren’s Call.
Chanticleer was awarded Chorus America’s prestigious Education and Outreach Award for 2010, and takes pride in its annual interaction with more than 5,000 students around the Bay Area and the U.S. The ensemble recently launched its newest educational program, introducing a small, mixed youth chorus for Bay Area singers aged 14-20, known as the Louis A. Botto (LAB) Choir in honor of Louis A Botto, the founder and original Artistic Director of Chanticleer.
Called “America’s favorite choral ensemble,” by the New Yorker magazine, 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 Records releases live and studio recordings on CD and in digital formats, and both may be found at: www.chanticleer.org.
For information regarding performance dates and tickets to A Chanticleer Christmas ($30-$65), visit: www.chanticleer.org. Tickets are also available by phone through City Box Office at 415/392-4400 or 800/407-1400.
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A CHRISTMAS CHANTICLEER December 10-23, 2012
First Congregational Church, Berkeley, Dec 10, 8 pm
Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, Dec 14, 8 pm
St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco, Dec 15, 8 pm
St. Vincent Church, Petaluma, Dec 16, 4 & 6:30 pm
Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacramento, Dec 18, 8 pm
Carmel Mission, Dec 21, 6 & 8:30 pm
Mission Santa Clara, Dec 22, 6 & 8:30 pm
St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco, Dec 23, 8 pm
Tickets:
$30-$65
415/392-4400 or 800/407-1400
www.chanticleer.org