A CHANTICLEER CHRISTMAS BEGINS DECEMBER 13; 11 PERFORMANCES AROUND THE BAY AREA.
SAN FRANCISCO, November 14, 2013—The Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, keeps its oldest and best-loved tradition with 11 performances of A Chanticleer Christmas between December 13 and 23. A Chanticleer Christmas offers profound, peaceful and joyous music in beautifully decorated missions, churches and cathedrals around the Bay Area. Beginning at the Oakland Cathedral of Christ the Light, A Chanticleer Christmas continues in Berkeley, San Francisco, Petaluma, Sacramento, Carmel and Santa Clara.
Chanticleer’s Christmas season begins on December 1st in Virginia, and stops in Chicago, Westhampton and New York before returning to California where performances at Stanford’s Memorial Chapel and Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Hall complete the schedule. This season features the group’s debut in its new Christmas home in Manhattan at St. Ignatius Loyola Church. 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.”
A Chanticleer Christmas tells the story of the nativity in music written from the 13th to 21th centuries, this year featuring the world premiere of Steven Sametz’ setting of “O Magnum Mysterium” along with works by Hassler, Dufay, Victoria, Tavener, Chesnokov, Rachmaninoff and others. Chanticleer’s most popular recorded song, Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria”, is always featured on A Chanticleer Christmas. The program will be broadcast by American Public Media on over 300 national public radio stations across the country.
January sees the ensemble embark upon a nine-country thirteen-concert tour of Europe, which includes returns to Vienna’s Musikverein, Prague’s Rudolfinum, Paris’ Oratoire du Louvre, Rotterdam’s De Doelen, debuts in Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Cork’s Opera House, Budapest’s Lizst Academy and first-ever performances in Russia at the International House of Music in Moscow and St. Petersburg’s Grand Philharmonic Hall. Dates in Antwerp, Bruges, Innsbruck, and Friedrichshafen round out the tour, which includes two workshops open to local choral singers in Cork and Vienna.
After the ensemble’s return from Europe, Chanticleer’s 2013-14 season will conclude with Atlantic Crossing – a collaboration with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra in March, and, in June, Russian Dreams under the direction of Elena Sharkova.
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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FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:
A CHRISTMAS CHANTICLEER
December 13-23, 2013
Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, Dec 13, 8 pm
First Congregational Church, Berkeley, Dec 14, 8 pm
St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco, Dec 15, 8 pm
St. Vincent Church, Petaluma, Dec 17, 6 & 8:30 pm
Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacramento, Dec 18, 8 pm
Mission Santa Clara, Dec 19, 6 & 8:30 pm
St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco, Dec 22, 8 pm
Carmel Mission, Dec 23, 6 & 8:30 pm
Tickets:
$30-$65
415/392-4400 or 800/407-1400
www.chanticleer.org