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Chanticleer, vocal ensemble

Biography

Chanticleer is a vocal ensemble of twelve male voices, ranging from countertenor to bass. This multi award winning ensemble performs a repertoire ranging from Renaissance to jazz, and from gospel to adventurous new music. Founded in 1978, Chanticleer has interpreted a wide variety of vocal literature and become internationally renowned as "an orchestra of voices".

Under their Music Director, Joseph Jennings, who also heads the ensemble’s educational and community outreach programs, Chanticleer performs over 100 concerts a year throughout the world. In North America they regularly appear in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Toronto, as well as in their home base of San Francisco.

Further afield Chanticleer has performed in Asia and made an Australian debut in 1996/7. The following season the ensemble travelled to Japan, Mexico and Canada and toured Europe for three weeks presenting concerts in England, France, Germany, Austria and Israel. That season also included a special collaborative programme with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade.

The 2002/3 season marks Chanticleer’s 25th anniversary and as part of the celebrations, Chanticleer tours Europe twice – in September 2002, and in April and May 2003, with performances in the the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, as well as in 23 states in the US and Bermuda.

Chanticleer's long-standing commitment to developing the choral repertoire has led the group to commission works from many composers, including John Tavener, Bernard Rands, Chen Yi, David Conte, Brent Michael Davids, Anthony Davis, William Hawley, Jake Heggie, Tania León, Steven Sametz, Paul Schoenfield, Steven Stucky and Augusta Read Thomas. In the 2001/2 season Chanticleer gave the world premiere of Sir John Tavener’s Lamentations and Praises, a seventy-minute theatrical work co-commissioned by Chanticleer, the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Since 1994, Chanticleer has recorded exclusively for Teldec Classics. To date the ensemble has made over 20 recordings with repertoire ranging from Palestrina to traditional spirituals. Their 1999 CD release, Colors of Love, which focuses on their commitment to contemporary works, won a Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without Conductor) and the Contemporary A Capella Recording Award for Best Classical Album.

Autumn 2001 saw the release of "Christmas with Chanticleer featuring guest artist soprano Dawn Upshaw", closely followed by the world-premiere recording of Tavener’s Lamentations and Praises, in early 2002. The group’s 25th recording, ‘Our American Journey’ will be released in autumn 2002.

Chanticleer's artistic accomplishments have earned the ensemble numerous awards, as well as significant foundation support and US government funding. The ensemble also brings the gift of singing to young people using socially inclusive projects such as their "artist-in-the-schools" residencies.

August 2002/442 words

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