- Chanticleer (ensemble)
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Based in San Francisco, California, Chanticleer is a full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States. Over the last three decades, it has developed a major reputation for its interpretations of Renaissance music, but it also performs a wide repertoire of jazz, gospel, and other venturesome new music and is widely known as an "Orchestra of Voices". It was named for the "clear singing rooster" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
Contents
History
Chanticleer was founded in 1978 by tenor Louis Botto, who sang with the group until 1989, and served as Artistic Director until his death from AIDS[1] in 1997. As a graduate student of musicology, Botto found that much of the medieval and Renaissance music he was studying was not being performed, and, because of this, he formed the group to perform this music with an all-male ensemble, as it was traditionally sung during the Renaissance.
Originally, the group contained ten singers, but its size has varied from eight to twelve. Currently, Chanticleer comprises twelve men, including two basses, one baritone, three tenors, and six countertenors (three altos and three sopranos).
Discography
In May 2007, Chanticleer released "And On Earth, Peace: A Chanticleer Mass" (Warner Classics) a new mass written by five contemporary composers. Israeli-born composer Shulamit Ran wrote the Credo to the Hebrew text "Ani Ma'amin"; US composer Douglas Cuomo contributed the Kyrie; Turkish-American composer Kamran Ince composed the Gloria section to a sufi text; English composer Ivan Moody composed the Sanctus; and Irish composer Michael McGlynn (director of Anúna) composed the Agnus Dei. The Mass was premiered in performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and was followed by six performances throughout the San Francisco Bay area.[2]
On 16 October 2007, Chanticleer released "Let it Snow," the group's 29th recording. A portion of the album is accompanied by orchestra and/or big band; as such, the album brings a new sound to Chanticleer's almost exclusively a cappella repertoire.[3]
Current singers
(list taken from official website[4])
- Eric Alatorre (Bass)
- Brian Hinman (Tenor)
- Casey Breves (Countertenor, soprano pitch)
- Michael Axtell (Bass)
- Kory Reid (Countertenor, soprano pitch)
- Ben Jones (Tenor)
- Gregory Peebles (Countertenor, soprano pitch)
- Alan Reinhardt (Countertenor, alto pitch)
- Cortez Mitchell (Countertenor, alto pitch)
- Adam Ward (Countertenor, alto pitch)
- Matthew Curtis (Tenor)
- Matthew Knickman (Baritone)
Notable past members
- Matt Alber
- Frank Albinder, designed the concept and chose the repertoire for Chanticleer's Grammy Award winning album Colors of Love.
- Terry Barber
- Ian Howell, countertenor
- Philip Wilder, countertenor
- Jesse Antin, founder of the men's ensemble Clerestory
- John Bischoff, bass singer for Clerestory
- Kevin Baum, tenor singer for Clerestory
- Chris Fritzsche, soprano singer for Clerestory
- Clifton Massey, alto singer for Clerestory
- Justin Montigne, countertenor, singer for Clerestory
- Corey McKnight, countertenor
- Tom Hart, bass-baritone singer for Clerestory
- Kevin Freeman
- Neal Rogers
- Randall Wong soprano
- Steven Rickards
- Fraser Walters, tenor for Canadian Tenors
- Ted Bakkila
- Todd Wedge, tenor ( current director of vocal music at San Francisco School of the Arts)
- Mark Keller
- Matthew Oltman (Former Chanticleer Music Director)
- Jace Wittig (Current Chanticleer [Interim] Music Director)
- Joseph Jennings (Former Chanticleer Music Director and Artistic Director, Current Artistic Advisor)[5]
- Joel Diffendaffer
- Jeffrey Keim, tenor, alto
- Richard Morrison, Baritone
Awards and honors
In 2000, Joseph Jennings (Artistic Director) and Chanticleer won a Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance for their work Colors of Love — Works of Thomas, Stucky, Tavener and Rands.
In November 2007, whilst in its 30th Anniversary Season, Chanticleer was named Musical America's 2008 Ensemble of the year. This marks the first time a vocal ensemble has received this award. Additionally, on October 9, 2008, Chanticleer became the first vocal ensemble to be inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in Cincinnati, Ohio.
References
- ^ "Louis Botto, 45, Choir Founder - The New York Times". 1997-03-01. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/01/arts/louis-botto-45-choir-founder.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
- ^ The New York Times has more on the repertoire here.
- ^ The Chanticleer website has more information, including a listing of tracks, here.
- ^ http://www.chanticleer.org/about/singer-biographies/
- ^ [1]
External links
Categories:- American choirs
- Early music choirs
- Grammy Award winners
- Choirs in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Musical groups from San Francisco, California
- Musical groups established in 1978
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