Chanticleer Tours Its Beloved Christmas Program Across the U.S. This Winter

Multiple Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer - a group that "fascinates and enthralls ... through luxurious perfection" (Los Angeles Times) - celebrates its 44th season with a return to in-person holiday touring across the U.S. (Nov 28-Dec 23).

"A Chanticleer Christmas," which previously reached national audiences through a PBS special and multiple appearances on NBC's Today show, is a program that - from its opening candlelit chant procession to its triumphant gospel conclusion - hearkens back to some of the group's most cherished traditions and the original vision of its founder, Louis Botto. Tour highlights include performances at New York City's Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Chicago's Symphony Center and Los Angeles's Walt Disney Concert Hall, as well as concerts throughout the choir's Bay Area home.

Chanticleer's new President and General Director, Philip Wilder, who began his career as a countertenor with the ensemble and assumed his new post at the height of the pandemic in 2020, elaborates: "After the only interruption in concert touring in our 44-year history, we are particularly excited to bring 'A Chanticleer Christmas' back to venues across the United States. Hearing the sublime voices of our ensemble has become a holiday tradition for thousands of Chanticleer fans across the country, and we intend to make this Christmas a particularly special homecoming." The group also has a new Music Director, Tim Keeler, who is equally enthusiastic about this season's return to live performance: "At this time last year, we were in the middle of filming our Christmas concert so that we could share, from far away, a little bit of the season with our audiences. This year, we're back on the road - back to our favorite cities and venues, and back to sharing the joy of the season in person...Every year we look forward to being with our audiences in these familiar towns and halls. We can't wait to celebrate the season together with them in their places of comfort and joy." Prior to the pandemic, the twelve-voice, all-male ensemble - performing repertoire that spans ten centuries, from Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony and Romantic art song to contemporary music, jazz, spirituals and world music - kept up a schedule of approximately 100 performances a year around the world, cultivating a global family of, as Wilder puts it, "staggering size and dedication." Released late last year when live performances were out of the question, the group's most recent album, Chanticleer Sings Christmas, was lauded by Classics Today for "the beauty and sumptuous blend the choir achieves ... and the seasoned performance style that brings each selection to its fullest expression." It joins a catalogue of more than 40 albums, released over four decades, which have sold well over a million copies and won multiple Grammy awards.

Chanticleer is committed to the health and safety of all patrons, artists and staff, and will comply with all local, state and CDC guidelines regarding public performances, updating policies when guidelines change. Current COVID-19 policies can be found here.

The Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer has been hailed as "the world's reigning male chorus" by the New Yorker, and is known around the world as "an orchestra of voices" for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity. Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly took its place as one of the most prolific recording and touring ensembles in the world, selling more than one million recordings and performing thousands of live concerts to audiences around the globe.

Rooted in the Renaissance, Chanticleer's repertoire has been expanded to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz and popular music and to reflect a deep commitment to the commissioning of new compositions and arrangements. The ensemble has dedicated much of its vast recording catalogue to these commissions, garnering Grammy Awards for its recordings of Sir John Tavener's Lamentations & Praises and the ambitious collection of commissioned works entitled Colors of Love. Chanticleer is the recipient of Chorus America's Dale Warland Commissioning Award and the Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. During his tenure with Chanticleer, its Music Director Emeritus Joseph H. Jennings received the Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award for his contribution to the African American choral tradition.

Named for the "clear-singing" rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Chanticleer continues to maintain ambitious programming in its hometown of San Francisco, including a large education and outreach program, which recently reached more than 8,000 people, and an annual concert series that includes its legendary holiday tradition "A Chanticleer Christmas."

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