Multi-Grammy award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer will begin its new season of performances in the Bay Area and on tour across the U.S. with a new program, “Without a Song,” which explores the power of music throughout the ages. Repertoire includes medieval and Renaissance motets by Francesco Landini and Orlando di Lasso, a new work by Grammy-nominated composer Ayanna Woods, the group’s composer in residence for 2023–24, and a new version of the jazz standard “Without a Song,” arranged by Stacey V. Gibbs. Music Director Tim Keeler explains:
“Part of what makes our job so beautiful and invigorating is that we get to share the joy and power of music with audiences around the world. We feel their excitement from the stage. In ‘Without a Song’ we let ourselves be carried away by that joy and reflect on how important music is to our daily lives. It gives us inspiration, comfort, tears and smiles.”
Ayanna Woods’ music was also featured last season in a new program called “Music of a Silent World,” which centered around Majel Connery’s “The Rivers are our Brothers,” a song cycle about environmental responsibility. Woods’ “I miss you like I miss the trees” dealt with the subject of forest fires.
Two other unique programs — the Indian music-focused “Choodandi” and “Chanticleer and the Fox: An Evening of Renaissance Music Theater” — will be performed in Bay Area venues in the spring, and the group’s iconic holiday program, “A Chanticleer Christmas,” will tour coast to coast. As Gramophone explained in its five-star review of Chanticleer’s latest album, On a Clear Day, “The group’s composition has changed often in its nearly half-century existence, but the quality and commitment they bring to this recording must have been there from the beginning. … The entire program is delivered with the skillful aplomb one expects from these voices.”
“A Chanticleer Christmas”
Chanticleer performs its popular holiday program, “A Chanticleer Christmas,” throughout December. The program, which was featured in a PBS special and several appearances on NBC’s Today show, recalls – from the opening candlelit singing procession to the triumphant gospel conclusion – some of the group’s most beloved traditions and the original vision of its founder, Louis Botto. Tour highlights include performances at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City (December 6 and 8), Symphony Center in Chicago (December 10) and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (December 17), as well as concerts throughout the choir’s Bay Area headquarters. At the height of the pandemic, when live performances were out of the question, the group released the Christmas program on the album Chanticleer Sings Christmas, which was praised by Classics Today for “the beauty and lush blend the choir achieves… and the skilled performance style that brings each selection to its fullest expression.” It joins a catalog of over 40 albums released over the course of four decades, selling well over a million copies and winning multiple Grammy awards.
“Choodandi” – Translation
Later in the season, Chanticleer will perform a program called “Choodandi,” curated by Chanticleer tenor Vineel Garisa Mahal. Featuring music from composers ranging from Thyagaraja – a composer of classical Carnatic music – to contemporary songwriter Sid Sriram, the program will explore not only how Indian music has changed and evolved, but also how perceptions of this “perfect” and “true” art form can change. Keeler comments:
“‘Choodandi’ will be Chanticleer’s first foray into Indian music. We are thrilled and grateful to have Vineel guide us through this beautiful and wide-ranging repertoire and help us refine the unique intricacies of vocal production, ornamentation and style of the genre.”
“Chanticleer and the Fox: An Evening of Renaissance Musical Theatre”
Based on the Caldecott Prize-winning children’s book Chanticleer and the Fox, illustrated by Barbara Cooney and adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the story of Chanticleer the rooster who outwits the wily fox to rescue his farm friends will be accompanied by the Chanticleer ensemble, playing a soundtrack of Renaissance madrigals and motets. The concert will be performed in five cities around Chanticle’s Bay Area home and is suitable for children of all ages (June 7-13).
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