Chanticleer (ensemble)
Chanticleer is a professional classical vocal ensemble from San Francisco.
The all-male ensemble is particularly known for its performances of a cappella music of the Renaissance and early Baroque, but also regularly performs a wide repertoire of jazz, gospel and other modern and contemporary music on. The group is known as an " Orchestra of Voices" ( " orchestra of voices "). Chanticleer is named after the singing rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
The choir was founded in 1978 by tenor Louis Botto to which until 1989 also even it the ensemble sang and board until his death in 1997 as artistic director ( Artistic Director). Botto noticed that the Renaissance music, which he studied as a musicologist, was hardly mentioned; He therefore founded the choir to perform this music authentically with an all-male ensemble can.
Initially, the group consisted of ten singers, later varied the occupation between eight and twelve members. At present Chanticleer of twelve men, including two basses, a baritone, three tenors, and six countertenors (three in the old and three in the soprano position ).
In 2000, under Joseph Jennings, Chanticleer won a Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance for Colors of Love - Works of Thomas, Stucky, Tavener and edge; In 2003, she repeated this success with Tavener: Lamentations And Praises together with the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston.
Chanticleer has made the Ave Maria by Franz Biebl widely known in the United States.
By October 2007, 29 CDs were published by Chanticleer, most recently an album of Christmas music ( Let it Snow). On this CD, the ensemble will be accompanied for the first time in several pieces with orchestra or a big band.
In November 2007, in the season of its 30 - year existence, Chanticleer was named Musical America 's 2008 Ensemble of the Year - the first time a vocal ensemble has received this award.
Current composition
- Casey Breves ( counter-tenor, soprano ), since 2010
- Kory Reid ( counter-tenor, soprano )
- Gregory Peebles ( counter-tenor, soprano ), since 2008
- Cortez Mitchell ( counter-tenor, alto ), since 2007
- Alan Reinhardt ( counter-tenor, alto ), since 2006
- Adam Ward ( Countertenor, alto )
- Matthew Curtis (tenor, Assistant Music Director), since 2009
- Brian Hinman (tenor, road manager ), since 2006
- Ben Jones (tenor )
- Jace Wittig (baritone, Interim Music Director), since 2006
- Matthew Knickman (baritone ), since 2011
- Michael Axtell (Baritone / Bass ), since 2010
- Eric Alatorre (Bass), since 1990