Chanticleer

A Chanticleer Christmas comes to the Somerset Hills

Twelve men whose voices range from soprano to bass – “the world’s reigning male chorus”, according to the New Yorker – “an orchestra of voices”, which has sold more than a million CDs, won two Grammy Awards and performed all over the world, from China to - well, to New Jersey. This is Chanticleer, surely the finest male singing ensemble in America, perhaps in the world. This is part of Chanticleer’s pre-Christmas tour, which also includes concerts in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, New York and Chicago.

Chanticleer is 38-years-old and has a storied history.  In 1978, when it all began in San Francisco, the group was named for Chanticleer, the “clear singing” cockerel in Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century classic The  Nun’s Priest’s Tale (and for no better reason than that one of the singers happened to be reading the book at the time).  Since that beginning, more than 100 men have sung in the group and Chanticleer has worked (and earned) its way up from a struggling group travelling from concert to concert in a van to an internationally recognized phenomenon of the classical music world whose singers have full-time salaried employment and an astonishing schedule of concerts each year.

Led by its Music Director, William Fred Scott, who took up the appointment in 2015, Chanticleer will present a rich and resplendent program entitled Chanticleer Christmas, including music old and new, familiar and not so familiar.  The Christmas story itself will be told in choral music written by composers ranging from William Byrd in the 16th century to Francis Poulenc in the 20th.  There will be well known arrangements of popular carols and songs by Joseph Jennings (a former Music Director of Chanticleer), Robert Shaw, Alice Parker and Robert de Cormier.  And there will be seasonal anthems and carols by American composers from Billings to Ives to Stephan Sametz. Altogether, a stunning beginning to the Christmas season!

Tickets are also available by sending checks to Music in the Somerset Hills at P.O. Box 729, Bernardsville, NJ 07924.

All ticket sales are final.