MUSIC: Chanticleer: Our American Journey

About Our American Journey
We celebrate America’s 250th year of independence by showcasing the diverse voices, songs, harmonies, and rhythms of our shared musical heritage. We explore how those voices influenced each other, and how we’ve come to understand the impact and legacy of those voices in the present day. The cornerstone of this program will be a new commission by composer Trevor Weston, demonstrating the link between traditional American hymnody and African American Spirituals. Other repertoire traces the progression of the American choral tradition from Black Gospel quartets to Shape-Note singing to Barbershop quartets and vocal jazz. The program also includes settings of traditional American Bluegrass tunes and beloved folk songs, like “Calling my Children Home” and “Shenandoah,” as well as arrangements of contemporary American classics, like Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and “Home” from The Wiz.

105 minutes, including 15 minute intermission

About Chanticleer
Known around the world for its eclectic repertoire and dazzling virtuosity, the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer – under the leadership of Music Director Tim Keeler – has been hailed by the Boston Globe as “breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style.” 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, an “orchestra of voices” performing thousands of live concerts and selling more than one million recordings. 

Rooted in the Renaissance, Chanticleer’s repertoire has expanded to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz and popular music, and the group performs its beloved “A Chanticleer Christmas” program on tour every December. A new Christmas album, Joy to the World, will be released in Fall 2025. With a deep commitment to the commissioning of new compositions and arrangements, Chanticleer foregrounds American repertoire and a distinctively American sound, complementing the group’s signature diversity in terms of membership and genre. 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’s 2002 album Our American Journey was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2025. The group is the recipient of Chorus America’s Dale Warland Commission Award and the Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. Chanticleer’s Music Director Emeritus, Joseph H. Jennings, received the Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award for his contribution to the African American choral tradition during his 25-year tenure as both singer and Music Director. 

Chanticleer – named for the “clear-singing” rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – was named Ensemble of the Year by Musical America in 2008 and inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. The group’s award-winning education programs were recognized with the 2010 Chorus America Education Outreach Award, and have engaged tens of thousands of students since the ensemble began.