Chanticleer is a vocal ensemble founded in 1978 in San Francisco by singer and musicologist Louis Botto. It takes its name from the “clear singing” rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Named Ensemble of the Year by Musical America in 2008, it has been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.
Now under the direction of Tim Keeler, the ensemble will present a program in Milwaukee spanning centuries, continents and genres. Reaching back to the 14th century, they will offer Guillaume de Machaut’s Gloria and from the 16th century compositions by Orlando di Lasso and Giovanni Gabrieli.
The concert begins in the present day with Hee-oo-oom-ha by Toby Twining (b. 1958). According to the program notes, Twining uses extended “vocal techniques like vocal fry, yodeling, and rhythmic panting ... combin(ing) these striking sounds with polyrhythms, mixed meters, and open harmonies to create a joyful celebration of song.”
Photo by Stephen K. Mack
Chanticleer 2023 Group Shot by Stephen K Mack
Next on the program are two contemporary pieces by American minimalists, Steve Reich (b. 1936) and Julius Eastman (1940-1990). They make for an interesting contrast with the medieval minimalism of other pieces on the bill. And then, as long as we’ve dialed back the clock, there will be two pieces from the Renaissance with a quick jump in between to “passages” by MacArthur Genius Award and National Medal of Arts recipient Meredith Monk (b. 1942). Monk’s comes from her album Impermanence, which explores the impermanence of life and art and the ephemerality of music.
These are followed by two African American spirituals, “Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow” and “Wade in the Water” by Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933). Tindley, the son of enslaved parents, was an American Methodist minister whose compositions became part of the foundations of Black Gospel music, e.g., “Stand by Me,” “The Storm is Passing Over” and “I’ll Overcome Someday,” the last the precursor to “We Shall Overcome.”
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Steven Sametz was a close friend of Chanticleer’s founder, Louis A. Botto, composing for the ensemble from its very beginnings. Here he “sets poetry from three disparate poets about three different manifestations of love … capturing many different emotional perspectives, from intensity to excitement to grief.”
This is followed by Ayanna Woods’ “Future Ones,” using excerpts fragments of interviews with the renowned climate activist and eco-philosopher Joanna Macy. Woods is a GRAMMY-nominated performer, composer and bandleader from Chicago. “Her music explores the spaces between acoustic and electronic, traditional and esoteric.”
Please, in order not to miss even a minute of the exciting music, allow adequate time for parking. Doors open at 6:45 PM.
Chanticleer will perform “Without a Song,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday,
April 3 at Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson St. For tickets, visit stjohncathedral.org/index.php/upcoming-fine-arts-events/
