‘A Chanticleer Christmas’ – Holiday voices of jubilation and joy

For many readers we suspect 2025 has been a disorienting, disillusioning year. As this year mercifully recedes into history, we need a reminder of those ideals and values we hold precious, such as the holiday’s message of peace and good will to all people.

In the Bay Area, few events epitomize this paradigm than the annual Chanticleer Christmas concerts. The mostly gay, but some straight, Chanticleer, “the world’s reigning male chorus” (as dubbed by the New Yorker) bonds the 12 male choristers and audiences by hope for at least one night. They’ll perform concerts in cathedrals and churches around the Bay December 17-21, and have a new recording as well.
As Music Director Tim Keeler comments in his program notes, “Whether in church, in concert, or shivering in the cold outside a stranger’s front door, the sound of voices and familiar Christmas songs bring warmth, wonder, and connection.”

Sonorous solemnity
A Chanticleer Christmas always begins with a Gregorian chant procession in medieval solemnity with the men dressed in tuxedos and carrying lighted candles. They continue with Latin Renaissance polyphony, which started their career back in 1978 and still represents the peak of their finest singing for which they have few equals.

Their interpretation of German Lutheran Michael Praetorius’s “Rorate Caeli” with its quick contrapuntal shifts was the highlight of this section which also included a solemn “O Magnum Mysterium” with its full harmonies and scalar melodic motion by Italian composer Palestrina, with this year marking the 500th anniversary of his birth.

In between these sections, there was a short affecting excerpt reading from the essay, “Music on Christmas Morning” by Anne Bronte. The Spanish villancico, “Riu, riu, chiu” by the Catalan composer Mateo Flecha el Viejo with its catchy bouncy rhythms, always a crowd pleaser, had audience members almost dancing in their seats.

The next section is centered on a commissioned triptych winter choral song cycle titled “Winter’s Garland,” by contemporary British composer Joanna Marsh, inspired by the secular poetry of Jane Draycott. It began two Christmases ago with “In Winter’s House” and based on its success prompted Draycott to write two new poems as the basis for Marsh’s companion pieces, “Hands and the Hour” and “Arrival at the Lantern Festival.”

Chanticleer has a mixed record on commissioned works, but the visceral poetry and sensual harmonies convey a feeling of childhood wonder along with the chilliness and warmth of winter alongside the rapturous focus on the countertenors, who make this piece a winner. Countertenor Adam Brett Ward’s arrangement of “Joy to the World” projects the exultation of the season, enabling the first half of the program to end on a high note.

Lyrical light
The second half always features a more relaxed setting with the men dressed informally in sweaters. It begins with the lyrical “This Endris Night,” a setting of a 15th-century English carol text by the contemporary Canadian composer Sarah Quartel. It’s followed by Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria.” It wouldn’t be a Chanticleer Christmas without this sublime rendition of the “Angelus,” a Catholic prayer on the annunciation and incarnation. It leaves the audience breathless with transcendent reverence.

The remainder of the program spotlights a collection of contemporary Christmas songs, five of which were arranged by current ensemble members. Bass-baritone Jared Graveley reimagines “Once in Royal David’s City” and an odd pairing of “Good King Wenceslas” with “Little Girl Blue,” composed by Richard Rogers. It shouldn’t work, yet they complement each other beautifully.

Countertenor Adam Brett Ward’s version of “Ding Dong Merrily on High” is effervescent. But the apex of the whole concert are Keeler’s renditions of the John Jacob Niels folk hymn, “I Wonder as I Wander” with tenor Andrew Van Allsburg thrilling us with his mournful vocals and the little-known Appalachian folk tune, “And the Trees Do Moan.” This gem deserves to be more popular.

The concert concludes as it always does with a “Christmas Spiritual Medley” arranged by Chanticleer’s music director emeritus Joseph Jennings, with rousing inspirational African-American gospel music.

Distilled perfection
The whole tenor of the concert was summed up by an audience member I overheard say, “It isn’t Christmas until I’ve heard Chanticleer.”

Their voices exhibit dynamic control and distilled perfection, switching from 12-part sublime blissful harmony to unison singing with exact precision and expressive phrasing, not to mention perfect pitch. There is constant rotation of the singers, but the current lineup going into its third year is one of the ensemble’s very best in its entire history.

Chanticleer is also releasing its tenth Christmas CD in its 47-year history. “Joy to the World” ($20) finds Chanticleer in peak form and all but two (which were listed on the program but not performed) of the 17 songs are sung in the concert.

Steven Sametz’s scintillating arrangement of “Angelus ad Virginem” in his “A Christmas Fanfare,” not done at the concert, yet is a highlight of the disc, as is the previously mentioned “And the Trees Do Moan” and the commissioned “Winter’s Garland.”

This singular holiday achievement will be appreciated by Chanticleer fans for years to come. Christmas never gets old, only better, with Chanticleer’s ever resplendent adaptations of the holiday choral traditions exemplified on this disc.

Keeler writes in the liner notes, “The magic of Christmas lies in old meeting new beloved traditions. Friends and family come and go, experiences multiply, and life accumulates, while the familiar rituals of Christmastime pass from one generation to the next.”

Chanticleer’s particular talent lies in its juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary melodies, always freshly and uniquely interpreted as a means of maintaining and continuing this legacy of illuminating the joy, mystery, and essence of Christmas.

If you are in need of encouragement and fortitude during these trying times, A Chanticleer Christmas enhances the enchantment and ideals of the holiday spirit.

Chanticleer performances:
First Church Berkeley, Dec. 17, 7pm.
St. Vincent de Paul, Petaluma, Dec. 18, 5pm & 7:30pm.
Fremont Presbyterian, Sacramento, Dec. 19, 7pm.
St. Ignatius, San Francisco, Dec. 21, 8pm.
Carmel Mission, Carmel, Dec. 22, 6pm & 8:30pm.
Mission Santa Clara, Dec. 23, 4pm & 6:30pm.
www.chanticleer.org