Vocal group Chanticleer glad to be back in the yuletide swing of things

The holidays are a season of celebration, and for the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, that’s especially the case.

The 12-member a cappella group is set for some 25 holiday concerts between Thanksgiving and Christmas in its home base of San Francisco and across the country, including appearances Dec. 6-7 under the auspices of Symphony Center Presents.

Chanticleer has performed 11 times at the Ravinia Festival since 1997, including a visit last summer. But it is best known in the Chicago area for its Christmas concerts at the Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut, which have been an annual tradition since 2000 (except during the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020).

“We love coming to Chicago, and every year, our Christmas tour starts on the East Coast, and we wind our way back,” said Music Director Tim Keeler. “We would never miss a stop in Chicago.”

A big change for Chanticleer came with the August 2020 appointment of Keeler as the ensemble’s sixth artistic leader. He sang with the group in 2017-2018 and served as conductor of the men’s choir at the University of Maryland, where he completed his doctorate in choral conducting this spring. “Nobody had a playbook for COVID, so in some ways, it was a level playing field, but it was crazy to start a new job in the middle of it all,” he said.

One of Keeler’s big priorities for the group is revamping its digital presence, and the online initiatives Chanticleer had to adopt during the pandemic turned out to be a blessing by getting that process started. “We definitely got some experience behind the cameras and in front of microphones that we hadn’t had in a while,” he said. “So one of the biggest objectives for me over the next few years is to build on that experience.”

Earlier this year, Chanticleer finished recording a new album, “On a Clear Day,” which is scheduled for release in 2023. To go along with that effort will be a series of videos that the ensemble plans to post on YouTube as a way to boost its online visibility. The release is mostly a collection of works commissioned by the group in the last 10-15 years that it had not previously recorded. Included are compositions by composers Mason Bates, Stephen Paulus and Steven Sametz. “The Chanticleer [music] library is extensive,” Keeler said. “One of the thrills for me as music director is going through the filing cabinets and finding all these amazing pieces by some really brilliant composers.”

“For a group that usually performs over 100 concerts a year on the road to have none of that for almost two years was pretty crazy.” — Tim Keeler of Chanticleer

Founded in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, the ensemble has typically combined Renaissance music with contemporary repertoire, including a vast array of arrangements and works it has commissioned. Along the way, it has received such honors as the Dale Warland/Chorus America Commissioning Award and the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming. “Finding those nuggets of continuity across the centuries is really exciting, and one of the great ways to do that is to contrast early music with contemporary music,” Keeler said.

Following that history of mixing past and present, this season’s program, “A Chanticleer Christmas,” will open with a candlelit entrance procession with the singers performing Gregorian chant and moving on to Renaissance music. The second half will feature later classical works and traditional and modern carols, including new arrangements this year of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and “Merry Christmas, Darling,” which was popularized in the 1970s by the pop group the Carpenters. The concert ends with a medley of Christmas spirituals arranged by Joseph Jennings, a former Chanticleer music director.

Virtually all of Chanticleer’s singers are veteran members. The newest addition, tenor Vineel Garisa Mahal, joined earlier this year, and countertenor Bradley Sharpe was added at the beginning of 2021-22, but everybody else has been with the group for at least five years. The longest-tenured member, countertenor Adam Ward, is in his 17th season with the group.

Like many other U.S. performing arts organizations, Chanticleer had to suspend its live performances and touring and shift all its activities to the internet until mid-2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was tough,” Keeler said. “For a group that usually performs over 100 concerts a year on the road to have none of that for almost two years was pretty crazy.”

While Chanticleer is not completely back to its robust schedule, Keeler is confident that intensity will return now that virtually all mandates have been lifted and the worst of the pandemic is seemingly over. Despite canceled flights and other travel challenges, the group is committed to touring and bringing its music-making to communities nationwide.

“Any performing artist knows how hard it is to go onstage everyday or every other day and then have to fly in between that and make everything work and somehow have your own personal life on the side,” he said. “That’s quite difficult, but it’s also a very unique experience. You’re OK giving up other things for a while.”