The Chanticleer male vocal ensemble returns to the National Philharmonic Hall to present the flowering seasons as the stages of life.

The GRAMMY Award-winning male vocal ensemble from San Francisco continues its 32nd Season of 2009-10, during which more than 100 concerts are planned in 21 of the United States and 12 foreign countries, including appearances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, Prague’s Rudolfinum and Expo 2010 in Shanghai. For several seasons in a row Chanticleer has included Lithuania in their tour itineraries. On February 10th, the ensemble will guest appear at the National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius, at 7 pm.
Chanticleer is the only independent full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States, known around the world as “an orchestra of voices” for the seamless blend of its twelve male voices ranging from countertenor to bass and its original interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance to jazz, from avant-garde and to gospel, folk, pop standards and venturesome new music.
“Chanticleer fascinates and enthralls for much the same reason a fine chocolate or a Rolls Royce does: through luxurious perfection” (Los Angeles Times).
While most of Chanticleer’s work is done a cappella, the group has collaborated on a number of unusual projects, including a fully-staged opera, recordings of jazz standards with the Don Haas Trio, performances with Japanese dancers Eiko and Koma, and reconstructions of early vocal and instrumental repertory. For instance, in collaboration with acknowledged Mexican Baroque musical authority Professor Craig Russell, Chanticleer has recorded two albums (“Mexican Baroque” in 1994 and “Matins for the Virgin of Guadeloupe” in 1998) of religious works by two Mexican composers of the Baroque period, Manuel de Zumaya and Ignácio de Jerusalem, and extended this repertory by presenting a new programme “El Camino Real” in 2008, released as a CD and DVD album “The Mission Road” (Warner Classics)
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The programme “In Time Of…” that the Chanticleer ensemble brings this time to Vilnius presents a selection of vocal compositions from its vast repertoire, encompassing musical works from seven centuries and diverse musical cultures – from the Gregorian chant and Renaissance music of the 15th-16th centuries (including that composed by Guillaume Dufay, Clément Janequin, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Sethus Calvisius and Orlando Gibbons) to the contemporary art music of the 20th and 21st centuries (Jean Yves Daniel-Lesur, György Ligeti, Chen Yi, Steven Sametz, Michael McGlynn, Mason Bates) to folk and popular songs and spirituals
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This programme is named after a piece by American composer Steven Sametz, which gave the idea for the entire selection of music from various epochs, reflecting various stages of life and states of mind
. Sametz’s composition is set to the poem in time of lilacs by e.e.cummings, in which he describes the order in which flowers blossom, imagining it as a metaphor for the passage of life and portraying daffodils as growing infants, lilacs as dreaming adolescents and roses as adults amazed that paradise can occasionally surprise us with flashes that astound the mundane world.
 
Wednesday 10 February 2010, 7 pm
Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall

Performers:

CHANTICLEER male chorus (USA):

Music Director MATTHEW OLTMAN

DYLAN HOSTETTER, MICHAEL McNEIL, GREGORY PEEBLES (sopranos)

CORTEZ MITCHELL, ALAN REINHARDT, ADAM WARD (altos)

MATTHEW CURTIS, BRIAN HINMAN, BEN JONES, MATT CURTIS (tenors)

ERIC ALATORRE, GABRIEL LEWIS-O’CONNOR, JACE WITTIG (baritones, basses)

 

Programme:

ORLANDO GIBBONS – Hosanna to the Son of David

SETHUS CALVISIUS – Unser Leben währet siebzig Jahr

Plainchant Veni sponsa Christi

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA – 4-voice motet Veni sponsa Christi

JEAN-YVES DANIEL-LESUR – “Épithalame“ from Le Cantique des Cantiques for 12 unaccompanied voices

ANONYMOUS (15th century) – Agincourt Carol

GUILLAUME DUFAY – Lamentatio sanctae matris eccelsiae Constantinopolitanae

CLÉMENT JANEQUIN – La Guerre

GYÖRGY LIGETI – Éjszaka (Night), Reggel (Morning)

CHEN YI – Spring Dreams

STEVEN SAMETZ – in time of

Interval

MICHAEL McGLYNN – Agnus Dei

MASON BATES – “from The Odyssey” (text from the Odyssey, Book XII), “Stelle, vostra merce“ (text by Pietro Aretino) and “Sirinu nuqa rikuna a“ (text by native Quechua) from the a cappella choral cycle Sirens (2008)

SÁNCHEZ ACOSTA – Paraíso Soñado (arr

. by Tony Guzmán)

CARMEN CAVALLARO – “El grito” from Poema de la Siguiriya Gitana (text by Federico García Lorca)

MOISÉS SIMONS – El Manisero (Peanut Vendor) (arr. Tania León)

A selection of folk songs, popular songs and spirituals t.b.a
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 Part of the CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES

 Chanticleer – based in San Francisco – is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices” for the seamless blend of its twelve male voices ranging from countertenor to bass and its original interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance to jazz, and from gospel to venturesome new music.

 Vilnius’ audience will be treated to the works by Italian, French, Flemish and German Renaissance masters, 20th–21st c. American, Irish, French, Hungarian, Chinese, Cuban and Dominican academic music as well as folksongs, popular songs and spirituals.