Brown Grand Opera House Release
The GRAMMY® Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer will perform at Cloud County Community College’s Cook Series on Wednesday, October 9, at 7:30 p. m. at the Brown Grand Theatre, 310 W. 6th Street, in Concordia. All Cook Series events are free and open to the public. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
Chanticleer has been hailed as “the world’s reigning male chorus” by The New Yorker and is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices” for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity. 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, selling over one million recordings and performing thousands of live concerts to audiences around the world.
Chanticleer’s repertoire is rooted in the renaissance and has continued to expand to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz, popular music, and a deep commitment to the commissioning of new compositions and arrangements. The ensemble has committed much of its vast recording catalogue to these commissions, garnering GRAMMY® Awards for its recording of Sir John Tavener’s “Lamentations & Praises,” and the ambitious collection of commissioned works entitled “Colors of Love.” Chanticleer is the recipient of the Dale Warland/Chorus America Commissioning Award and the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming, and its Music Director Emeritus Joseph H. Jennings received the Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award for his contribution to the African-American choral tradition during his tenure with Chanticleer. Other awards and recognitions include the 2008 Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year; induction into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame; Chorus America’s prestigious Education and Outreach Award in 2010; and Billboard magazine’s Top 10 best-selling classical artists.
In addition to the performance, CCCC and area vocal students will be treated to a master class presented by the group.
Named for the “clear-singing” rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chanticleer continues to maintain ambitious programming in its hometown of San Francisco, including a large education and outreach program that recently reached over 8,000 people, and an annual concert series that includes its legendary holiday tradition “A Chanticleer Christmas.”
This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the Charles and Marian Cook Series at Cloud County Community College. The Cooks were travelers who wanted to bring the world to those who could not travel themselves. Over events have been presented under the auspices of the Cook Foundation and the Division of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business in the past quarter-century. Marian Cook wished that all Cook Series events are free and open to the public.
