CHANTICLEER CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Photo:Chanticleer.org

Tonight after my fourth Christmas Concert at Grace Cathedral, I'm taking my cousin Clae to the Chanticleer Christmas at St. Ignatius. (That's directly across from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where I attended for a semester back in the late 80's.)

I remember the first Christmas concerts Chanticleer performed as part of the Renaissance Christmas at St. Mary's Cathedral. That's where we sang our concert before heading to the International Fortnight Music Festival in Bruges in July 1981, and when Robert Shaw made his famous (at least to Chanticleer) quote: "One of the most beautiful [musical] experiences of my life." He originally omitted 'musical' but requested that we insert it when we asked to use the quotation.

The picture shows last year's group-- the same guys I went with to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest in February 2008.

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After the Chanticleer concert tonight I'm going to a late party. So it's a good thing I don't have a morning service to sing before the Grace Cathedral concert tomorrow afternoon. Debbie Cornue and Adam K are coming with friends to the concert on my Dad's 100th birthday.

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The Chanticleer concert was excellent. Clae really enjoyed it. I hold them to an incredibly high standard, however, and found that two of their sopranos had a tendency to overcompensate and go sharp in their upper registers. Even so it was a very pleasing concert. I do have a quibble with their claim that it was the thirtieth year for Chanticleer Christmas at St. Ignatius. As I mentioned above, for the first few years, Chanticleer was one of several groups performing in a Renaissance Christmas at St. Mary's Cathedral. So I believe last night was the 28th concert at St. Ignatius.