Chanticleer kicks off season with Bay Area & national tours of “Our American Journey”

Upcoming Christmas album, Joy to the World, coincides with annual national tour

(September 2025) — “Breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style” (The Boston Globe), multiple Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer kicks off the new season with U.S. and Bay Area tours of “Our American Journey,” a program of homegrown music to celebrate America’s 250th year of independence (Sep 20–Oct 30). Following the October release of Joy to the World, which launches Chanticleer’s new relationship with the Delos label, the group gives a nationwide tour of its iconic holiday program, “A Chanticleer Christmas” (Nov 29–Dec 23). As well as returning to New York City for a performance of Machaut’s Messe de Notre Dame (April 22), the ensemble also gives Bay Area tours of two additional programs – “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (March 22–28) and “American Early Music” (April 12–May 10) – bookended by tours of Europe next winter (Jan–Feb) and spring (June).

“Our American Journey”

Through the diverse voices, songs, harmonies, and rhythms of the nation’s musical heritage, “Our American Journey” traces the evolution of the national sound. The program’s cornerstone is a new commission from Trevor Weston, exploring the relationship between traditional American hymnody and African American spirituals. Other repertoire traces the progression of the American choral tradition, from Black Gospel quartets to Shape-Note singing, Barbershop quartets, and vocal jazz. The program also includes settings of traditional American Bluegrass tunes and such beloved folk songs as “Calling my Children Home” and “Shenandoah;”; arrangements of more contemporary American classics, like Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” and Charlie Smalls’s “Home” from The Wiz; and “The Un-Covered Wagon” by Mohican composer Brent Michael Davids, “Hee-oo-oom-ha” by Toby Twining, “Alleluia” by Randall Thompson, and “Kittery” by William Billings. “Our American Journey” builds on Chanticleer’s 2002 album of the same name, which was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress this past spring.

“A Chanticleer Christmas”

Chanticleer performs its beloved holiday program throughout the month of December. As featured on a PBS special and at multiple appearances on NBC’s Today show, the program – from its opening candlelit chant procession to its triumphant gospel conclusion – hearkens back to some of the group’s most cherished traditions and the original vision of its founder, Louis Botto. Tour highlights include performances at New York City’s Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (Dec 5 & 7), Chicago’s Symphony Center (Dec 9), and Los Angeles’s Walt Disney Concert Hall (Dec 15), as well as concerts throughout the choir’s Bay Area home. These live dates follow the release of Joy to the World, the recording of a similar Christmas program with which Chanticleer makes its Delos label debut in October.

“I Left My Heart in San Francisco”

Chanticleer honors San Francisco’s diverse musical heritage with works by Bay Area composers past and present, including Darius Milhaud, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mason Bates, Bobby McFerrin, and the Grateful Dead. Spirituals, jazz, and protest songs rub shoulders with contemporary sounds, interwoven with tributes to the many identities that call the city home: voices of LGBTQ+ pride, immigrant spirit, and creative defiance.

“American Early Music”

Through polyphony, hymns, folk traditions, and spirituals, Chanticleer tells the story of early America, examining the roots of the nation’s complex and evolving character. Featured works include Coenantibus autem illis by Renaissance composer Juan de Lienas and arrangements of music from the Ephrata Cloister, a collection of hymns and songs, including examples by some of America’s earliest documented female composers.

European tours

Chanticleer returns to Europe for two tours, next winter and spring, with appearances in Germany, Austria, and beyond. Full details will be announced later this fall.

About Chanticleer

The Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer 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 more than one million recordings and performing thousands of live concerts to audiences around the globe.

Rooted in the Renaissance, Chanticleer’s repertoire has been expanded to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz and popular music and to reflect a deep commitment to the commissioning of new compositions and arrangements. The ensemble has dedicated much of its vast recording catalogue to these commissions, garnering Grammy Awards for its recordings of Sir John Tavener’s Lamentations & Praises and the ambitious collection of commissioned works entitled Colors of Love. Chanticleer is the recipient of Chorus America’s Dale Warland Singers Commission Award and the Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. During his tenure with Chanticleer, Music Director Emeritus Joseph H. Jennings received the Chorus America Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award for his contribution to the African American choral tradition.

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, and an annual concert series that includes its legendary holiday tradition, “A Chanticleer Christmas.”

Chanticleer: 2025–26 engagements

“Our American Journey”
Sep 20: Berkeley, CA (First Church Berkeley)
Sep 21: Sacramento, CA (St. John’s Lutheran)
Sep 23: Mill Valley, CA (Mt. Tamalpais UMC)
Sep 25: Santa Clara, CA (Mission Santa Clara)
Sep 28: San Francisco, CA (Hume Hall, San Francisco Conservatory of Music)
Oct 3: St. Louis, MO (Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis)
Oct 4: Springfield, IL (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception)
Oct 5: Dubuque, IA (University of Dubuque)
Oct 9: South Bend, IN (DeBartolo Performing Arts Center)
Oct 12: New York, NY (Kaufman Center; includes workshop)
Oct 23: Wilmington, NC (Thalian Hall)
Oct 24: Raleigh, NC (Stewart Theatre)
Oct 26: Atlanta, GA (Spivey Hall)
Oct 28: Fairhope, AL (St. James Episcopal Church)
Oct 30: Greenville, PA (Thiel College Theater)

“A Chanticleer Christmas”
Nov 29: Fairfax, VA (George Mason University)
Dec 2: Charlottesville, VA (Old Cabell Hall Auditorium, University of Virginia)
Dec 4: Bloomsburg, PA (Commonwealth University)
Dec 5: New York, NY (St. Ignatius Loyola)
Dec 6: Newark, NJ (NJPAC)
Dec 7: New York, NY (St. Ignatius Loyola)
Dec 9: Chicago, IL (Symphony Center)
Dec 11: Stanford, CA (Memorial Church)
Dec 13: Oakland, CA (The Cathedral of Christ the Light)
Dec 14: Mill Valley, CA (Mt. Tamalpais UMC)
Dec 15: Los Angeles, CA (Walt Disney Concert Hall)
Dec 17: Berkeley, CA (First Church Berkeley)
Dec 18: Petaluma, CA (St. Vincent de Paul; two shows)
Dec 19: Sacramento, CA (Fremont Presbyterian)
Dec 21: San Francisco, CA (St. Ignatius)
Dec 22: Carmel, CA (Carmel Mission; two shows)
Dec 23: Santa Clara, CA (Mission Santa Clara; two shows)

European tour: Jan–Feb
Jan 24: Feldkirch, Austria (Montforthaus; program TBD)
Jan 25: Stuttgart, Germany (Liederhalle, Mozartsaal; “Sing Joyfully”)
Jan 28: Vienna, Austria (Mozart-Saal; “Sing Joyfully”)
Jan 30: Dortmund, Germany (Reinoldhaus; “Our American Journey”)
Additional dates TBA

“Without a Song”
Feb 22: Ellicott City, MD (First Lutheran Church)

“Our American Journey”
Feb 26: Valparaiso, IN (Valparaiso University)
Feb 27: Grand Rapids, MI (First Park Congregational Church UCC)
March 1: Toronto, ON (The Royal Conservatory of Music)
March 5: Grand Rapids, MI (Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph)
April 14: Bend, OR (Tower Theatre)

“I Left My Heart in San Francisco”
March 22: Sacramento, CA (St. John’s Lutheran)
March 23: Berkeley, CA (First Church Berkeley)
March 24: Mill Valley, CA (Mt. Tamalpais UMC)
March 27: Palo Alto, CA (St. Mark’s Episcopal Church)
March 28: San Francisco, CA (Hume Hall, San Francisco Conservatory of Music)

“Our American Journey”
April 12: Deep River, CT (Valley Regional High School)
April 15: Portland, OR (Kaul Auditorium)
April 20 & 21: New York, NY (Kaufman Center; includes mentor session)
April 28: Houston, TX (Jones Hall)
May 2: Lodi, CA (Hutchins Street Square)
May 10: La Jolla, CA (St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church)

MACHAUT: La Messe de Notre Dame
April 22: New York, NY (Trinity Church)

“American Early Music”
May 31: Sacramento, CA (St. John’s Lutheran)
June 1: Berkeley, CA (First Church Berkeley)
June 2: Mill Valley, CA (Mt. Tamalpais UMC)
June 5: Santa Clara, CA (Mission Santa Clara)
June 7: San Francisco, CA (St. Mark’s Lutheran)

European tour: June
All dates and programs TBA