Oct 18: Chanticleer releases Majel Connery’s The Rivers are our Brothers on Chanticleer Records
(October 2024) — Multiple Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer – lauded by the Boston Globe as “breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style” – releases Majel Connery’s The Rivers are our Brothers on Chanticleer Records today, October 18. The focus of their “Music of a Silent World” touring program during the 2023–24 season, The Rivers are our Brothers is an ode to the natural beauty of California. Each movement personifies a different element of the Sierra Nevada’s majestic terrain, from its towering trees to its rushing rivers and snow-capped peaks. Connery comments: “The goal is to give nature a voice. I wanted to allow these vibrant things to speak on their own behalf.” The album can be heard here.
See a performance of the movement “I Am the Air” from The Rivers are our Brothers
The Rivers are our Brothers was originally commissioned by Musica Sierra in 2021 for synthesizer, violin, bassoon, and voice. The arrangement for Chanticleer recorded on the album transforms the work into an accessible choral song cycle that draws the listener into a personal connection with the natural world. Connery elaborates:
“For me, giving nature a voice means finding a story and a sound. The stories are unabashedly my little interior world. I literally sat down and tried to picture what a river or a cloud would feel. As a river, I imagined it would be incredibly fun to run … and run fast! As a cloud, I pictured seeing myself reflected in the ocean below and thinking the ocean was an upside down cloud. It’s super idiosyncratic, and very me. In terms of sound, I want to make the world around us feel like an extension of us – to feel human, and relatable. In the original work, I used electronics to help me create a voice big enough to be nature. Chanticleer takes this to the next level. With twelve singers, we can achieve the sound of something truly larger than life: the towering voice of a tree or the roar of a cloud.”
Majel Connery is a multi-faceted artist and describes herself as a “vocalist, composer and roving musicologist making electro-art-dream-pop with repressed classical influences.” In addition to her compositional work, she is the frontwoman for the art-rock band Sky Creature and the host and producer of A Music of Their Own, a podcast that delves into the experiences of women in the music industry.
The Rivers are our Brothers is also intended to be explored in tandem with Watershed: A Musical Field Journal, which is a curriculum tool developed by Musica Sierra and designed to assist educators, particularly those in California, with bringing eco-literacy into their Common Core standards. The field journal blends the subjects of Earth Science, Ecology, Language Arts, and the Visual and Performing Arts, creating an engaging multimedia experience. It is designed to enhance students’ capacity for environmental stewardship through the arts and is an invaluable asset for integrating these subjects into the classroom while aligning with Common Core standards in California.
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: Majel Connery’s The Rivers are our Brothers
Out Oct 18 on Chanticleer Records
Track list:
1. I Am the Air
2. I Am a Cloud
3. I Am a Mountain
4. I Am Snow
5. I Am a Rock
6. I Am a Tree
7. I Am a River
Chanticleer 2024–25 season
“Music of a Silent World”
Oct 19: Atlanta, GA (Cathedral of St. Philip)
“Without a Song”
Oct 22: Belton, TX (University of Mary Hardin-Baylor)
Oct 24 & 25: Dallas, TX (University of Texas Dallas)
Oct 26: Ardmore, OK (Goddard Center for Visual and Performing Arts)
“A Chanticleer Christmas”
Dec 1: Manassas, VA (George Mason University)
Dec 3: Sarasota, FL (Sarasota Concert Association)
Dec 4: Palm Beach, FL (The Society of the Four Arts)
Dec 6 & 8: New York, NY (Church of St. Ignatius Loyola)
Dec 7: Princeton, NJ (Princeton University Concerts)
Dec 10: Chicago, IL (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Center)
Dec 12: Stanford, CA (Stanford Live)
Dec 13: Petaluma, CA (St. Vincent de Paul, two shows)
Dec 15: Oakland, CA (Cathedral of Christ the Light)
Dec 16: Sacramento, CA (Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament)
Dec 17: Los Angeles, CA (LA Phil, Disney Hall)
Dec 19: Mill Valley, CA (Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church)
Dec 20: Santa Clara, CA (Mission Santa Clara, two shows)
Dec 21: Berkeley, CA (First Church)
Dec 22: San Francisco, CA (St. Ignatius)
Dec 23: Carmel, CA (Carmel Mission, 2 shows)
“Without a Song”
Jan 17: Clemson, SC (Clemson University – Brooks Center for the Performing Arts)
Jan 19: Savannah, GA (Friends of Cathedral Music Concert Series)
Jan 20: Jacksonville, FL (Palms Presbyterian Church)
Jan 21: Orlando, FL (Dr. Phillips Center, Steinmetz Hall)
Jan 23: Columbus GA (RiverCenter for the Performing Arts)
Jan 25: Huntsville, AL (Huntsville Chamber Music Guild)
Jan 26: Clarksville, TN (Clarksville Community Concerts)
Jan 28: Chattanooga, TN (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church)
Jan 30: Maryville, TN (Clayton Center for the Arts)
Jan 31: Asheville, NC (Wortham Center for the Performing Arts)
Feb 1: Johnson City, TN (East Tennessee State University)
Feb 20: Seattle, WA (Seattle Symphony/Benaroya Hall Presents)
Feb 21: Portland, OR (Friends of Chamber Music)
Feb 22: Portland, OR (Youth Choral Festival, Friends of Chamber Music)
Feb 25: Logan, UT (Chamber Music Society of Logan)
“Choodandi”
March 16: Sacramento, CA (St. John’s Lutheran)
March 20: Santa Clara, CA (Mission Santa Clara)
March 21: Mill Valley, CA (Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church)
March 22: San Francisco, CA (San Francisco Conservatory of Music – Hume Hall)
March 23: Berkeley, CA (First Church)
“Without a Song”
April 3: Milwaukee, WI (Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist)
April 4: Wheaton, IL (Wheaton College)
“Music of a Silent World”
April 5: Charleston, IL (Doudna Fine Arts Center)
“Sing Joyfully”
April 8: Hanover, NH (Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College)
“Without a Song”
April 9: Storrs, CT (UConn Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts)
April 10: New York, NY (Kaufman Music Center)
April 11: Great Barrington, MA (Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center)
April 23: Kennett Square, PA (Unionville High School)
April 25: Baltimore, MD (First and Franklin Presbyterian Church)
“Music of a Silent World”
April 26: Glassboro, NJ (Rowan University, Marie Rader Presenting Series)
“Without a Song”
April 27: Southport, CT (Trinity Episcopal Church)
May 10: Santa Monica, CA (BroadStage)
May 11: La Jolla, CA (St. James by-the-Sea)
May 12: Palm Desert, CA (St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church)
May 17: New York, NY (University Glee Club of NYC)
May 18: Washington, DC (National Cathedral Choral Society)
“Chanticleer and the Fox”
June 7: San Francisco, CA (Noe Valley Ministry, 2 shows)
June 8: Sacramento, CA (St. John’s Lutheran)
June 10: Santa Clara, CA (Mission Santa Clara)
June 12: Mill Valley, CA (Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church)
June 13: Berkeley, CA (First Church)