Chanticleer returns to Brooklyn Oratory for concert extolling mysteries of the moon
The acclaimed group Chanticleer will return to the Brooklyn Oratory next week, and it is bringing with it the moon.
This versatile 12-member professional a cappella male ensemble, based in San Francisco, performed a sold-out, standing-room-only concert at the Oratory in February 2015. This year, Chanticleer singers on tour brings its “Over the Moon” program to the Oratory in Downtown Brooklyn in the group’s only borough appearance.
The Grammy Award-winning Chanticleer made its debut on June 27, 1978 before a capacity audience at San Francisco’s historic Old Mission Dolores, according to the ensemble’s website. Its name is derived from the “clear singing” rooster in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. The poet had actually borrowed that word from the earlier French tale, “Renard the Fox.” “Chanticleer” is a combination of the French words chanter (“to sing”) and clair (“clear”). The group has male sopranos and countertenors, as well as the more familiar male vocal ranges of tenor, baritone and bass.