What: Chanticleer performance
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Sursa Performance Hall
Tickets information: $35, $15 for students with a Ball State ID
Sursa Performance Hall will host an array of male a capella voices this Sunday for the newest addition to the Arts Alive performance series.
Chanticleer is a Grammy award-winning male a capella group based in San Francisco. The twelve members' vocals range from the lowest (bass) to the highest (soprano). Titled "My Secret Heart," this weekend’s concert touches on love throughout the ages, from classical pieces to popular songs.
Kerry Gland, the associate director of choral activities in the School of Music, finds Chanticleer's mix of all vocal ranges particularly impressive.
“It’s not something we hear every day. Even in classical music, we don’t hear that type of voicing, that type of performance, on a regular basis,” he said. “I think that’s very unique and it’s really exciting to get to hear that live.”
This weekend’s performance is part of the group’s U.S. and European tour for the 2016-2017 season.
To Gland, the group also has a different style to its performance that can make it accessible to more people.
“It’s a little different. It’s different than going to a symphony concert,” he said. “I think this is a group that are very entertaining in their presentation, so for someone who’s looking for an entryway into going to a classical music concert, this is something that will be very attractive.”
William Fred Scott is the season’s music director. On soprano and alto, the highest of the vocal range, are Cortez Mitchell, Gerrod Pagenkopf, Kory Reid, Alan Reinhardt, Logan Shields and Adam Ward. Chris Albanese, Brian Hinman and Andrew Van Allsburg are on tenor, the highest register for the adult male. For the lower registers, Eric Alatorre, Matthew Knickman and Marques Jerrell Ruff are on baritone and bass.
Besides performing new arrangements of songs, Chanticleer also performs commissions composed specially for the group.
The group was founded in 1978 by Louis A. Botto, who wanted to perform the Renaissance music he was studying. With eight of his choir members on board, they decided on the name Chanticleer, which is the name of a "clear singing" rooster in George Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.”
To date, the group has had more than 100 members. One of them is Ball State alumnus Jace Wittig, who was in the choir for five seasons and served as the interim music director from 2011 to 2014.
The group is also involved in training young people. It hosts workshops for high school students and university students around the country. Its after-school honors program for high school and college students, called the Louis A. Botto Choir, is in its seventh year and the group has received the Chorus America Education Outreach Award in 2010 for its educational program.
After their performance on Sunday, some members of the group will also stay on Monday to give a master class for the Chamber Choir at the School of Music.
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