Chanticleer and Cathedral Choral Society Join Forces in a Celebrated Choral Showcase at Washington National Cathedral – Sunday, May 18 at 4pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cathedral Choral Society contact: Amanda Sweet, Bucklesweet
(347) 564-3371
amanda@bucklesweet.com 

Chanticleer and Cathedral Choral Society Join Forces in a Celebrated Choral Showcase at Washington National Cathedral – Sunday, May 18 at 4pm

WASHINGTON, D.C. –For the first time, Cathedral Choral Society (CCS) will present and perform with the extraordinary GRAMMY Award-winning ensemble Chanticleer on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 4:00pm at the Washington National Cathedral, located at 3101 Wisconsin Avenue, NW. Tickets are $25-99 and available for purchase at tix.cathedral.org. The concert is also available via livestream free with an optional donation.

“We're thrilled to perform this May with Chanticleer, one of the most renowned a cappella ensembles in the world. To hear Chanticleer in the beautiful space of Washington National Cathedral will be a rare treat. I'm looking forward to hearing the wide breadth of repertoire they bring in their program; and most of all, we are looking forward to singing several joint pieces with them at the culmination of the program,” said CCS Music Director Steven Fox.

Opening the program is Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning, a powerful setting of the Genesis creation story and a profound showcase for choral and solo voice. Performed by CCS and mezzo-soprano Aryssa Leigh Burrs, the work also commemorates the 125th anniversary of Copland’s birth—a fitting tribute to the “Dean of American Composers” whose music helped define the American sound. “This poignant setting of the opening verses of the Bible and the creation of the world is one of my favorite choral works,” said Fox, “and one that I have been looking forward to perform with CCS for a long time.”

From this contemplative opening, the program shifts to the dynamic artistry of Chanticleer, whose set explores the vast expressive range of the human voice. Their journey, anchored by the radiant spirit of Without a Song, moves seamlessly through centuries of musical tradition and innovation. Beginning with the stately “Gloria” from Messe de Nostre Dame by Guillaume de Machaut, the ensemble guides audiences through the introspective spirituality of William Byrd’s Renaissance motet Vigilate, then into the rhythmic, textural play of Toby Twining’s Hee-oo-oom-ha. A rich spiritual thread continues with a stirring arrangement of Wade in the Water, reimagined by Stephen M. Murphy.

Continuing its bold tradition of commissioning new works, Chanticleer presents two pieces commissioned in 2024: the forward-looking Future Ones by composer Ayanna Woods, and two stunning arrangements that blend cultural reverence with harmonic depth—This is My Song, set to Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia, and Without a Song, originally by Vincent Youmans and newly arranged by Stacey Gibbs.

“Part of what makes our job so beautiful and invigorating is getting to share the joy and power of music with audiences around the world,” said Chanticleer’s Music Director Tim Keeler. “We feel their excitement from the stage. In this program Without a Song, we lean into that joy and consider just how essential music is to our everyday life. It provides us with inspiration, comfort, tears, and smiles.”

The afternoon will culminate in a powerful musical union as the Cathedral Choral Society and Chanticleer join forces under the baton of Steven Fox for two sweeping and emotionally resonant choral works. The combined choirs will first offer Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria, a lush and beloved staple of the choral repertoire that showcases the groups’ harmonic depth and expressive unity. The program then concludes on a tender and unexpected note with Wildflowers by Tom Petty, arranged by Tim Keeler, reimagined as a gentle, heartfelt farewell that drifts between folk simplicity and choral beauty—leaving audiences with a lasting sense of warmth and reflection.

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.”

Cathedral Choral Society

As Washington, DC’s oldest symphonic chorus, the GRAMMY-nominated Cathedral Choral
Society sets the standard for vibrant, engaging concerts in the nation’s capital. Each season, CCS
presents mainstage concerts at its home, Washington National Cathedral, inviting concertgoers
on exciting musical journeys that reflect the rich diversity of musical traditions in our local
community and throughout our nation. The aims of the chorus are to invite more people into
the art of choral singing, elevate emerging voices, and steward the art for future generations.

Since its inaugural performance of Verdi’s Requiem in 1942 at the outset of the Second World
War, CCS has performed in times of national celebration and in times of mourning. The chorus
has performed with some of the most extraordinary musicians of the last century, including
Robert Shaw, Marin Alsop, Leonard Slatkin, Dominick Argento, John Rutter, Dave Brubeck, J’nai
Bridges, and more. In collaboration with New York’s Clarion Music and the Orchestra of St.
Luke’s, CCS was nominated for a 2021 GRAMMY Award for its recording of Alexander
Kastalsky’s Requiem for Fallen Brothers.

CCS has embarked on numerous collaborations with today’s finest performing ensembles.
Collaborators have included the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony
Orchestra, the Atlanta Ballet, the Washington Bach Consort, Kansas City Chorale, Washington
Ballet, and more. A multi-year collaboration with the Heritage Signature Chorale, called I, Too,
Sing America, has resulted in performances and documentary videos – available on CCS’s
YouTube channel - and will culminate in a concert of new commissions from African American
composers in 2026. The Cathedral Choral Society is heavily invested in fostering emerging
voices by regularly commissioning up-and-coming composers and featuring outstanding young
soloists.

CCS offers educational opportunities through ongoing partnerships and digital initiatives. An annual High School Choir Festival brings more than 250 students from around the region together for a day of learning and singing together; 2025 will mark the 18th annual festival.

The Cathedral Choral Society was founded by the Cathedral’s music director Paul Callaway in
1941, just days before the United States entered World War II. Since that time, only two other
music directors have led the chorus: J. Reilly Lewis from 1985 to 2016, and, since 2017, Steven Fox.

For more information visit cathedralchoralsociety.org and YouTube.com