EL CAMINO REAL CHANTICLEER TRAVELS THE MISSION ROAD TO NINE CALIFORNIA HISTORIC MISSIONS WITH AUTHENTIC MUSICAL TREASURES OF NEW SPAIN

Performances scheduled May 15 – 30
spanning San Luis Obispo to San Francisco
For tickets, Call 800 407 1400 or www.chanticleer.org

SAN FRANCISCO, April 20, 2008—Chanticleer, the nation’s preeminent male singing ensemble, presents El Camino Real: Chanticleer Travels the Mission Road, a program of authentic and rich vocal repertory from the Mexican Baroque and other musical treasures of New Spain many originally performed in the California Missions, accompanied by five instrumentalists.

This innovative musical program will find the Grammy® Award-winning Chanticleer men visiting nine historic California Missions spanning San Luis Obispo to San Francisco, May 15 – 30. Presented as the capstone to Chanticleer’s critically acclaimed 30th anniversary year, the final concert of the home season will take place at San Francisco’s fabled Mission Dolores, the site of the very first Chanticleer concert in 1978.

Under the direction of Chanticleer Music Director Joseph Jennings, and with repertory guidance by acknowledged Mexican Baroque musical authority Professor Craig Russell, the El Camino Real program will present Juan Bautista Sancho’s Misa en sol, (Mass in G) sung in Latin; selected works by renowned Mexican Baroque master Manuel de Sumaya, only recently discovered in the Mexican City Cathedral Archive; in addition to various vocal compositions (introit, processional, alleluia, and recessional) by anonymous Spanish/Mexican composers of the late 18th century, all sung in Spanish.

While all of the original instrumental parts have been lost, Prof. Russell has carefully restored these parts after two years of extensive research, allowing for these musical works to be heard as originally intended for the first time in 200 years.

“All of these musical works would have been performed in the grand cathedrals of New Spain, but when presented in the California Missions, they took on a more folkloric style that everyone would have known and understood,” commented Russell, Professor of Music at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. The abundant use of processionals was very much beloved by the Franciscans who ran the missions.”

“Mexican-born composer De Sumaya was the equivalent of Handel and was the most influential composer in the New World,” added Russell. “In the case of Juan Bautista Sancho’s Mass in G, certain sections were composed in California, and as you listen to the work you can hear melodies that are reminiscent of Franz Joseph Haydn and surprisingly, Bob Dylan.”

The tour will include Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, May 15; a free mid-day outdoor musical event at Mission San Miguel Arcangel, May 16; Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, May 16 evening; Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, May 17; Mission San Juan Bautista, May 18; Mission San Francisco de Asis (Dolores), May 19 and 30; Mission Santa Cruz, May 27; Mission Santa Clara de Asis, May 28; and Mission San Jose of Fremont, May 29.

By royal decree in 1769, King Charles III of Spain launched the creation of missions in the New World, and specifically that of Alta California, as it was referred to in the time. The motivation was political and religious with Spain eager to stave off any further Russian interests of the New World’s West Coast.
Led by Franciscan Father Junipero Serra, the first California Mission was established in 1769 in San Diego, adding some twenty more missions by 1823, stretching as far north as San Rafael and Solano. The importance of these Missions was pivotal to the growth and success of California, shaping the state’s history, transportation routes and of course, culture.

Under the direction of the Franciscans, the role of music in attracting and converting Native Americans to Catholicism is well documented, with each Mission incorporating Native Americans in all of the choral and instrumental ensembles, often of considerable size and scope. Archival manuscripts of some of this sacred music ranged from simple harmonic structures to complex masses composed for eight voice parts, all of which was greatly respected by a traveling mission visitor.

El Camino Real: Chanticleer Travels the Mission Road is part of the California Arts Council’s American Masterpieces – California series, a program highlighting and celebrating the masterpieces of the U.S.A., and specifically, California heritage. This program is supported in part by the California Arts Council, the National Endowment or the Arts and the Western States Arts Federation, the James Irvine Foundation and the E. Nakamichi Foundation.

Chanticleer annually presents more than 100 concerts in cities throughout the United States and in the world’s leading musical capitals at the finest venues, festivals and performing arts centers. Acclaimed as “An Orchestra of Voices”, Chanticleer was recently named “2008 Music Ensemble of the Year” by the internationally renowned Musical America publication. A multi-Grammy® Award-winning ensemble, with more than 30 recordings to date, Chanticleer’s impressive repertory and unique arrangements span the masterworks of the Renaissance to contemporary commissioned works by some of the world’s leading composers. The New York Times hailed the “men of Chanticleer as phenomenal,” and one of Vienna’s leading papers, Die Presse wrote “Chanticleer is peerless in many ways - with superb performing style, perfect intonation, and [filled with an] infectious joy in making music.”

Tickets for El Camino Real are $44 to $22, and may be purchased by calling City Box Office at 800 407 1400, or online at www.chanticleer.org.

Press Contact: Jon Finck and Brenda Hughes, Encore Communications
415 438 9933 or mail@encore-sf.com