Chanticleer (ensemble)

Chanticleer
Choir
Chanticleer: An Orchestra of Voices
Origin	San Francisco, California
Founded	June 27, 1978 (1978-06-27)
Genre	vocal
Members	Eric Alatorre (bass) Brian Hinman (tenor) Kory Reid (countertenor, soprano pitch) Chris Albanese (tenor) Alan Reinhardt (countertenor, alto pitch) Cortez Mitchell (countertenor, alto pitch) Adam Ward (countertenor, alto pitch) Gerrod Pagenkopf (countertenor) Matthew Knickman (baritone) Logan Shields (countertenor) Andrew Van Allsburg (tenor) Marques Jerrell Ruff (bass–baritone)
Music director	William Fred Scott
Headquarters	San Francisco
Awards	List of awards and honors
Website	www.chanticleer.org

Based in San Francisco, California, Chanticleer /'ʃæntɪkliɹ/ is a full-time male classical vocal ensemble in the United States. Over the last three decades, it has developed a major reputation for its interpretations of Renaissance music, but it also performs a wide repertoire of jazz, gospel, and other venturesome new music and is widely known as an "Orchestra of Voices". It was named for the "clear singing rooster" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Chanticleer was founded in 1978 by tenor Louis Botto, who sang with the group until 1989, and served as Artistic Director until his death from AIDS in 1997. As a graduate student of musicology, Botto found that much of the medieval and Renaissance music he was studying was not being performed, and, because of this, he formed the group to perform this music with an all-male ensemble, as it was traditionally sung during the Renaissance.

Originally, the group contained ten singers, but its size has varied from eight to twelve. Currently, Chanticleer comprises twelve men, including two basses, one baritone, three tenors, and six countertenors (three altos and three sopranos).

The original members included Jim Armington (tenor), Ted Bakkila (baritone), Rob Bell (countertenor), Louis Botto (who sang alto as well as tenor), Sanford Dole (tenor), Kevin Freeman (bass), Tom Hart (baritone), Jonathan Klein (baritone), Neal Rogers (tenor), Marc Smith (bass), Randall Wong (countertenor), and Doug Wyatt (bass). However, only ten of the singers were available to go on tour.