Grammy-winning a cappella choir Chanticleer coming to DePauw Saturday

Chanticleer, the multi-Grammy Award-winning a cappella choir, performs selections from its latest recording She Said/He Said for the Green Guest Artist Concert in Kresge Auditorium on Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m.

April showers will bring more than spring flowers to Greencastle this month. Musical arrivals will also be popping up at the DePauw University Green Center, including the multi-Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer.

Described as "the world's reigning male chorus" by The New Yorker, the group has a special affinity for lush repertoire, ranging from intimate chamber pieces to grandly celebratory double chorus works in 12 parts.

For its Green Guest Artist Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 12 in Kresge Auditorium, the San Francisco-based ensemble plans to stoke the eternal dialog between the sexes with selections from its latest recording "She Said/He Said."

The bawdiest of Renaissance madrigals, standards by Cole Porter and Ravel's dramatic Trois chansons revisit this age-old topic, featuring the wide-ranging voices of Hildegard von Bingen, Brahms, Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, as well as Vince Peterson's arrangement of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now."

When founded by Louis Botto in 1978, Chanticleer was named for the "clear-singing" rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which one of the members was in the midst of reading at the time. Later named the 2008 "Ensemble of the Year" by Musical America, the ensemble is now known around the world for the seamless blend of its 12 male voices, from countertenor to bass.

Its 2013-14 international tour of nine European countries saw debuts in Dublin, Moscow and St. Petersburg; and returns to Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Bruges. This season, the group will also perform in 23 of the United States. Saturday's concert is their only Indiana appearance.

"The singers of Chanticleer are rock stars of the a cappella world," says Gregory Ristow, director of choral activities at DePauw. "I've heard them sing live several times, and they always put on an amazing show -- everything from vocal jazz to renaissance church music. And, they do it all beautifully. It's just hard to believe that voices alone can make such amazing sounds."

According to Ristow, Chanticleer is a huge name in the world of singers. "They are the most widely known and recorded a cappella ensemble in the U.S., possibly the world."

Since the choir began releasing recordings in 1981, it has sold well over a million copies and garnered three Grammy Awards. Its recordings, distributed by Naxos, Rhino Records, ArkivMusic and iTunes, as well as on Chanticleer's website (www.chanticleer.org), will also be available for purchase at the concert.

General admission to Guest Artist Concerts is $10--15; tickets for students, seniors and children are free. To obtain tickets, visit www.depauw.edu/music/tickets, stop by or call the GCPA box office 658-4827.