Chanticleer’s fall 2026 program is titled PARADISE — and the ensemble earns that title through range. Working through “humanity’s eternal longing for the ideal: visions of a perfect world, perfect love, or perfect future,” the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco ensemble spans Renaissance polyphony, Milhaud, Sibelius, Bobby McFerrin, and contemporary commissioned pieces in a single evening, held together by theme rather than period. It is ambitious concert programming; Chanticleer is one of the few vocal ensembles positioned to execute it.
About the Show
Founded in 1978 by Louis Botto, Chanticleer has performed thousands of concerts globally and sold over one million recordings, building a worldwide reputation as “an orchestra of voices” for the breadth of its artistic range. PARADISE draws on that range deliberately: Renaissance sacred works by Jean Mouton and Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla establish the program’s earliest material; Darius Milhaud’s “Psalm 121” and Bobby McFerrin’s “The 23rd Psalm” bring two very different sensibilities to bear on the same ancient source; Sibelius’s Finnish composition “Rakastava” moves between the divine and the earthly; and contemporary pieces, including Richard Evans’s “Journey to Recife” and Manuel Sánchez Acosta’s “Paraíso Soñado,” close the circle. The program is organized by theme rather than period, tracing what remains constant in the human reach toward paradise across centuries and cultures.
The Boston Globe has called Chanticleer’s performances “breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style.” Grammy Awards went to recordings of Sir John Tavener’s Lamentations & Praises and Colors of Love. Additional honors include the Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and the Chorus America Dale Warland Singers Commission Award, recognizing the group’s sustained investment in new commissions. Chanticleer was named Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year in 2008 and has since been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. The Bay Area Reporter assessed the current touring lineup as “one of the ensemble’s very best in its entire history.”
The October 8 date in Saratoga Springs is one of several Northeast stops on a fall tour that includes later dates in Rochester and Houghton, New York.
Venue & Logistics
Universal Preservation Hall, at 25 Washington St in Saratoga Springs, hosts the concert. The show is part of the fall classical calendar for the Capital Region. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. The venue box office is available at (518) 346-6204.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Buy tickets