USCA appoints distinguished musician as artist in residence
"The past 26 years have been filled with joys and sorrows and incredible music making," asserted Joseph Jennings at the time of his retirement as music director of Chanticleer this past June.
Jennings first joined the internationally acclaimed choral group - the only full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States - as a countertenor in 1983. Only one year later, he was promoted to the position that he held for a quarter century.
During Jennings' tenure as music director, Chanticleer toured the world - the group does more than 100 concerts each year - and released more than two dozen albums, two of which won the prestigious Grammy Award in their category. The first of these was "Colors of Love," a collection of short pieces by modern composers, all linked to the theme of love; it won a Grammy for Best Small Ensemble Performance in 2000. The second was "Lamentations and Praises," a world-premiere recording of a liturgical drama based on the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ by the avant-garde British composer John Tavener; it won Grammys for Best Small Ensemble Performance and Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2002.
My favorites are perhaps the several Christmas recordings made by the group. I generally include at least one of these CDs, most often "Christmas with Chanticleer featuring Special Guest Dawn Upshaw," in my stack of seasonal music because they include songs from a number of countries and periods. Some of the pieces on the album with soprano Dawn Upshaw are arranged by Jennings, who is also a composer of note. Over the years, he has written and arranged music not only for Chanticleer, which was named for the "clear-singing" rooster in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," but also for a number of other performing arts organizations.
Jennings is often credited with establishing or at least refining the Chanticleer sound, thanks to his skill in transforming twelve individual male singers into what has been described as "an orchestra of voices." Phrases like "flawless tapestry," "tonal luxuriance" and "crisply etched clarity" have been used to describe the group's musical achievement, the product of hours and hours of rigorous rehearsal.
Founded in 1978 by tenor Louis Botto, who wanted to hear in performance the medieval and Renaissance music that he was studying in graduate school, Chanticleer, under the subsequent direction of Jennings, expanded its range to include many other musical styles and to commission new works by contemporary composers. Regardless of the idiom, however, the group is famous for the meticulous attention paid to each piece, including its historical background and cultural context.
A native of Augusta, Jennings earned undergraduate degrees in music education and piano at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and a master's degree in choral conducting from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. He taught music at the college level in California for four years before joining the San Francisco-based Chanticleer, which The New Yorker has labeled the "world's reigning male chorus."
Now in retirement, Jennings has returned to his native South, and beginning this month, he takes up a two-year appointment as artist in residence at USC Aiken. According to Jack Benjamin, chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Jennings will serve as a valuable resource for the university's various choral groups and share his expertise with area public schools through special workshops.
This is an exciting opportunity for both USCA and the Aiken community; to have a world-class musician like Jennings at our disposal for the next two years should enrich the musical life of our region.
A Carolina Trustee Professor, Dr. Mack holds the G.L. Toole Chair in English at USC Aiken.