Chanticleer returns for a 10th and final concert at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30PM. The San Francisco-based, Grammy-award winning male vocal ensemble, which The New Yorker Magazine called “the world’s reigning male chorus,” was also named 2008 Ensemble of the Year by Musical America. Chanticleer is a non-profit organization and donates the proceeds of the concert at St. Mark’s to support the Youth Choral Festivals, such as the one at Darien High School, that are part of its National Education Program. Additional support comes from The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and other generous institutional & individual funders.

The following day, Chanticleer—known as “an orchestra of voices”—will be in residence at Darien High School, conducting master classes for students from Avon, Darien, Foran, and Trumbull High Schools in a day-long Youth Choral Festival.

Chanticleer’s annual activity in New Canaan and Darien has been organized by New Canaan resident and St. Mark’s parishioner Dudley Roski. During his 10-year tenure on Chanticleer’s Board of Trustees. Roski, who has a particular interest in Chanticleer’s education activities, wished to offer them to Fairfield County students, supported by the proceeds from a concert at the 700-seat St. Mark’s where the acoustic is widely regarded as superior. “Dudley Roski’s entrepreneurship and dedication to education have been very much appreciated by Chanticleer, who have been honored by his presence on our Board of Trustees during these 10 years,” said a Chanticleer spokesperson. While this year marks the l0th and final concert and Youth Choral Festival in New Canaan and Darien, respectively, Chanticleer will continue to appear regularly in many other locations in Connecticut and upstate New York.

Chanticleer’s concert at St. Mark’s is entitled The Gypsy in My Soul, under the musical direction of William Fred Scott. Wanderlust, curiosity, nostalgia, reverence for the natural world and the gypsy spirit in us all: The Gypsy in My Soul depicts all these human states in choral music from the Renaissance to today and from all over the world. The profound influence of the gypsy culture is presented in music by Steven Sametz and Carmen Cavallaro, as well as in folk music from Serbia and Romania. The gypsy in the American soul informs classic arrangements by Joseph Jennings and Gene Puerling and modern arrangements from Chanticleer’s recent studio album, Someone New.

Tickets for the March 3rd concert are $40 and are on sale at The Lion’s Den Bookstore at St. Mark’s, Elm Street Books, and at www.chanticleer.org. Information about St. Mark’s, the concert, and programs can be found at www.stmarksnewcanaan.org. A live recording of the program The Gypsy in My Soul is available at www.chanticleer.org and will also be available at St. Mark’s at the concert.