Chanticleer Is Coming to Town : SWELL A CAPPELLA

Chanticleer, the all-male singing group from San Francisco, takes its name from the feisty and clever rooster in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” that, in the humorous “Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” manages to talk his way out of becoming a fox’s dinner.

But the word means to “sing clearly”--a meaning that certainly applies to the a cappella ensemble.

Chanticleer, founded in 1978 by Louis Botto, started simply as something that would be fun for local vocalists. But since its very first concert (at San Francisco’s Mission Dolores), the group’s artistry has made it increasingly popular and well-regarded.

Its activities now extend well beyond the Bay Area to include tours of the United States--it is the only full-time professional classical a cappella group in this country or in Europe. Chanticleer will sing a Christmas program Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts in Costa Mesa, sponsored by the Orange County Philharmonic Society, with music ranging from the Renaissance to seasonal favorites. A limited number of specially priced tickets will benefit the AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County.

Chanticleer has made 10 recordings, of everything from esoteric masses by Josquin des Prez and other early masters, to spirituals, to music composed especially for the group, which wants to prove that a cappella music is “a living, breathing, viable art form, not something that’s very ancient.”

So says Joseph Jennings, one of Chanticleer’s three countertenors, who joined in 1983 and became artistic director a year later when Botto turned his attention to the increasingly demanding business concerns.

Over the years, there has been a great deal of turnover in the group. Indeed, “there are no original members singing now,” Jennings says. “Some people can’t sing as much as (the group demands), or they can’t take the traveling. Or they go back to school or pursue solo careers. It’s very variable.

“But I enjoy ensemble singing a lot. I like what we do, as far as doing different kinds of music. It always keeps things fresh and exciting.”