MILL VALLEY, CA—Singing on pitch with no instrumental guidance is the trademark of the all-male Chanticleer ensemble, back home in Northern California for some dozen holiday concerts by these dozen male virtuosos of the ever-changing “Chanticleer Christmas” program.

The wondrous group is offering holiday pieces written at the time of Columbus’ journeys right up to living composers and modern spirituals, spanning at least seven nations and three languages. The very breadth of the repertory changing every year is mind-boggling. The mood is set right from the opening solemn candlelight procession in white-tie formals, shifting to the fireside collegiate mood of mixed modern repertory.

“They sing the last part better than the first half,” the listener next to me astutely observed. The former comprise arrangements such as ex-Chanticleer legend Joseph Jennings’ medley of seasonal spirituals and of course the signature piece of the group, the “Ave Maria” by the obscure rise-to-the-moment Bavarian composer Franz Biebl. The mercurial Biebl is posthumously famous through Chanticleer’s embracing his masterful antiphonal opus (but famous for nothing else).

As the soaring solo in “Walking in the Air” demonstrates so well, the crown jewels of Chanticleer are the (currently six) countertenors, singing in the mezzo-soprano range, allowing Chanticleer some incursions into the mixed-chorus repertoire while also providing sonic diversity. (Never mind that in our world countertenors are about as rare as unicorns.) The current group includes Bradley Sharpe, Gerrod Pagenkopf, Cortez Mitchell, Tavian Cox, Logan Shields and Adam Brett Ward.

The broadened repertoire of the ensemble puts aside the bulk of the popular carols as well as the famous composers. The oldies include the 15^th-century Johannes Regis, while the post-1900 group encompassing living composers brings up John Tavener, Komitas Vardapet and Chicagoan Stacy Garrop.

If at Mill Valley’s opener the classical works were a bit muddled and unfocused in sound—hardly a major defect, given the group’s virtues—clearly, the less formal “fireside” pieces brought out seamless vocalized, spot-on pitch, and a vocal beauty befitting the season. Clearly, these singers have had glee-club experience as well.

The group uses neither instruments nor conductor. To ascertain the leadership, you need to wade to p. 23 of the printed program to learn of Tim Keeler and Philip Wilder, the music and general directors of Chanticleer, respectively.

Currently, this trail-blazing San Francisco-based professional ensemble is 45 years old, with Keeler just its sixth music director.

CHANTICLEER choral concerts Dec. 11-23, in Mill Valley, Petaluma, Oakland, Sacramento, Berkeley, Santa Clara, Carmel and San Francisco. For info: www.chanticleer.org.

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