St. Charles Singers open season with two concerts
This weekend, you have an opportunity to enjoy one of the Chicago area's finest professional choral groups when the St. Charles Singers present their first concerts of 2008.
The acclaimed 30-voice chamber choir will present "Faire Is the Heaven: Songs of Serenity and Light" at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles; and 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Michael Church, 310 S. Wheaton Ave., in Wheaton. The concerts will be accompanied by organist Scott Stevenson.
In these concerts (covering five centuries of choral music), the group will give its first performance of contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's "Berliner Messe" ("Berlin Mass"), which Artistic Director Jeffrey Hunt describes as "… a very clever piece. Pärt takes compact ideas and turns them into something spacious and beautiful. He has a unique musical language."
Another work will be the "Requiem aeternum" movement from English composer Herbert Howells' "Requiem," composed in 1936 but not premiered until 1980.
The famous "The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God" chorus from Franz Joseph Haydn's oratorio "The Creation" will be featured in its original German text, "Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre."
Another sacred work scheduled is the "In Paradisum" movement from French composer Gabriel Faure's "Requiem," dating from 1888.
Early Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) will be represented by his "Regina caeli laetare," written for eight-part choir; and American composer Randall Thompson by "Have Ye Not Known" and "Ye Shall Have a Song," both from his early choral work "The Peaceable Kingdom" (1936).
There will also be a short sacred work by the Baroque German composer Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672).
The concert will conclude with spirituals arranged by African-American composers of the late 20th century, including "Let the Heaven Light Shine on Me" and "Elijah Rock" by Moses Hogan (1957-2003); and "The Lily of the Valley," one of the best-known works by Wendell Whalum (1931-1987), longtime director of the Morehouse College Glee Club in Atlanta.
Tickets are $35 (premium seating, Baker Church only), $25 (general admission), $20 for seniors 65 and over, and $10 for full-time students 23 and under. For information or to purchase tickets, call (630) 513-5272 or visit www.stcharlessingers.com.
Lyric Opera backstage tours: There's still time to see how an international opera company works behind the scenes when on March 16 and 29, Lyric Opera of Chicago hosts its final two backstage tours of the season at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive at Madison Street.
The two-hour tours, held between 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., will make 10 stops, including the wardrobe department, wigs and makeup, scenery handling facility, armory, stars' dressing rooms, props room, orchestra pit and main stage.
The basic tour, which costs $35 per person, will last approximately two hours. Box lunches (chicken or vegetarian) are $10, with a cash bar available.
The Lyric also offers a premium private tour for $150 per person, which includes a gourmet lunch with a Lyric Opera insider, valet parking and parting gift. Group tours of 15 or more are also available at a discounted price.
Reservations are required, and the Lyric notes that this annual event usually sells out. Tickets may be ordered at (312) 827-5626 or www.lyricopera.org, clicking on "Special Events," then on "Backstage Tours."