St. Charles Singers close out 25th season with Mozart
Mozart wrote choral music? Who knew?
Until a few months ago, even the founder and director of the St. Charles Singers choir group didn't know Mozart had written music for choirs. Next year, he'll be doing little else but memorizing and performing those pieces.
But until then, Jeff Hunt is busy preparing the choir for its 25th season finale this weekend when it will debut two world premieres. Performances are set for Saturday in St. Charles and Sunday in Wheaton.
The group is made up of 40 men and women from the Chicago area who gather every Sunday to rehearse and perform for the public three times per year.
"This concert will be lighter than the December or March concerts, with more jazz and folk songs," said soprano Grace Bardsley, the group's board president.
The group commissioned the two pieces to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
The first is called "Lincoln Cantata" by Hungarian composer Gyula Fekete (pronounced "Yula Feketa"), which is a single-movement work for a full choir and string quartet. It's the story of the Civil War that "captures (President Abraham) Lincoln's feelings of the Civil War, the foreboding, the building frustration," Bardsley said.
Nearly 20 years ago, Fekete sang in the tenor section of the choir himself while he earned a master's degree at Roosevelt University and doctorate in composition at Northwestern University. He is currently living in Hungary, but will return to St. Charles this weekend for his work's debut.
The other world premiere will be "Let All the World in Ev'ry Corner Sing" by Robert Boyd, a Westmont resident who is a lecturer in choral music education at Northwestern University. He is also a tenor who's been singing with the group for nearly a decade.
Boyd's piece, written for a choir with piano accompaniment, is a musical rendition of a poem of the same name by the English poet George Herbert.
"The song represents the poem well because they're both about the four corners of earth coming together in song, as represented by four groups of voices in the choir (sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses)," said Hunt.
These are not the group's first world premieres, but in its 25 years, the group has only debuted two other pieces.
Since its founding, the group has focused mainly on mixed voice choral pieces with occasional instrumental backup, but will be focusing more on instruments next year as it begins a new project called "Mozart's Journey."
Hunt's plan is to perform every choral piece by Mozart, which will take 21 concerts over a five-year period. That project is in addition to its normal load of three different concerts each season, and so will effectively double the number of performances the group is normally slated to perform.
"We are such a secret in St. Charles, and we don't want to be," Bardsley said. "If people give us a try, they will be hooked. We work so hard to make it a joyful and beautiful experience."
Concert tickets are $30 for adult general admission, $20 for seniors 65 and older, and $10 for full-time students 23 and under. For details, you can call the St. Charles Singers ticket office (630) 513-5272 or go to the group's Web site at stcharlessingers.com.
<p class="factboxheadblack">St. Charles Singers' 25th season finale</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 6; 4 p.m. Sunday, June 7</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> Saturday's performance is at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles; Sunday's is at St. Michael Church, 310 S. Wheaton Ave., Wheaton.</p> <p class="News"><b>How much?</b> $30 for adults, $20 for seniors 65 and older, and $10 for students 23 and younger.</p> <p class="News"><b>Info:</b> Call (630) 513-5272 or visit <a href="http://www.stcharlessingers.com" target="new">stcharlessingers.com</a></p>