St. Charles Singers to ring in season with 'Candlelight Carols'

The St. Charles Singers' 31st annual edition of its "Candlelight Carols" Christmas program will be Friday, Dec. 5, to Sunday, Dec. 7, in Chicago and St. Charles. The professional chamber choir will begin the weekend concert series at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, at Fourth Presbyterian Church, North Michigan Avenue at East Delaware Place, Chicago.

They will then travel to Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles, to perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7. The concerts in St. Charles typically sell out in advance.

The mixed-voice choir's founder and music director Jeffrey Hunt will conduct a program of 18 songs spanning from the Renaissance to the present day, many of which the choir has never performed before and some offering unusual soundscapes.

One of those is Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds' "Stars" for mixed choir and water-tuned glasses. The carol, composed in 2011, calls for some singers to play stemmed drinking glasses, also known as glass harps.

Guest artist Matthew Agnew, cellist with the Chicago Philharmonic and Elgin Symphony Orchestra, will accompany the choir in Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo's recent "Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium)" for chorus with violin or cello, an evocative, cinematic-sounding work.

Agnew will also perform Gjeilo's "The Hudson," an instrumental lullaby for cello and piano.

Hunt promises some familiar Christmas music in unfamiliar arrangements.

"These won't be your garden variety, four-part carols," Hunt says, citing as an example Jeremy Landig's swinging a cappella jazz arrangement of "Lo, How a Rose/In the Bleak Midwinter."

Another is Minnesota-based conductor-composer Matthew Culloton's updating of the traditional German carol "In dulci Jubilio" (In sweet joy) with multilayered textures and unique choral accompaniment.

The St. Charles Singers will perform three new works by prolific Welshman Karl Jenkins, including the motets "Lullay," "The Shepherd," and "Exsultate jubilate," all composed or arranged in 2014.

The complete "Candlelight Carols" program will include "Exultate Deo" by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; Stars" by Eriks Ešenvalds; I wonder as I wander" arranged by Robert A. Boyd; Et Natus Est Emanuel" by Michael Praetorius; "Convidando esta la niche" by Juan Garcia de Zéspedes, edited by Robert A. Boyd; "The Hudson" (instrumental lullaby) by Ola Gjeilo; Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium)" by Ola Gjeilo; "Ave, Regina Caelorum" by Philip Stopford; "Lullay" by Karl Jenkins; "The Shepherd" by Karl Jenkins; "Exsultate, jubilate" by Karl Jenkins; "Go Tell It on the Mountain" arranged by Carolyn Jennings; "In dulci Jubilo" arranged by Matthew Culloton; "The World for Christmas" by Anders Edenroth; "Climb to the Top of the Highest Mountain" by Carolyn Jennings; "Lo, How a Rose/In the Bleak Midwinter" arranged by Jeremy Landig; "Noël Nouvelet" arranged by Philip Lawson; "Who is the Baby?" by Rosephanye Powell; "Silent Night" by David Willcocks, with a verse arranged by Robert A. Boyd.

Single tickets for "Candlelight Carols" are $30 for general adult admission, $25 for seniors 65 and older, and $10 for students. Tickets and general information about the St. Charles Singers are available at www.stcharlessingers.com or by calling (630) 513-5272.

Tickets can be purchased at Townhouse Books, 105 N. Second Ave., St. Charles; checks or cash only here. Tickets can be purchased at the door on concert day, depending on availability. Group discounts are available.