St. Charles Singers to finish its Mozart Journey with concerts in April and August

After nearly a decade of performing rare Mozart concerts, then getting sidetracked for nearly two years by the pandemic, the St. Charles Singers have 2022 marked as the conclusion for a unique project.

To launch its 25th-anniversary celebration in 2010, the nationally known choir, directed by Jeffrey Hunt, chose sacred Mozart music never before performed.

"We will be the first American choir to have performed all of Mozart's sacred compositions," Hunt said, as his choir prepares for the second-to-last installment of the Mozart concerts on April 9-10 at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, the home base for the St. Charles Singers. Hunt has directed the 30-plus voice choir since 1984.

It's been no small feat for the choir and its accompanying orchestras, taking on a total journey of 73 compositions - 56 sacred music concerts and 17 instrumental works.

"It's been a pretty amazing project," Hunt said. "We launched this journey in 2010 but spent a year prior making sure we could do it."

In doing that research, Hunt found this music had never been performed for the most part. "Mozart was delivering thrilling music in his operas and everything else, but very few people knew of his sacred music," Hunt added.

It wasn't just a matter of finding sheet music of the rare Mozart compositions suited for church or religious gatherings.

"We had to make the programs as interesting as possible, so it's kind of like a Rubik's Cube in having to find the different colors of each piece and match them up with the instrumentation that is appropriate," Hunt noted. "We have to hire a whole lot of different players, so a lot of thought went into this."

A satisfying aspect of revealing these concerts to the community has been taking them out of St. Charles on occasion and performing in Elgin, Wheaton and Chicago.

For a nonprofit organization with an annual budget of about $300,000, the St. Charles Singers took on a significant challenge when estimating the entire Mozart journey would cost about $700,000. As such, individual donations and foundation grants made it possible.

"We picked this repertoire because people know Mozart's requiem and the mystery of that piece, but there are all of these others that I was not aware of," Hunt said. "When we are performing, we will ask if anyone ever heard this particular piece, and no one will raise their hands."

It's remarkable that Mozart had such an underplayed repertoire, Hunt added. "But it's not like it is not great," he said. "It is very tuneful and engaging, and we picked it because it would be so unique to the world and something great for our community."

The April concerts followed up with the concluding concerts in August, also represent a comeback for the choir after two years of navigating the pandemic.

The Singers tried to communicate via Zoom and sent past recorded concerts to their patrons but generally followed an essential pandemic rule: singing in an indoor facility posed super-spreader danger. They would have to put the Mozart project on hold for a couple of years.

But this is a dedicated group of singers, with the vast majority being high school choir directors and some past students they taught.

Hunt cites his brother David Hunt as probably the only singer who has been with the choir since it started about 38 years ago as the Mostly Madrigal Singers.

Laura Johnson, choir director at Glenbard North High School, started a couple of years later, making her one of the group's longest-standing members.

"It's fun to have choir directors as part of the choir," Hunt said. "They are my friends, and they are in the field themselves as choral directors."

What happens next for the St. Charles Singers when the Mozart journey ends in late August?

"We have been asking choir members what we are going to look like post-Mozart, and they have had some wonderful comments, and we know we have to fill that void with something for the community," Hunt noted.

"We may not follow another composer, but there are things we can do to maybe speak to some of the social themes that we are looking at in the world today," he added. "We will evolve and figure out our path."

A lifesaving project

If all goes as planned in spreading an important message, Ethan Tarver hopes his Eagle Scout project for Troop 21 in Batavia can save some lives.

The Batavia High School junior raised money to purchase a DVD of the documentary film "The S Word" from Madpix Films and filmmaker Lisa Klein to support Suicide Prevention Services of America in Batavia.

Tarver, currently a rank below Eagle Scout as a Life Scout, will turn the DVD over to the prevention services agency after he hosts a free screening of the film at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at the Batavia Park District Civic Center, 327 W. Wilson St., as part of his project.

"Ethan has a long history of volunteering for the (suicide prevention) agency," his father Bill Tarver said. "He and his brother participate in many fundraisers to help support the agency and bring awareness."

Suicide has impacted teens in Batavia, specifically local Boy Scout Troops, Bill noted. "And it has impacted Ethan's family as well."

"The S Word" shares the stories of survivors from across America, all of them emotional tales of trauma, mental health challenges, survival and advocacy.

The center holds only 60 people for this free showing. Those interested should contact Bill Tarver at bill.tarver86@gmail.com for ticket availability.

Ethan is hoping Suicide Prevention Services of America can have future showings to continue to help those in the community understand this critical mental health challenge.

"His goal is to bring awareness to mental health and suicide and to help prevent suicides among teens," Bill said of his son's efforts.

Mr. Singer's tips

People on occasion ask where I come up with the information or ideas for this column. I get emails or text messages or, in this day and age, social media notifications sometimes lead to usable items.

Plus, I've been writing about this area for a long time, so word-of-mouth remains a big factor as people tell me stuff when they see me.

Former alderman Ron Singer of Geneva was one of those with plenty of tips or ideas for my column, whether it was about an upcoming presentation about protecting our pets from coyotes or a new project garnering extra attention at the city council.

He'd pass along information when he saw me at church on Saturday afternoons. We sat in the same general area of St. Peter Church in Geneva, so he knew where he could catch me with his full attention. And I was always happy to see him do it.

Singer, who passed away last week at the age of 89, would never try to blow his own horn. He was just that sort of guy, even though he was on the city council from 1997 to 2017 and could have easily played politics on occasion.

Nearly four years ago, he mentioned he was an honoree in the Illinois Bicentennial "Honor 200," which recognized Illinois veterans' outstanding contributions.

As a Korean War veteran, Singer was one of eight veterans from Kane County to be part of this great recognition and celebration at Chicago's Navy Pier.

Even though he presented it in a "you may or may not be interested" type of gesture, that was definitely worth an item in my column. As such, it was just another time I was grateful Mr. Singer stopped by my pew before services started.

No quite a masterpiece

The equipment auction signs are in the windows at Masterpiece Bread in Geneva, meaning this business apparently never had a fighting chance. It was open only about five months before shutting down.

There's no way of knowing if the math for the business model was just way off or a personal challenge confronted owner Mike Scorzo. Either way, this site at 1441 S. Randall is now empty.

But still some bread

Masterpiece Bread in Geneva may be kaput, but those searching around for fresh-baked bread may want to give Bloom + Bread in St. Charles a try. Owner Cat Battista calls her new shop at 1020 Cedar Ave., a "lifestyle company" offering floral arrangements, breads, and pastries as well as wedding and event planning.

dheun@sbcglobal.net