The St. Charles Singers will showcase the celebratory side of Mozart in concerts combining joyful sacred solo and choral music with two rarely heard orchestral works.
The program will be the finale to the St. Charles Singers’ twenty-seventh season.
The acclaimed 32-voice professional chamber choir, led by founder Jeffrey Hunt, and the Metropolis Chamber Orchestra will present “Mozart Journey 3: Jubilant Mozart." There will be a pre-concert talk by musicologist Jonathan Saylor of Wheaton College at 7 p.m.
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“Jubilant Mozart” is the third program in the multi-year “Mozart Journey” series being presented by the choir and chamber orchestra.
Soprano Kimberly McCord of Oak Park, an international concert and recording artist, will make her debut as guest soloist with the St. Charles Singers.
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McCord will sing the solo part — a virtuoso showpiece — in Mozart's "Exsultate, Jubilate" ("Rejoice, Be Glad"), K. 165, a concerto for orchestra and soprano. Mozart, just 17 at the time, brilliantly incorporated different styles of operatic singing within the three-movement framework (fast-slow-fast) of a classical symphony. The "Alleluja" finale, sometimes performed as a separate piece, is a favorite of singers and audiences alike.
The soprano will also sing a spectacular high-spirited solo part in the radiant and vigorous "Vesperae Solennes de Dominica" ("Dominican Solemn Vespers"), K. 321, a surprisingly sunny work despite its title. In addition to her solo turn, McCord will also sing in the choir’s soprano section. Other soloists in the Vespers are choir members Amanda Brex-Castillo, soprano; Debby Wilder, alto; David Hunt, tenor; and David Hartley, bass.
This will be the first time the St. Charles Singers has presented either of those Mozart works.
The Metropolis Chamber Orchestra will be featured in Mozart’s "Sinfonia Concertante" for winds and orchestra, K. 297b; and the short March, K. 62.
The "Sinfonia" is an elegant example of a type of music popular in Mozart’s day — a hybrid of a symphony and a concerto starring a quartet of wind soloists. Each wind player —oboist, clarinetist, bassoonist, and horn player — gets to demonstrate his or her instrument’s unique qualities. Wind soloists in the "Sinfonia Concertante" will be Deb Stevenson, oboe; Wagner Campos, clarinet; Jonathan Saylor, bassoon; and Daniel O'Connell, horn.
Concertmaster of the Metropolis Chamber Orchestra is violinist Thomas Yang, who is also concertmaster of Oak Park’s Handel Week Festival. He’s held the same role with the Lake Forest Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, and Illinois Chamber Symphony.
The March K. 62, about three minutes long, is “a fun piece and very rarely performed,” Jeffrey Hunt says.
The choir’s Mozart Journey series with the Metropolis Chamber Orchestra will encompass all of the composer’s sacred choral music and some of his religiously inspired, non-choral vocal music like the "Exsultate, Jubilate." The project represents a sizable portion of the St. Charles Singers’ regular concert seasons through January 2015.
“If you’re a fan of Mozart’s operas and other secular works, you’ll enjoy his sacred music,” Hunt says. “It’s the same Mozart.”
Concerts include instrumental chamber works by Mozart that illuminate the choral pieces or simply enlarge and enrich the listener’s experience of Mozart’s music.
“The blending of choral and instrumental music in each program is, in itself, reminiscent of the way Mozart constructed his own concerts,” Hunt notes. “It’s a journey of discovery for audiences and singers alike.”
Founded by Hunt in 1984, the St. Charles Singers is one of America’s preeminent choral groups.
Single tickets to Mozart Journey concerts are $40 adult admission, $30 for seniors 65 and older, and $20 for students (with ID). For tickets and information, call (630) 513-5272 or visit www.stcharlessingers.com. Tickets are also available at Townhouse Books, 105 N. Second Ave., St. Charles (cash or checks only at this ticket venue).
Season Sponsors
Corporate sponsors of the St. Charles Singers’ 2010–2011 concert season are WFMT Radio, Kane County Chronicle, Alpha Graphics of St. Charles, Autumn Tree Care Experts, Inc., Yurs Funeral Home, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., and N.P. Tassi Law, LLC.
