St. Charles Singers to open concert season with mostly Mozart

Professional chamber choir St. Charles Singers, conducted by Jeffrey Hunt, will open its 32nd concert season September 11 with the tenth installment of its Mozart Journey, a multi-year initiative to perform the complete sacred choral music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The St. Charles Singers, with the Metropolis Chamber Orchestra, will present “Mozart Journey X: This Is Our Joy” at 7:30 p.m. on September 11 at Saint Thomas More Catholic Church, 215 Thomas More Drive, Elgin, Ill.; and at 3 p.m. on September 13 at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles, Ill.

Music professor Jonathan Saylor of Wheaton College will give a pre-concert talk one hour before each performance.

The St. Charles Singers’ September 11 concert will be the first of its own in Elgin. The choir, accompanied by the Metropolis Chamber Orchestra, will offer Elgin choral music lovers a Mozart Journey concert in 2015, 2016, and 2017, thanks to a three-year, $5,000 annual grant from the Florence B. and Cornelia A. Palmer Foundation. The foundation supports the visual and performing arts in Elgin.

Mozart and More

The program will include Mozart’s Miserere in A minor, K. 85, for choir and organ, a setting of Psalm 51, which begins, “Have mercy on me”; Te Deum in C major, K. 141, a hymn of rejoicing for choir and orchestra; and festive “Trinity” Mass in C major, K. 167, for choir and orchestra, plus sacred works by other composers, specially chosen to complement Mozart’s music.

The concert’s title, “This Is Our Joy,” is a twist on the opening words of Baroque composer Johann Ludwig Bach’s magnificent motet for choir and organ “Das ist meine Freude,” meaning “This is my joy,” which will open the concert. Hunt says the concert title “perfectly captures the sentiment of the St. Charles Singers and its fans.”

Also on the program are English Renaissance composer Thomas Tomkins “My Shepherd Is the Living Lord” for choir and organ; an attractive setting of the canticle “Nunc Dimittis” (“Now you dismiss”) for choir and organ by English composer Philip Moore, who guest conducted the St. Charles Singers in 2014; and Stacey V. Gibbs’ vibrant arrangement of the spiritual “Sit Down Servant” for unaccompanied choir.

New Chamber Organ Takes Bow

St. Charles Singers will introduce its new Klop positiv organ at the September concerts. Built in the Netherlands in 2015 and costing more than $40,000, it was recently acquired through a memorial gift from two of the choir’s long-time supporters.

The portable pipe organ is ideal for choral concerts because of its compact size, bright clear sound, and the warm tone of its all-wood pipes, Hunt says. “It has a gentle tone that carries its own amid the choir and other instruments. It will be an integral voice in the music making.”

Joyful Voices

Choir members performing in “Mozart Journey X: This Is Our Joy” include sopranos Jeanne Fornari, Batavia; Laura Johnson, Hanover Park; Cynthia Spiegel, La Fox; Meredith Dubon and Jennifer Gingrich, Naperville; AnDrea James, St. Charles; Corinne Elliot, Wheaton; and Karen Lukose, Winfield.

Altos are Sarah Underhill, Aurora; Margaret Fox, Batavia; Jen Haseltine, Campton Hills; Amanda Brex-Castillo, Cary; Bethany Nelson, Crystal Lake; Bridget Kancler, Oak Park; Debby Wilder, Wheeling; and Chelsea Rhodes, Yorkville.

Tenors are Rob Campbell and Bryan Kunstman, DeKalb; Bradley Staker, Elburn; Jonathan Cramer, Grayslake; Gregor King, Sycamore; David Hunt, Wayne; Steve Williamson, West Chicago; and Bob Boyd, Westmont.

Basses are Phil Nohl and Michael Thoms, Aurora; Brandon Fox and Doug Peters, Batavia; Anthony Quaranta, Carol Stream; Nate Cook, Crystal Lake; and David Hartley, Lake in the Hills; and Mike Popplewell, North Aurora.

Tickets and Information

Single tickets for St. Charles Singers concerts are $35 adult general admission, $30 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 are also available at Townhouse Books, 105 N. Second Ave., St. Charles (checks or cash only at this ticket venue). Tickets may also be purchased at the door on the day of the concert, depending on availability. Group discounts are available.