St. Charles Singers Plans
‘Perfectly Fitting Finale’
to 25th Concert Season
June 6 & 7
Acclaimed Choir Will Perform World Premieres
Of New Works in St. Charles and Wheaton
Editors: Photos available. E-mail natsilv@aol.com
ST. CHARLES, Ill., April 29, 2009 — The St. Charles Singers, an international concert and recording ensemble based in Chicago’s western suburbs, will conclude its 25th anniversary season with a concert program highlighting works written expressly for them — including two world premieres.
The chamber choir of some 30 voices will present “A Perfectly Fitting Finale: Works Written for the St. Charles Singers” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles; and 4 p.m. Sunday, June 7, at St. Michael Church, 310 S. Wheaton Ave., Wheaton. Single concert tickets are $30 for adult general admission, $20 for seniors 65 and older, and $10 for full-time students 23 and under. Tickets and information: (630) 513-5272; www.stcharlessingers.com.
The mixed-voice ensemble will give the world premiere of the Lincoln Cantata by prominent Hungarian composer Gyula Fekete (YOO-lah FEH-keh-teh). It was commissioned by the St. Charles Singers and is dedicated to the ensemble.
The cantata is a single-movement work for full choir and string quartet. Jeffrey Hunt, founder and artistic director of the St. Charles Singers, describes it as “very tonal, with a modern Romantic feel and sound.”
It’s a tribute to democracy and statesmanship written to coincide with the Abraham Lincoln bicentennial. The work incorporates excerpts from the writings of Lincoln and Árpád Göncz, the first democratically elected president of the modern Republic of Hungary and a national hero (whom Fekete once met on an overseas airline flight between Hungary and the U.S.).
Well-known in Chicago music circles, Fekete received a master’s degree from Roosevelt University and a doctorate in composition from Northwestern University. He is presently an associate professor of composition at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest. A number of his works have been recorded by the Hungaroton label.
While pursuing graduate studies in the Chicago area, Fekete sang in the tenor section of the St. Charles Singers.
Fittingly, some songs on the program are about the warm-weather season, others are about songs and singing.
In the latter category is the festive “Let All the World in Ev’ry Corner Sing” by Robert A. Boyd of suburban Westmont, Ill., which will receive its world premiere.
The song, scored for choir with piano accompaniment, is a musical setting of a sacred poem written by 17th-century English poet George Herbert. Boyd calls it a “wonderful and exciting text.”
Hunt, of the St. Charles Singers, describes it as “a meaty piece” that’s luminous and “very joyful.”
“I knew I wanted to contrast the sounds of the women and the men, reflecting ‘ev’ry corner,’” Boyd wrote in a note to the ensemble. But in keeping with what Boyd calls “the spirit of the poetry,” the voices join together at the end to repeat the phrase “My God and King!”
The song was commissioned by and is dedicated to the St. Charles Singers. Boyd has been singing in the tenor section of the choir since 2000.
Boyd, who has 18 published choral works to his credit, is currently a lecturer in choral music education at Northwestern University. In 2003, a national music organization honored the longtime high school choral director as Outstanding Music Educator of Illinois, making him the first choral director in the state to earn that award. In 2006, he received the Howard A. Decker Award for excellence from the Illinois chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.
Legendary British-born jazz pianist, arranger, and composer George Shearing wrote the swing-infused “Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare” for the St. Charles Singers in 1999. The ensemble gave the premiere on July 9 of that year.
The piece, written for full choir, piano, and bass, was edited by none other than England’s John Rutter, a friend of the ensemble and, in the view of many, the greatest contemporary choral composer in the English-speaking world. Rutter was guest conductor of the St. Charles Singers for the 1999 premiere, with Shearing himself at the piano. The St. Charles Singers last performed this piece at a 2000 concert in Cambridge, England.
The ensemble will perform songs by American arrangers and composers William Dawson, Alice Parker, Robert Shaw, and Ronald Staheli —including Staheli’s arrangement of the early American folk hymn “How Can I Keep from Singing” — and Swedish composer Waldemar Ahlen’s tribute to springtime, “The Earth Adorned.”
A set of traditional folk songs of the British Isles will include arrangements by Englishmen Sir David Willcocks, John Rutter, Jeremy Jackman, and Daryl Runswick; and “I Have Had Singing,” arranged by noted American choral composer and director Steven Sametz of Lehigh University.
About The St. Charles Singers
Founded in 1984 by Jeffrey Hunt, artistic director, the St. Charles Singers is one of America’s preeminent choral groups.
Originally known as the Mostly Madrigal Singers, the mixed choir became the St. Charles Singers in 1998.
The ensemble of approximately 30 singers made its major-label recording debut in 2008 on the internationally-distributed Naxos label, performing Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs on an all-Copland disc with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Hanson. American Record Guide’s CD review praised the St. Charles Singers’ “warmth and commitment. Neither conductor nor singers condescend to the music, but simply present the songs as the simple, tuneful, enjoyable works they are.” England’s MusicWeb International said, “It’s the chorus that makes these arrangements stand out; their bright, focused sound is invariably pleasing.”
In addition to the Copland CD, its discography also includes two commercial CDs on the Proteus label and three self-produced CDs. “They never fail to touch the heart while pleasing the ear,” said American Record Guide in its review of the vocal ensemble’s Christmas in St. Charles CD on the Proteus label. England’s Gramophone noted their “impeccable vocal blend . . . and clear precise diction.” In a CD review, ClassicsToday.com called the St. Charles Singers “one of North America’s outstanding choirs,” citing “charisma and top-notch musicianship” that “bring character and excitement to each piece.”
The choir has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor James Conlon at the Ravinia Festival and has toured professionally in England and France.
The St. Charles Singers were featured on WTTW-TV’s Arts Across Illinois program in November 2008 and made their live radio debut the following month on WFMT-FM’s Live from WFMT program.
Attn: Calendar Editor
[Category: Performing Arts/Music/Classical Music]
“A Perfectly Fitting Finale: Works Written for the St. Charles Singers”: St. Charles Singers, Jeffrey Hunt, artistic director. Works by Gyula Fekete, Robert Boyd, George Shearing, and others. June 6 (St. Charles) and June 7 (Wheaton). Single concert tickets are $30 for adult general admission, $20 for seniors 65+, and $10 for full-time students 23 and under. Tickets and information: (630) 513-5272; www.stcharlessingers.com.
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