Candlelight Carols

The St. Charles Singers will launch its 27th concert season with a wide-ranging "Candlelight Carols" program that swings stylistically from early music to jazz, with German Romantic motets by Felix Mendelssohn, 20th-century Scandinavian Christmas songs, traditional English carols, and other genres in the mix.

More than half of the 30 songs on the program are new to the St. Charles Singers' repertoire, according to Jeffrey Hunt, founder and artistic director of the internationally recognized, 32-voice professional chamber choir.

"It's our most musically diverse Christmas program ever," Hunt said.

Concerts are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010, and 7 p.m. Sunday, December 5, at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave. St. Charles; and 3 p.m. Sunday, December 5, at St. Michael Catholic Church, 310 S. Wheaton Ave., Wheaton.

The program will include a set of four traditional English carols arranged by Charles Wood, each sung by a different octet of choir members; Gregorian chant; and a medley of jazz-infused carol arrangements written by Jonathan Rathbone of the Grammy Award-winning Swingle Singers.

An unusual Christmas-concert entry is Alice Parker's late 20th-century arrangement of the Ladino lullaby "Durme, Durme" from "Songs of Life," a set of Sephardic Jewish songs.

Among other composers on the program are Giovanni Gabrieli, Paul Halley, Herbert Howells, John Rutter, John Tavener, and Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Single ticket prices are $30 adult general admission, $20 seniors 65 and over, and $10 for students with ID. Tickets are available at http://www.stcharlessingers.com/tickets 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). Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.

Corporate sponsors of the St. Charles Singers' 2010–2011 concert season are WFMT Radio, the Kane County Chronicle, Alpha Graphics, Autumn Tree Care Experts, Inc., Yurs Funeral Home, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., and N.P. Tassi Law, LLC.