Stepping into the Mozart Journey …
In 2010 St. Charles Singers Maestro Jeff Hunt, along with Tom Yang and Deb Stevenson of Metropolis Chamber Orchestra, wondered aloud about the possibility of performing and recording the known oeuvre of Mozart’s sacred compositions. With that conversation the ambitious undertaking of the Mozart Journey began. Now past the Journey’s midpoint, we eagerly continue to offer this amazing 18th Century music to a receptive 21st Century audience.
With several exceptions, for example the Coronation Mass and the Requiem, much of Mozart’s sacred choral work is little known and seldom performed. When you attend a Mozart Journey concert there is a good chance that you will experience music you’ve not previously heard performed live, and may never hear performed live again.
The completion of this project is aided by the generosity of donors who understand the significance of what we seek to accomplish, and who will support it financially. For more information on the Journey and how you can help the choir complete it, email execdir@stcharlessingers.com, or call 630.513.5272.
(as excerpted from the official statement released by SCS Publicist Nat Silverman)
St. Charles Singers Founder and Music Director Jeff Hunt says that in Mozart Journey XII “audiences will hear some of Mozart’s lesser-known but most transcendent choral works,” Featuring a choir of 32 voices, the twelfth installment in the Mozart Journey series offers music that Hunt suggests will appeal to those who enjoy Mozart’s symphonies and operas. The “Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento” (Litany in Honor of the Blessed Sacrament) in B-flat Major, K. 125, enlists soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists; four-part chorus; and an orchestra of woodwinds, brass, and strings, with organ accompaniment.
A highlight of Mozart’s festive “Regina coeli” (Queen of Heaven) in C Major, K. 108, is a delicate, demanding operatic soprano solo with florid passages and wide vocal leaps. The uplifting final movement has been compared to a miniature symphony finale.
Mozart’s “Misericordias Domini” (Mercies of the Lord) in D-minor, K.222, has been described as a “masterpiece of counterpoint.” Mozart wrote it to demonstrate his skill at writing multiple melody lines that work perfectly together.
The chamber orchestra will perform Mozart’s high-spirited Symphony No. 12 in G Major, K. 110. Mozart, then 15 years old, wrote this charming short symphony in 1771, the same year as the “Regina coeli,” K. 108, to be heard in the program. The symphony’s exuberant finale includes an exotic, Near Eastern touch derived from the Hungarian and gypsy musical influences that found their way to Mozart’s Austria from the frontiers of the Turkish Empire.
A preconcert lecture by Wheaton College Professor of Music Jonathan Saylor will begin an hour before each Mozart Journey performance.
Saturday, September 30th, 7:30pm
Baker Memorial Church, St. Charles
Sunday, October 1st, 4:00pm
St. Mary’s Church, Elgin
