BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//EVDB//www.eventful.com//EN VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:St. Charles Singers to Share Holiday Stage With Celebrate d Soprano in Chicago at St. Michael's Catholic Church - Eventful BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20081207T150000 DTSTAMP:20081124T235419Z SUMMARY:St. Charles Singers to Share Holiday Stage With Celebrated Sop rano DESCRIPTION:The St. Charles Singers will welcome acclaimed operatic an d concert soprano Michelle Areyzaga when it opens its 25th anniversary season in December with a wide-ranging program of Christmas music.\n\ nMs. Areyzaga and the professional chamber choir of 30-some voices wil l perform “Candlelight Carols With Special Guest Michelle Areyzaga† Sunday\, December 7\, 3 p.m.\, at St. Michael Church\, 310 S. Wheato n Ave.\, Wheaton\, Ill.\n\n“With the choral works on the program and audience sing-alongs between sets\, the concert will offer at least 2 5 songs\, one for each of our 25 years\,” says Jeffrey Hunt\, founde r and artistic director. The program embraces traditional and contemp orary carols\, including jazz arrangements.\n\n“Most of the songs †” about three-quarters of them — will be new to our repertoire\, so audience members can expect to hear a fresh and bracing Christmas prog ram\,” Hunt says.\n\nMs. Areyzaga\, a resident of the Fox River Vall ey area\, will perform as soloist in a special set of six songs for so prano and a cappella choir. A member of the St. Charles Singers in th e mid-1990s\, she has garnered glowing reviews for her opera and conce rt appearances. Opera Magazine called her singing “stunning\,” wh ile the Cleveland Plain Dealer recently praised her as “a soprano of gleaming gifts.”\n\nShe has sung roles with Chicago Opera Theater\, Light Opera Works\, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists\, Opera B irmingham\, Chicago’s Silk Road Initiative\, and Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México. She has sung as guest artist with Camerata Chi cago\, Chicago Master Singers\, and other groups.\n\nThe sunny soprano will collaborate with the choir in “Niño Lindo” by Venezuelan co mposer Alberto Grau\, founder of the noted chorus Schola Cantorum de V enezuela\; the serenely contemplative lullaby “Song of Mary” by Ca rl Fischer and Albert Kranz\; “A Hymn of the Nativity” by Kenneth Leighton\, a much-honored\, 20th-century English composer\; and “Car ol of the Birds\,” a traditional Spanish carol arranged by Robert Sh aw and Alice Parker.\n\nMs. Areyzaga’s set will also include two son gs by African-American composers: “Mary Had a Baby” by William L. Dawson\, a choral conductor who had an abiding interest in black Amer ican folk songs\; and “Who Is the Baby?” by Auburn University’s Rosephanye Powell\, a Christmas song in a spiritual style\, with a gos pel element that creates layers of enthusiastic\, syncopated sound.\n\ nAudiences will hear the choir sing two different settings of “Ave Maria\,” one by Javier Busto\, a contemporary Spanish composer from the Basque Country\, the other by Franz Biebl\, a modern giant of Germ an choral music.\n \nThe program will include songs by Early American composer William Billings\, who was a friend of Paul Revere and Samuel Adams\; celebrated 20th-century English composer Benjamin Britten\; t he prolific Healey Willan\, “Dean of Canadian Composers” with more than 800 works to his credit\; Morten J. Luvaas\, founder of the Alle gheny Singers\; and others.\n\nIn keeping with its holiday tradition\, the St. Charles Singers will close the program with Sir David Willcoc ks’ arrangement of “Silent Night.”\n\nSingle concert tickets are $30 general adult admission\, $20 for seniors 65+\, and $10 for full- time students 23 and under. For concert tickets and information\, cal l (630) 513-5272 or visit www.stcharlessingers.com.\n# # # # LOCATION:St. Michael's Catholic Church @ Illinois, United States SEQUENCE:1227570859 UID:E0-001-017500325-0 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-017500325-0 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR