St. Charles Singers to Create a 'North American Mosaic' Through Song Oct. 3-4

‘A national treasure’ — American Record Guide

St. Charles Singers (Photo: Nathan J. Silverman)

St. Charles, Ill., Sept. 15, 2026 — The St. Charles Singers, led by founder and music director Jeffrey Hunt, will launch their 42^nd concert season with “North American Mosaic,” comprising songs of different eras and cultural perspectives from the U.S. and Canada, October 3 and 4, 2026, at their home venue, Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, St. Charles, Illinois. 

“The program paints a wide-ranging historical and cultural panorama through songs dating from early America to the present day,” Hunt says.

Hunt describes it as “a tapestry of American experience, with a respectful nod to Canada.” 

“Gimikwenden Ina” (Do You Remember?) is from Canadian composer Corey Payette’s musical “Children of God,” about indigenous Oji-Cree children forced into boarding schools to erase their native culture and family connections. Payette is a member of the Mattagami First Nation. The St. Charles Singers will perform Elliot Vaughan’s arrangement for four-part choir with piano and drum. 

It’s one of eight works on the program that the acclaimed mixed-voice chamber choir will be performing for the first time. 

Another is “The Bird,” by early America’s William Billings, considered the country’s first professional choral composer. Written in 1790 and based on Psalm 11, the score includes Billings’ characteristic fugues, melisma, and tone painting. 

New England’s pioneering American modernist composer Charles Ives wrote “The Circus Band” in 1894 while still a student a Yale University. It’s a humorous, nostalgic take on a young boy’s excitement at the chaos and exuberance of a passing circus parade. 

William Dawson’s rhythmic arrangement of “Ain’-a That Good News” is a lively 1937 setting of a timeless, joyful African American spiritual. 

Florence Price wrote both the music and text for “Resignation,” a quiet, poetic reflection on the physical and emotional trauma of slavery. Scholars believe Price composed the undated work in the 1930s. In 1933, she became the first African American woman to have a symphony performed by a major U.S. orchestra when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of her Symphony No.1 in E Minor. 

Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs,” Book 1, published in 1950, were famously adapted for mixed-voice choir by Copland’s friend and colleague, composer Irving Fine. The songs are 19th-century folk, minstrel, and religious tunes Copland sourced from historic collections. 

Composer, arranger, and singer Ysaye M. Barnwell is a former member of the African American female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock. In “We Are,” she extols the transcendent value of every human life and the interconnectedness of all people. The song, from a 1993 collection, includes the passage, “For each child that’s born, a morning star rises and sings to the universe who we are.” 

Concertgoers will hear Arnold Sevier’s celebrated 1996 arrangement of Thomas Dorsey’s 1930s gospel standard “Precious Lord.” Sevier is music director at Transformation Community United Methodist Church in Harvey, Illinois. 

Brandon Williams’ stirring, 2022 a cappella arrangement of Daniel Iverson’s hymn “Spirit of the Living God” includes double soprano and bass parts for lush six-part harmonies. An Illinois native, Williams holds music education degrees from Western Illinois University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is director of choral activities at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. 

Award-winning composer and choirmaster Craig Hella Johnson of Austin, Texas, says “Reaching” is about “cultural and spiritual separation and displacement as well as a soulful yearning to ‘come home’ to one another.” He says it was originally conceived as “a compassionate musical response” to the 2022 Uvalde, Texas, school tragedy. 

Kile Smith’s “Northland,” from 2023, includes musical settings of four poems about the immigrant experience by Jamaica-born Harlem Renaissance writer Claude McKay: “The Tropics in New York,” “America,” “On Broadway,” and “To One Coming North.” 

The St. Charles Singers will present “North American Mosaic” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 3, and 3 p.m. Sunday, October 4, at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Avenue, St. Charles, Illinois.

Tickets and information 

Single-admission tickets are $50 for adults, $45 for seniors, and $12 for students. 

Group discounts are available. 

Tickets and information are available at stcharlessingers.com. Tickets may also be purchased at the door on the day of the concert, depending on availability. 

Painting a mosaic in song 

St. Charles Singers painting a “North American Mosaic” in song include sopranos Michelle Areyzaga of Arlington Heights; Karen Rockett, Batavia; Chloe Hayes, Chicago; Jessica Heinrich, Elburn; Lydia Walsh-Rock, Forest Park; Meredith Taylor Mollica, Naperville; CeCe Glass, Prospect Heights; AnDréa James and Cynthia Spiegel, St. Charles; and Marybeth Kurnat, Wheaton.

Alto voices are Margaret Fox, Batavia; Amy Bearden, Chicago; Mary Kunstman, Elburn; Monica Bertrand, Geneva; Kelly Johnson, Hoffman Estates; Rachel Miller, Naperville; Bethany Brewer, Palos Heights; Evelyn Chan, Sterling; Debra Wilder, Vernon Hills; and Karen Archbold, Wheaton. 

Tenors are Marcus Jansen, Batavia; Rob Campbell, DeKalb; Bryan Kunstman and Bradley Staker, Elburn; Stephen Mollica, Naperville; Andy Jeffrey, St. Charles; Paul Cline, Warrenville; David Hunt, Wayne; and Steve Williamson, West Chicago. 

Bass singers are Brandon Fox, Batavia; Antonio Quaranta, Berwyn; Jess Koehn, Downers Grove; Brandon Sefranek, Montgomery; Chris DiMarco, Naperville; Michael Popplewell, North Aurora; Aaron James, St. Charles; Drayton Eggleson, Sycamore; and Darwynn Carter, Willowbrook. 

Collaborative pianist is Glen Ellyn’s Stephen Uhl. 

St. Charles Singers 

Founded and directed by Jeffrey Hunt, the St. Charles Singers is a chamber choir dedicated to choral music in all its forms. Hailed by American Record Guide as “a national treasure,” the mixed-voice ensemble includes professional singers, choral directors, and voice instructors, some of whom perform with other top-tier Chicago choirs. Classics Today has called the ensemble “one of North America’s outstanding choirs,” citing “charisma and top-notch musicianship” that “bring character and excitement to each piece.” Choral Journal proclaimed, “They sing with versatile musicality, vibrant tone, and impeccable diction.” England’s Choir and Organ declared, “With a well-balanced and beautifully blended choral sound, the St. Charles Singers are totally committed to what they perform.” Among the St. Charles Singers’ prominent guest conductors have been renowned English composer Sir John Rutter, founder of the Cambridge Singers; Philip Moore, composer and former music director at England’s York Minster cathedral; and Grammy Award-winning American choir director Craig Hella Johnson. The choir launched in St. Charles, Illinois, in 1984 as the Mostly Madrigal Singers. 

The St. Charles Singers’ newest album, “Dancing Tree: Choral Landscapes,” was released August 21, 2026, on Navona Records. The title work, Rutter’s “Dancing Tree,” was written for the St. Charles Singers and is heard in its world-premiere performance. The album was recently featured on Iowa Public Radio’s “Choral Tradition” program, whose host, Curt Snook, hailed the St. Charles Singers as “a really remarkable organization.”
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