St. Charles Singers

he critically acclaimed St. Charles Singers, led by founder and music director Jeffrey Hunt, will conclude its 40th anniversary season with concerts April 12-13 featuring the world premiere of a new work written for the ensemble by renowned English composer Sir John Rutter.

The mixed-voice chamber choir’s season-finale program, “The Passing of the Year,” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave. in downtown St. Charles.

Joining the choir as guest choristers to celebrate its landmark season are soprano Michelle Areyzaga and baritone Evan Bravos. Both are accomplished professional singers who hail from the far western suburbs and have close ties to the St. Charles Singers.

Soprano Michelle Areyzaga, a former St. Charles Singer and an alumni of Kaneland High School, will be featured at the St. Charles Singers concerts on April 12-13. Courtesy of Elliot Mandel

Areyzaga, a former member of the St. Charles Singers, passed her audition for the choir while still a student at Kaneland High School in Maple Park, Illinois, and performed with the ensemble for a decade before embarking on a successful solo career. Praised for her “radiant and all-encompassing soprano” (Chicago Tribune), Areyzaga is held in high regard throughout the United States and abroad for her “appealing, expressive soprano” (New York Times). Areyzaga will solo in Kenneth Leighton’s a cappella “A Hymn of the Nativity,” which the choir performed when she was a member of the soprano section in the late 1980s and ‘90s.

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