Rendezvous Arts usually presents seven chamber music concerts each year, but they are going in a different direction for their March 13 concert at the Gorton Center at 400 E. Illinois Road in Lake Forest, as well as concerts in Dixon (March 11) and Chicago (March 15).
For the first time, they will be presenting a vocal group.
Eight members of the celebrated, internationally touring St. Charles Singers will perform an eclectic program, under the direction of founder, music director, and conductor Jeff Hunt.
“Our goal is something for everyone,” said Deb Stevenson, executive director of Rendezvous Arts since its founding in 2020. “We put on seven very different concerts from jazz to woodwind octets, to bluegrass.”
At each concert, a different visual artist displays their work, Stevenson noted.
Although Rendezvous Arts has had singers at concerts, this is their first vocal group.
The concert is “marrying two of my favorite things,” said Stevenson, who is also executive director of the St. Charles Singers. She has been involved with that group for its 41-year history.
“I played oboe on their first season when I was 19,” Stevenson said.
The artist for the March 13, March 11, and March 15 concerts is plein air painter Tina Druce-Hoffman. “She’s going to paint in real time based on what she’s seeing and hearing in the room,” Stevenson reported. There will also be a display of the artist’s work.
The Executive Director admitted that, after she chose Druce-Hoffman, she was surprised to learn that the artist lives in St. Charles, which is a perfect tie-in to the singing group.
“I’m a hundred and twenty,” joked Jeff Hunt, founder, music director, and conductor of the St. Charles Singers, which is starting its 42nd year. “I’ve enjoyed it for that many years.”
The chamber choir generally has between 25-35 singers at each performance of its four-concert season. “We do small choral ensemble music but a lot of different varieties of music, sometimes with orchestra, sometimes on our own,” Hunt said. “The choir’s an interesting makeup of professional singers and music educators.”
One of the highlights of the group’s history, according to Hunt, was having choral giant Sir John Rutter conduct the choir for seven performances. Another was performing and recording all of Mozart’s sacred music over a ten-year period. The group has toured internationally.
Hunt has chosen eight singers from the group for the Rendezvous Arts concerts. “We’re performing a representation of the repertoire that we typically do,” Hunt explained. Stephen Uhl will accompany the octet.
The concert will include Renaissance madrigals—one English and one French. In addition, they will perform music that was written for the group, including a couple of pieces by John Rutter. The program will also include folk music and music about flowers and bugs.
“There’s a lot of songs about nature in our concert,” Hunt noted.
In addition, they will sing a couple of jazz selections which were written for the group.
“Then we’re ending with Americana music,” Hunt said. “A selection by Aaron Copland called, ‘I Bought Me a Cat,’ and ‘Unclouded Day,’ which is a great American folk hymn.”
Each singer will have a solo, Hunt reported.
“We typically sing en masse,” Hunt said, “This is our first time doing something like this with a subset of singers.”
Creating artwork live during a concert will be a new experience for artist Tina Druce-Hoffman. “Will I be able to pull it off?” she said, questioning herself. “This could be a triumph or this could be an utter disaster but I’m willing to put myself out there. As an artist, you have to be willing to put yourself out there and make mistakes and learn.”
What’s certain is that, following her usual style, the painting that Druce-Hoffman creates will tell a story.
“I have a degree in illustration,” she explained. “In a way, illustration is storytelling but with visuals. Even though, I’m no longer doing illustration professionally—except for some clients—I still have that in my DNA. I still tell stories. I still lean more toward narrative art.”
Druce-Hoffman said that her artwork is inspired by nature, the prairies, fairy tales, and fantasy. She particularly enjoys plein air art—painting outdoors.
“It’s a very fundamental process,” she said. “You’re drawing from a three-dimensional reality. When you see the colors and the shadows, and you see the movement of the wind through the trees and the grasses, it’s a more holistic experience.”
Although she works in several mediums, Druce-Hoffman plans to use watercolors for the St. Charles Singers concert.
“It’s my favorite medium,” she explained. “It’s the medium I started with in my childhood. And it lends itself to being free and expressive.”
In terms of the subject matter, she said that she will rely on “the feeling of being moved by the music, which I’m sure I will be.”
Tickets for the March 13 Lake Forest concert are $36.75. For reservations, visit rendezvousarts.org.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
