Choir traditions enrich children’s lives

The St. Luke's Church Choir

Updated: August 17, 2012 12:46PM

You won’t have to audition for this choir, but be warned, the standards are high. The repertoire includes sacred music by British composers William Byrd, William Harris, Herbert Howells, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Tallis, as well as works by Durufle, Faure, and Messiaen.

“We want to be as good as we can be,” said Mark Kraemer of Wilmette, who sings bass in the Choir of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, “But we are a welcoming congregation. If you want to sing, you can join the choir.”

Kraemer, who plays bass in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, praised the legendary acoustics in the stone cathedral-like edifice at the corner of Hinman and Lee. “It has an unique sonority, “ he said. “It has such a warm reverberence. It is rewarding to sing in that space.”

In fact, it was the home of the Bach Week Festival each spring for years, initially directed by St. Luke’s organist and choirmaster Karel Paukert and later by Richard Webster, who held that same post at St. Luke’s until 2003.

The choir master is now Andrew Lewis of Highland Park, a choral-conducting dynamo. He has been directing the small, prestigious a cappella ensemble Bella Voce since 2005 and since 2004, the Elgin Choral Union, a 125-voice community symphonic choir, which partners on programs with the Elgin Symphony. He is also conductor of the Women’s Choral Ensemble at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

“I went to Bach Week at St. Luke’s when I was a student at Northwestern,” Lewis said. “I was in awe of the acoustics and what was done there. I never ever thought I would be its choir master.”

He took that post last fall and is looking forward to his second full year at the church.

“My predecessors were choir masters and organists,” said Lewis, “but the position has been split. I am choir master and we have a wonderful organist, Christine Kraemer.”

Lewis is interested in building up the treble section of St. Luke’s Choir. The trebles, girls through high school and boys from about eight years old until their voices change, take the soprano part in choral singing.

“That follows the tradition of choirs in the Anglican cathedrals,” said Mark Kraemer, husband of the St. Luke organist. “It is a wonderful sound. You can hear it on the recordings of the King’s College Cambridge. You can hear it on our website too.”

The very youngest choristers begin in the St. Luke’s training choir. “We accept children from five to seven years of age,” said Lewis.

“They move to the treble choir once they are eight.”

At this time there are 16 youngsters in the treble choir. “Their voices are so inspiriting and their musicality is beyond what I imagined was possible,” the choir master said.

His own three sons, the oldest of whom is 10, are in the treble choir. “One of the big reasons I took this job was the opportunity to have my boys in a top choir, where they could sing high-quality, challenging church music,” he said. “We don’t do the easy hymns.”

In addition to two choir rehearsals a week for the upcoming Sunday service, the trebles study materials from the Royal School of Church Music. “There is no pressure,” Lewis explained. “They move at their own pace.”

The young people learn to read music, study music theory and become familiar with church modes, including Anglican chant. “They receive an all-around musical education in our choir,” he continued. “After the girls graduate from high school and the boys voices get in place, they can move into the adult choir, which has about 40 singers.”

“We often sing music in Latin, and it is amazing how easily the children pick it up,” he said, with obvious pride. “They are so capable.”

They have to be, as the music changes every week and the liturgy is on a three-year cycle. “It is a serious commitment,” Lewis said.

In addition to Sunday services, the whole choir sings an Evensong once a month, sings for Holy Week services and presents the traditional Festival of Lessons and Carols during the Advent season. Rehearsals are on Monday and Thursday evening.

There are no auditions for the choir, but Lewis meets personally with each applicant. “Any parent who wishes their child to be in the training choir, should send me an email,” Lewis said. “I want to meet the child, check their ear. If they can’t match a pitch right away, don’t worry. That can be taught.”

The children come from a number of North Shore communities, including Evanston and Wilmette, as well as Skokie and the Rogers Park area of Chicago. One does not have to be a member of the congregation to sing in St. Luke’s choir.

“The sound of our choir, with the trebles taking the soprano part, is ethereal, spiritual,” Kraemer declared. “It’s what makes St. Luke’s Choir unique. It informs the whole worship experience.”

To reach Andrew Lewis, send an email to choirmaster@stlukesevanston.org.

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