Baker Memorial has a strong tradition of music offering choirs, bell choirs and instrumental ensembles for all ages. Our 9 a.m. services will include on a regular basis the Chancel Choir. The Chancel Choir sings anthems from the great tradition of sacred choral music from the Renaissance through to contemporary living composers. In addition, the service will include one of several other choirs/ensembles to enhance the musical experience in worship. They include: the Chancel Bell Choir, Men’s ensemble, Cherub Choir and various Instrumental Ensembles. In addition, our organist Mark Edwards, offers preludes, postludes and offertories. His repertoire is taken from the great wealth of organ literature from all periods of music.   

Our 10:30 a.m. service includes on a regular basis the Chapel Voices. This is an adult small ensemble made up of singers from the Chancel Choir. The repertoire is similar to the Chancel Choir, only sung by a small ensemble. The service also features music from the following ensembles: Men’s Ensemble, Cherub Choir, Chapel Choir, Wesley Singers, Chapel Bell Choir and Instrumental Ensembles. Baker Memorial United Methodist Church also features two resident professional brass and string ensembles.  The Baker Brass and Solisti di Camera, respectively.

Calendar of Musical events at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church

  • November 4th 2012 Antique Baroque Concert 3:00 p.m. 

  • November 13th 2012 Great Day of Singing 9:00 and 10:30 a.m worship services 

  • December 1st Candlelight Carols Concert, St. Charles Singers 7:30 p.m 

  • December 2nd Candlelight Carols Concert, St. Charles Singers 4:00 p.m 

  • December 9th 2012 G.F. Handel’s Messiah and Carols, 9:00 and 10:30 worship services 

  • December 24th Christmas Eve Services 9:00 and 11:00 Lessons and Carols 

  • January 13th Baker Brass Ensemble 9:00 and 10:30 worship services 

  • February 10th Jazz Worship Service 9:00 and 10:30 worship services 

  • February 24th Solisti Di Camera 9:00 and 10:30 worship services 

  • March 31st Easter. Baker Brass 9:00 and 11:00 worship services 

  • April 7th Gaudete Brass Ensemble Concert 3:00 p.m. 

  • April 14th Gospel Music Celebration Sunday. 9:00 and 10:30 Worship Services 

  • May 5th Music Sunday 9:00 and 10:30 Worship Services


Vision:  To be a vibrant, musical community of people of all ages with the focus of praising God in music. 

Mission: Teach each other and in music, Serve and Offer ourselves in Praise and Thanksgiving to God through Jesus Christ His Son.
 

Music Ensembles, and rehearsal times, at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church.

Chancel Choir - Adult Mixed Choir; rehearsal: 7 p.m. Wednesdays; Jeffrey Hunt, Director

Chapel Voices - Adult Small Ensemble

Men’s Ensemble - Adult Men’s Ensemble; rehearsal: 8 a.m. Sundays; Gary Steele, Director

Baker Youth Ensemble - Boys and Girls in grades 8-12; rehearsal: 4 p.m. Sundays; Jeffrey Hunt, Director

Wesley Singers - Girls in grades 3-8; rehearsal: 5 p.m.Wednesdays; Kathy Olivarez, Director

Chapel Choir - Boys in grades 2-8; rehearsal: 5 p.m. Wednesdays; Jeffrey Hunt, Director

Cherub Choir - Boys and Girls ages 3 through 2nd grade; rehearsal: 10 a.m. Sundays; Becky Crow and Karen Landendorf, Directors

Chapel Bell Choir - Boys and Girls in grades 3-8; rehearsal: 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Kathy Olivarez, Director

Chancel Bell Choir - Adults; rehearsal: 6:15 p.m. Wednesdays; Robert Murphy, Director

Instrumental Ensembles including Winds, Strings and Brass - Erik Swenson, Director Children’s ensembles and Adult ensembles in all categories

     

    Jeffrey Hunt is Director of Music at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church where he leads a very active music program.  Jeff directs the Chancel choir, Baker Youth Ensemble and the Chapel choir.  Jeff is founder and director of the St. Charles Singers, a professional choir with its home in St. Charles.  The singers regularly perform at Baker Memorial Church, St. Michaels Church in Wheaton and in many venues in Chicago and abroad.  In 2010 the St. Charles Singers and Metropolis Chamber Orchestra began a journey of performing all of W.A. Mozart’s sacred choral music over a multi year period. 

    Jeff is an adjunct faculty member at Elgin Community College and is the Illinois Chapter of ACDA’s chair of Music and Worship.  Jeff earned a B.M from Taylor University and a M.M in Choral Conducting from Northwestern University.

 

Mark Edwards is principal organist at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church in St. Charles and maintains a private piano, organ, and harpsichord studio in Wheaton.  He holds degrees from Eastman School of Music and Indiana University. 

Mark has studied organ with Helen Quig, and harpsichord and organ with Roger Sherman. He has performed in master class for Harald Vogel, Gustav Leonhardt, Paolo Crivellaro, and coached with Thomas Murray of Yale University.  European seminars attended include The Organs of Bach in Germany with Quentin Faulkner, the North German Organ Academy,  and In Tempore Organi, Italy, .  

Mark has performed solo piano, organ, and harpsichord recitals on concert series in numerous churches, including Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago.

As a member of the duo piano team, Redekopp and Edwards, Mark and his wife, Karin, have performed concerts thruout the midwest and Canada.  They completed a three week concert tour of Japan and Korea, with further concerts in England.

Erik Swenson
Instrumental Music Program

Erik Swenson has been a member of  Baker Memorial United Methodist Church since 1997. In 1999 he began to oversee the Instrumental Music Program at Baker Church. He organizes and directs small group instrumental ensembles that provides the prelude music for the 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday Worship Services.

Once a month a different type of ensemble performs including different brass, woodwind, and string groups made up of adults, high school age, and middle school age instrumentalists. Some months will offer music from adults and other months will feature groups of younger musicians. Erik has been the Band Director at Haines Middle School in St. Charles since 1994 and plays trumpet with the Baker Brass Ensemble. 

He earned his Bachelor of Music Education from Illinois Wesleyan University and his Master of Music Education from Vander Cook College of Music. Erik is married to Jennifer and they have two daughters, Katie and Leanna.

Gary Steele -
Director of the Men’s Ensemble

For Gary Steele, music has always been a great source of inspiration, relaxation and stress relief.  His “formal” music education consisted of choirs, theory classes and stage musicals in high school and college.  Besides directing the Men’s Ensemble, Gary collects and delivers food donations for the Northern Illinois Food Bank, and count the church offering once a month.

Gary and his wife, Madonna, have been members of the church for 14 years.  This Fall, their daughter Emily will be in her third year at Indiana University, and there son Ben will be starting at the University of Iowa.

 
Karen Ladendorf

Karen Ladendorf is a full-time former music now technology teacher in McHenry. She has a Bachelor of Music Education from Illinois Wesleyan University . She has taught both K-12 instrumental and choral music as well as 6-8 music. She is an avid clarinet performer, having performed with the Rock Valley College Band in Rockford , IL and has a private clarinet studio of middle and high school students from St. Charles . She lives in Elgin with her husband Andrew, one-year-old daughter Laura and two dogs.

Kathy Olivarez
Director of Wesley Singers and Chapel Bells

Kathy Olivarez is director of the Wesley Singers and Chapel Bells at Baker Memorial.  She loves working with the children at Baker and watching their musicianship grow. Kathy received her bachelor's degree in Music Education from the Wheaton Conservatory of Music and her master's degree in Music Education from Northern Illinois University .  Kathy has been a public school music teacher for 28 years and is the choral director at Eastview Middle School in Bartlett , IL .  She also enjoys composing and arranging choral music in her spare time.  Kathy and her husband, Richard, live in Elgin with their two sons, Mark and John.

 
Robert Murphy
Director of Chancel Bell Choir

Robert Murphy has been the Chancel Bell Choir director of 8 years.  He also sings in the Chancel choir. Rob is an accomplished French Horn player with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra.

Rob also maintains an active Horn studio. Rob and his son Alex reside in St. Charles.

Becky Crow
Director of children’s choirs

Becky Crow has been directing children’s choirs for 6 years, the past 3 years here at Baker.She has always had a passion for music, whether it was singing in the choir or playing the piano.

When asked about her favorite part of directing, she’ll tell you it’s the performances.  “There’s usually a child that either wants to wave at their parents before we sing, hold their favorite stuffed animal, or decide to sit down right in the middle of the song.  You just never know”. 

She and her husband Dave, and daughters Emily and Katie, live in South Elgin.

 

The worship life and fellowship of Baker Church are enriched by a strong music program. Our choirs and soloists provide the music for worship each Sunday. In addition, the adult choir presents a longer, sacred work every Christmas season, and one of the highlights in May is Music Sunday. There are music groups targeted to all age groups and interest levels.

Our music programs are open to anyone with a love of music and a willingness to work on creating it. Our musicians enjoy the fellowship which comes with participating in the music program. For more information, contact Jeffrey Hunt, Director of Music.

". . . Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven."

From John Wesley's Select Hymns, 1761

 
307 CEDAR AVE | ST CHARLES IL 60174 | 630-584-6680 | FACEBOOK | WORSHIP SUNDAY 9:00AM & 10:30AM | INFO@BAKERMEMORIALCHURCH.ORG