“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.”
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.
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