The St. Charles Singers, led by founder and music director Jeffrey Hunt, will be joined by virtuoso Chicago guitarist Goran Ivanovic for its 41^st annual Candlelight Carols concerts Dec. 5 in Wheaton and Dec. 6-7 in St. Charles.

The program, themed “Celebrating A World of Carols,” embraces 16 seasonal songs, most of them new to the St. Charles Singers repertoire, by composers and arrangers from the United Kingdom, Europe and the U.S., including the greater Chicago area.

The mixed-voice chamber choir will present Candlelight Carols at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5 at St. Michael Catholic Church, 310 S. Wheaton Ave., Wheaton; and at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7 at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, 307 Cedar Ave., St. Charles. The Dec. 7 concert is sold out.

According to a news release, audiences will hear seven works for choir and guitar, including world and local premieres.

“Guitar brings a beautifully delicate sound to the program,” Hunt said in a news release. “It’s spare and elegant, almost like the harp, but exciting in its own way.”

Hunt said a holiday-concert challenge for choral directors is to keep programs fresh and engaging while also offering Christmas favorites that listeners cherish.

“Each year, I’m looking for sparkling new musical Christmas ornaments to surprise and delight our audiences,” he said in the release. “This year, many of these ornaments take the shape of the guitar.”

Ivanovic and the choir will give the world premiere of his recent composition, “Lina’s Heart,” dedicated to his daughter born earlier this year. Additional selections include music from Scandinavian, French and American composers and songwriters.

The concert concludes with the St. Charles Singers Christmas tradition of choir members staged around three sides of the sanctuary for a surround-sound rendition of “Silent Night.” The famous song of hope and peace, originally in German, originated in post-war Austria in the early 1800s.

The choir is inviting concertgoers to bring prepaid gift cards, redeemable at local grocery and general merchandise stores, to be donated to charities assisting needy children and families in DuPage and Kane counties.

Gift cards collected at the Wheaton concert will go to the Interfaith Food Pantry in Carol Stream and People’s Resource Center food pantry in Wheaton.

The choir will forward gift cards collected at the St. Charles concerts to Big Hearts of Fox Valley and the Tri City Health Partnership, both based in St. Charles.

Single-admission tickets to Candlelight Carols are $60 for adults, $50 for seniors and $12 for students. Group discounts are available.

Tickets and information are available at stcharlessingers.com or by calling 630-513-5272. Tickets may also be purchased at the door on the day of the concert, depending on availability.