Our December Concert is just under a month away and we are working hard to prepare a wonderful performance!
“A Baroque Christmas” will feature two baroque-period masterworks in the Vivaldi Gloria and Bach Cantata 140 Wachet auf, and other baroque favorites for the season, with our newly expanded chorus roster, and chamber orchestra. Please join us on December 13 at 8:00 in Chapin Hall.
Thanks!
The Northern Berkshire Chorale’s spring concert will be held at 8 PM on Friday May 17th in Thompson Chapel on the Williams College Campus. The program will feature Maurice Duruflé ‘s Requiem and other contemporary works. More information will be available soon.
The Northern Berkshire Chorale’s March 15th concert The Soul’s Longing will feature works by Brahms, Verdi, Rossini and Handel. The program will be held at 8 PM in Chapin Hall on the Williams College Campus in Williamstown. Suggested donations are $10, $5 for students.
In a message from Artistic Director Andrew Burger he states: “When planning my first season with the Northern Berkshire Chorale as Artistic Director I had not planned on each concert having such a historical narrative, but as the fall flew by it seemed that it was inevitable. Moving past the formidable legacy left by the composers we explored in the classical period, we turn to the romantic, which in choral music is highlighted by the two composers featured in this upcoming March 15 concert.
Johannes Brahms and Giuseppe Verdi represent two national icons of a vast romantic choral library which is filled with very personal perspectives on death, the afterlife, and the human experience. The music itself not so morbid, rather the composers show very contrasting and dynamic attitudes towards the subjects. The two works that will be highlighted in our concert are the Brahms Nänie composed in 1881 and the Verdi Stabat Mater completed in 1897 (the last piece completed by Verdi). These pieces will be paired with other works by Brahms, Rossini, and Handel, as well as a work by living composer Ola Gjeilo, The Ground, which will return on our May concert in its chamber orchestra version.”
Rehearsals for the Northern Berkshire Chorale’s spring concert will begin Monday, January 14, with the first rehearsal starting at 7:15 pm in Presser Choral Hall in the Bernhard Music Center on the Williams College campus. Please plan to arrive around 15 minutes early to pay season dues (still $40) and pick up music.
Artistic Director Andrew Burger has planned another great lineup for the spring, including Durufle’s Requiem and more contemporary works from Lauridsen, Raminish, and Gjeilo.
For more information, email jmahon@williams.edu.
New artistic Director Andrew Burger will lead the chorale in the glorious Beethoven Mass in C, with full orchestra. Also on the program will be the rarely preformed, gem of a work, the Mozart Kyrie in D Minor K. 341, and the complete scene ‘Achieved is the Glorious Work’ from Haydn’s The Creation (meaning the first ‘Achieved’, the trio interlude, and the second ‘Achieved’ which is often the stand alone anthem).
Concert will be held in Chapin Hall Friday December 14 at 8:00 PM. Suggested donation is $10, $5 for students.
Andrew Burger, Artistic Director of the Northern Berkshire Chorale
If you like to sing, you are invited to come join the Northern Berkshire Chorale under director Noah Palmer at its first spring rehearsal on Monday February 12 in Presser Hall on the Williams College campus. Rehearsals are from 7:15 to 9:15, but please come at 7:00 PM to sign in and pick up music. Dues will be $40 to help defray costs of music and the director and accompanist.
The spring concert will feature primarily Broadway music by Leonard Bernstein in this 100th year since his birth. In addition there will be a piece by Elgar, Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands. The concert is on April 27th (dress rehearsal on the 26th) in Thompson Chapel. All voices are welcomed!
We hope you will consider coming to join us!
For past members, we did a number of the Bernstein pieces a few years back; if you still have the music, bring it along!
For additional information, email Jim Mahon at jmahon@williams.edu
Join the Northern Berkshire Chorale under the direction of Noah Palmer on Friday December 15 at 8 PM in Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus, Williamstown for their early winter concert.
Featuring Mozart’s exciting and joyful Vespers setting, Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, one of Mozart’s most prized compositions, it has a little bit of everything–rhythmical celebration choruses, stately church fugues, and a fluid and mesmerizing solo for soprano. The Laudate Dominum movement contains one of the most gorgeous melodies that Mozart wrote for the voice. Sylvia Stoner, one of the Capital Region’s premier sopranos, will be featured in this performance.
The concert opens with Handel’s 4th Chandos Anthem, O Sing Unto the Lord. Handel composed the Chandos Anthems while working for the Duke of Chandos at the Duke’s estate in Cannons, England. They are modest psalm settings with minimal orchestration–almost like chamber music–yet with the rich variety of choral and solo forces. Tenor Alexander Turpin will sing The Waves of the Sea, featuring bouts of effervescent coloratura and great dramatic flair. Additional soloists are Ann Marie Adamick, mezzo soprano, and Keith Kibler, bass.
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The Northern Berkshire Chorale will perform Handel’s Coronation Anthems on Friday, April 29th, at 7:30 p.m. in Thompson Chapel on the Williams College campus. The performance will feature orchestral accompaniment and will also include works by Mozart and Brahms.
The chorale will be led by new artistic director, Noah Palmer and accompanied by Derek Galvin. Suggested donations are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students and children are admitted for free. The performance is generously sponsored by True North and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. For additional information, please visit www.nbchorale.org or like us on Facebook.
The Northern Berkshire Chorale Presents an Evening of American Music
The Northern Berkshire Chorale will present an evening of American music on Friday, January 22nd, at 7:30p.m. in Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus.
The performance will feature two works from local composer Stephen Dankner as well as Randall Thompson’s Frostiana: Seven Country Songs, a series of Robert Frost poems set to music. Other highlights include works by Copland and Lauridsen.
The chorale will be led by interim director John Howland and accompanied by Patricia Ho, with a guest appearance by Jane Jenkins. Suggested donations are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students. Children are admitted for free.