The Berkshire Lyric Chorus is comprised of between 40 to 60 singers representing all walks of life from Berkshire County and the three nearby states. The chorus performs diverse choral music several times a year in the greater Berkshire area, culminating with an annual spring oratorio program. In its 46 year history, the Berkshire Lyric has presented operas, operettas, Broadway musicals, cabaret evenings, innumerable holiday Christmas concerts and most of the great oratorios. Notable performances under founding director Robert Blafield with full orchestra and outstanding soloists have included the Bach Mass in B minor, Mozart's Requiem, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Orff's Carmina Burana, Bloch's Sacred Service and Dvorak's Stabat Mater. Most recently Artistic Director Jack Brown led a performance of the rarely heard Stravinsky Mass in a concert paired with the Mozart Coronation Mass.
Memberships
Chorus memberships are $50 per semester or $100 per year. Please speak to the artistic director or board president if these dues are a hardship for you. Our fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30 and we ask that you make your semester payment at the beginning of rehearsals for the semester (in September and January) or whenever you first join. All paid up members are entitled to vote at our annual elections held during our annual meeting in May.
Rehearsal Location and Schedule
Regular rehearsals are at the Unitarian Church at 175 Wendell Ave. in Pittsfield on Monday evenings. We start at 7:15 and usually end no later than 9:30. Please be on time as warm-ups and additional music for the evening may be handed out at the beginning of rehearsal.
Who’s Who
Jack Brown, Artistic Director
Berkshire Lyric welcomed Jack Brown as its new director in 2007. He brings a wide range of musical experience to the entire Berkshire Lyric organization. He is well known to our audience as a singer, having taken the solo baritone parts in many of our well received concerts over the years including Bach's Mass in B Minor, Bloch's Sacred Service and Mendelssohn's Elijah. He has also appeared as a soloist with every choral society in the region including Albany Pro Musica and the Berkshire Bach Society.
Nationally, he continues to perform as a soloist, most recently in the Brahms Requiem in Georgia and Beethoven 9th in Illinois. His early training as an instrumentalist was followed by his primary vocal study with Richard Cross at Juilliard and choral conducting with Robert Baker of Yale and Union Theological Seminary. A native of Philadelphia and a long time New Yorker, he now lives in Stockbridge. Jack is the choral director at Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington and at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams. He is also on the faculty at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT and at The Berkshire Music School in Pittsfield where he teaches voice. He enjoys working closely with young singers and choirs and has added many new educational outreaches to Berkshire Lyric. In January 2009, he took over the direction of our beloved Blafield Children's Chorus and in the summer instituted the first Blafield Children's Chorus Choral Camp.
Joe Rose, Accompanist and Director of the Berkshire Singers
Joe Rose served as the accompanist for his high school choir in the 1960's and since then has been continuously involved in many aspects of musical performance, composition and direction. He is the Music Director at St. Charles Church in Pittsfield where he leads three choirs and a full program. The accompanist for all the choirs of the Berkshire Lyric for many years with Bob Blafield, he continues to support the choirs as an outstanding pianist, organist and arranger. He is also heavily involved as a jazz pianist, arranger and producer. He has won the Telly award twice for outstanding achievement in musical composition and sound design. He records and produces local artists, and also performs regionally in jazz and pop venues. In the summer of 2009, he was the music director for our successful Cabaret fundraiser for the Blafield Children's Chorus featuring a jazz trio and several outstanding young singers at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in Pittsfield.
Berkshire Lyric Theatre PO Box 347 Pittsfield, MA 01202 413 499-0258
