The Berkshire Lyric Chorus
The Berkshire Lyric Chorus is composed of between 70 and 100 singers representing all walks of life from Berkshire County and surrounding areas. The chorus performs diverse choral music in the Berkshire area, culminating with an annual spring oratorio program. In its 60 year history, Berkshire Lyric has presented operas, operettas, Broadway musicals, cabaret evenings, innumerable holiday Christmas concerts and most of the great oratorios. Notable performances with full orchestra and outstanding soloists have included the Bach Mass in B minor, Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bloch’s Sacred Service and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater. Since 2007, Artistic Director Jack Brown has led performances of the Mozart Requiem, the Haydn Creation, the Beethoven Mass in C, the Stravinsky Mass, Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and many more great works.
Berkshire residents under the age of 25 can join free of dues thanks to the support of our members and sponsors.
Audition Information
Melodious Accord
Melodious Accord is a select ensemble for high school age girls led by Artistic Director Jack Brown. They perform both a cappella and accompanied music from several centuries and traditions. This is an auditioned group that ranges from 10 to 15 singers. Rehearsal is on Saturday mornings at 11:00 at the Pittsfield Unitarian Church on Wendell Avenue. Interested singers should call or email Jack directly at 413.298.5365 or JJBrown3@verizon.net
Ubi Caritas
Ubi Caritas is a select a cappella group of up to twenty-two singers ages 15 to 30, who work for two months every summer, when many are home from college. They present a series of a cappella sacred concerts on the first Sunday of August that directly raise funding for area food pantries. The concerts have been supported by a dozen churches throughout the county and have raised over $10,000 for local food pantries. The name of the group grew out of the fact that they sang the famous Durufle motet Ubi Caritas as part of those first concerts in 2011. Every year, they perform a new setting of the text and it has become their calling card. In 2016 the group was awarded a prestigious Alfred Nash Patterson Fund from Choral Arts New England to commission nationally known Berkshire composer Steve Murray to compose a new a cappella setting of the text. Membership in this group is by invitation of the director or by recommendation from current chorus members.
The Lyric Children’s Chorus
The Lyric Children’s Chorus strives to provide a high quality music experience for children of Berkshire County ages 6 to 13. The goal is to foster in each child a love of music by training them in the demanding art of choral singing. In order to perform the best music from several centuries in a variety of styles, each child must cultivate self-control, patience, and perseverance in learning their part and how to sing and work with others. We believe that a foundation in music is a discipline that over a lifetime will develop the intellect, shape the character and sustain the spirit.
The Lyric Children’s Chorus is part of the Berkshire Lyric family of choruses, and their support allows it to be the only tuition free professionally led chorus in the region. The children’s chorus performs with the Berkshire Lyric Chorus in several high profile concerts annually. The Chorus also presents its own concerts every year in a wide variety of music ranging from Christmas carols, children’s songs, American folk songs, music from the Broadway stage and new concert music by leading contemporary composers.
Berkshire Lyric’s Artistic Director Jack Brown is assisted by Associate Director Caroline Fairweather and accompanist Joe Rose.
Information for new singers
