2020 Spring & Summer Season
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had to cancel all of our regular spring and summer events.
Kick the Winter Blues:
A Musical Trip to Ireland
Lenox Town Hall Auditorium
March 21 and 22, 2020
Annual Young Singers Concert
Stockbridge Congregational Church
May 17, 2020
Masterworks Concert
Brahms and Bruckner
with orchestra
Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood
May 24, 2020
Annual Children's Music Camp
Pittsfield
July 27-31, 2020
Ubi Cartias Annual Summer Concert
August 2, 2020
We look forward to to the day when we can rehearse together and present high quality choral music to our Berkshire audience.
Choral singing is facing a temporary shut-down through much of the world. This is a particularly tragic state of affairs when we could all use the beauty and deep meaning that choral music could provide in these trying times.
As soon as we have the all clear to sing again, we will post rehearsal and concert information here on this website. In the meantime, please enjoy some of the past videos and recordings herein.
Berkshire Lyric Media Links
click below
New England Public Radio Broadcast Story, April 2019
CTSB Interview with Jack Brown, May 2019
WMHT-FM 89.1 Interview with Jack Brown, May 2019
Berkshire Eagle Feature Article May 2018
WMHT-FM 89.1 Haydn Creation Interview Broadcast, May 2018
Social Media Links
Berkshire Lyric Theatre, Inc.
P.O. Box 347 Pittsfield MA 01202
2020 Online Summer Music Workshops
Stay connected and learn about music while we are on hiatus. Three separate online courses (via Zoom) starting the first week of July and running for six weeks total. Each of the 3 courses meets for 1 hour a week, each course on a different night.
Mondays starting July 6
The History and Development of Western Choral Music, Palestrina to Whitacre.
led by Lyric's Artistic Director Jack Brown
Tuesdays starting July 7
Music Theory Fundamentals and Sight Singing Workshop
led by Lyric's young Composer in Residence, Anson Olds
Wednesdays starting July 15
The Home Music Studio: Using the New Technologies for Teaching, Practicing and Recording
led by Lyric's long-time accompanist/arranger and jazz pianist Joe Rose
Free for current Berkshire Lyric singers and donors. OR, become a donor now
$50 level for one workshop,
$100 level for all three.
Register for workshops via our email
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What the Critics Said about Lyric's 2019 Masterworks Concert at Ozawa Hall
In the last of their 12 concert season at Ozawa Hall, Berkshire Lyric Chorus transcended amateur singing levels, delivering an overall evening of well balanced performances equal to the many professional choruses I’ve heard in my lifetime. The second half of their June 8th concert introduced Morton Laurdisen’s ‘’Lux Aeterna’’ in what can only be described as magnificent from beginning to end. Their singing honored the composer’s wish to ‘’get into a certain, deep, personal space…reflect on the words….almost like a meditational state.’’ It had that effect on me and those close to me. The Schubert Mass in G that followed was almost anti-climactic, but again the chorus rose to the challenge delivering a nicely phrased performance. The soloists, soprano, Erin Nafziger ; tenor, Brendan Buckley and bass John Demler were very good. The first part of the evening was like a song recital from Scubert’s 600 plus output, first using the Blafield Children’s Chorus in two songs, ‘Die Forelle’ & ‘ Litanel’ , sung with delicacy and pure , pure rounded sweet tones. Next the Tenors and Basses sang ‘Widerspruch’ ; ‘Die Nacht’ which was particularly beautiful in the sensitive way they sang it and Standchen with the lovely Marjorie Dix, mezzo soloist at her very best. The Sopranos and Altos of the Chorus then sang ‘Coronach’ and the 23rd Psalm. Their balance and their singing were exquisite, every note caressed beautifully with ‘cathedral choirboy’ head tones from the sopranos that long remain in memory. Pianist and accompanist, Noah Palmer, had just the right touch in the first half of the program. The Lyric Orchestra of 29 players for the Lauridsen and Schubert Mass were positively superb. The whole evening was under the masterful control of their wonderful Artistic Director, Maestro Jack Brown, who is to be congratulated for the high performance level now achieved.
Rex Hearn, Berkshire Record
Rex Hearn founded the Berkshire Opera Company, 1985 to 2008.
What is Berkshire Lyric?
Berkshire Lyric is a community of choruses where singers ages six to eighty-three explore the world of beauty through the choral art.
Founded in 1963 and now led by artistic director Jack Brown, Berkshire Lyric continues to explore a wide variety of great music for chorus. We believe that the sung word is the language of the heart and has a unique power to transform both the singer and the listener. We live in a world of great spiritual hunger, and choral music has a unique power to move one's spirit.
While making great music together, we bring people together: young and old, professional and amateur. We try to demystify the great world of classical music, to show that this is music for all of us.
NEPR Broadcast Story aired April 25 telling Berkshire Lyric story.
New England Public Radio has recently has put together a feature story on Berkshire Lyric. It was broadcast over the NEPR network on April 25, airing both on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Broadcast journalist Nancy Cohen visited us during an April rehearsal and interviewed director Jack Brown and several chorus members for this story about what makes a great, multifaceted community chorus tick. It has been archived on their website at www.nepr.net. Enjoy!
Acoustic Test Drive of Tanglewood's New Linde Center
On January 27, The Berkshire Lyric Chorus was invited by the BSO to make an acoustic test drive of the brand new Linde Center on the grounds of Tanglewood. We were the first people to have a chance to sing in this amazingly beautiful hall that will open to the public this June. Instead of having our regular Monday rehearsal in Pittsfield, we had a "field trip" to just across the field from our regular spring concert venue of Seiji Ozawa Hall. This amazing space can be acoustically tuned to the music at hand, and we enjoyed singing Schubert, Morton Lauridson and a swinging version of "Moonglow" with our great Joe Rose on their big Steinway. We learned a great deal from working with their acoustician from Kierkegaard Associates. Much fun for all to enjoy this gorgeous new music resource for the Berkshires. Bravo BSO!