Tomorrow, The Berkshire Lyric Chorus will close out 2024 with a holiday concert in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. “The Very Best Time of the Year” show will take place at 3pm inside the historic First Congregational Church. Berkshire Lyric Artistic Director Jack Brown says the chorus’s goal is to break down barriers between professionals and amateurs while celebrating the magic of song. He spoke with WAMC about what to expect from the singing group’s holiday extravaganza.
BROWN: We are the longest running community arts music program in the county. We started in 1963, and we have five choruses from people ages six to 82, and they come from all over the county and some of the surrounding areas- New York State, Connecticut, Vermont. We present 12 different programs a year, and it runs the gamut from a pop concert in the spring to major works at Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood every spring with full orchestra. So, we do everything in between. And we like these Christmas concerts, which is a long running tradition for us. We do three concerts every December throughout the county, and our final concert is this Saturday in Stockbridge. So, we keep busy. We like Christmas. It’s part of our history.
WAMC: Tell us about Saturday's concert in Stockbridge- What should folks look forward to? What makes this a distinct end of year or holiday celebration?
Yeah, well, we saved the fun part for last. This is at the Stockbridge Congregational Church at three o'clock on Saturday. This is the heart of Norman Rockwell country, so, this particular concert is sponsored by the Red Lion Inn, who's our neighbor down the street there, and they're making it possible for everyone under 18 to come for free, and the regular tickets are only $20, so, this is- It's a nice thing. Santa Claus makes an appearance, we have our children's chorus singing a lot, our high school group. We do everything in the program from “Silent Night” to “Sleigh Ride.” There's a big audience participation, so it's just a lot of fun, and it's a very cozy, sort of intimate old building. It's 200 years old this year, but it seats a lot of people, but it's just a fun thing compared to the things we do in concert halls or the very large churches.
Paint us a picture of what it's like at this concert that sets it apart from other performances Berkshire Lyric holds throughout the year.
The recent two that we've done are more traditional, heavy classical, cathedral style things for a large, 85 voice a cappella chorus, different languages. We're all dressed in our black, there’s candles and decorations- This one, we bring out the Santa hats. The kids are front and center in their red sweaters, we've got “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.” So, it's a little more of a family friendly sing along kind of attitude for us, and so, we enjoy that.
When people come to participate with Berkshire Lyric, be it as a member of the singing group or an attendee at the concert, what are you hoping that it imparts to folks about Berkshire County and about what community arts values there are in this community?
An important thing for us is to do music and to make music and to be with friends that are making music. As you know, Berkshire County- This whole wider region is an arts Mecca, particularly in the summer. And we like to kind of break down the wall between the very, very professional and the very amateur. And so, we do things at different levels- I mean, always at a very high level, but different kinds of music, all the way from Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood to our children's concerts. And I think that's an important thing in this day and age, to get very high-quality music, but also made by normal people that have other kinds of day jobs.
Let's say you're one of those normal people listening to this, and you're thinking, well, there's no way I could be part of something like that- What do you say to somebody who's maybe a community member who seems, at least at first glance, too shy to perform in the way that Berkshire Lyric does?
Well, I have interviews. I'm interviewing people every twice a year, and people come in and I see where they are. If they have a nice voice and they have some kind of background and they can read, we can usually find a find a spot for them. We're open ended for people that have talent and commitment to really do the kind of music that we do, which is, it's a challenge, but people stick with it. It becomes sort of a joy in their life. It's something that they get up to rehearse every Monday night and have a sense of beauty and energy and common purpose about it. So, it's really what arts can do for you.
