BCCO -- A Unique Community Resource
[A BCCO concert] is a double gift. The singers receive a rich musical experience through their work with Arlene, and the audiences receive free concerts at a high level of musical accomplishment. [Arlene Sagan] and her chorus are a vital and important part of the cultural life of Berkeley.
- Joseph Liebling, Conductor Emeritus, Oakland Symphony Chorus
For more than forty years, the Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra has enriched the cultural life of our community by presenting free concerts of great choral masterworks. BCCO presents two programs of three concerts each in December and May, at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Berkeley. Our concerts are presented with professional soloists and a semi-professional orchestra drawn from the Bay Area community.
BCCO is one of the largest non-auditioned choruses performing major choral works in Northern California. Our 150-200 singers comprise experienced chorus members, many of whom have extensive choral and other musical training, and others new to choral singing with little or no musical background. Thus anyone who is willing to attend rehearsals and learn the music has the opportunity to sing choral masterpieces accompanied by orchestra and professional soloists. Recent programs have included Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E flat major, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, and in a stylistic departure for the fall 2008 season, a selection of ten opera choruses from Mozart to Philip Glass. We were among the first choral groups granted the rights to sing selections from Glass’s Appomattox apart from the full opera.
BCCO was founded in 1966 by Eugene Jones, the first African-American conductor of a major Bay Area chorus and orchestra. From its origins as an evening class in the Berkeley Adult Education Program, BCCO under Jones’s direction became an established entity, bringing glorious music to the community – to both singers and audiences alike.
In 1989, Jones was succeeded by current Music Director Arlene Sagan, one of the first women to hold such a post in the Bay Area. She enthusiastically took up the challenge of building on the foundation laid by Jones. With her deep understanding and love of music, Arlene has shaped and developed BCCO by extending the repertoire and raising the level of orchestra and soloists, thus expanding and enriching the musical experience. In addition, she directs the Berkeley Community Chamber Singers (BCCS), a small group of experienced BCCO members. This outreach arm of BCCO performs a varied a capella repertoire at public events in the East Bay, bringing music to nursing homes, hospitals, libraries, and street fairs such as Berkeley’s Solano Stroll. Arlene graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and did graduate work in musicology at Cal State East Bay. She has conducted musical ensembles throughout California for over 30 years, gaining a reputation as a leader able to inspire such groups to perform to their full potential. Arlene received one of the Berkeley Community Fund’s prestigious Individual Awards in 2006.
BCCO is about to enter a new era. Arlene has announced her retirement after the spring 2011 season, and the search for a new music director is underway.
BCCO Concerts on May 2, 8, and 9, 2010
This spring, BCCO is presenting Bach’s intricate and magnificent Mass in B minor, surely one of the greatest and most challenging choral masterworks in the repertoire. In Arlene’s words:
The Mass in B minor, Bach’s crowning achievement, was completed between 1748 and 1750. Many of the movements, as was customary during that period, were borrowed from earlier works. The whole is a synthesis of the most important styles of composition and devices then current, ranging from sixteenth century fugal writing practiced by Palestrina (stile antico) to the contemporary gallant style of the Dresden court with its coloratura writing. All was transformed under Bach’s hand into music that over 250 years later still has the power to move us. To quote Helmut Walcha [the renowned German organist and Bach specialist]: ‘Bach opens a vista to the universe. After experiencing him, people feel there is meaning to life after all.’
BCCO Organization and Support
BCCO is run by a Board of Directors that meets monthly to set goals, develop policy, determine priorities, and organize outreach programs. Board members work to ensure the successful execution of all rehearsal, concert, administrative and fundraising activities of the organization. In addition, volunteers in the chorus and the community at large contribute significant time and expertise towards the completion of these myriad tasks.
BCCO has recently re-established its Honorary Advisory Board, which is comprised of a group of well-known Berkeley and Bay Area community leaders who support the values of BCCO.
About 90% of BCCO’s annual budget is applied to program expenditures directly related to rehearsals and concerts. Tuition paid by singers covers one third of the annual budget. The balance is made up by donations from individuals, including our own member singers; grants from city and county governments, foundations, and businesses; advertisers in our concert programs; fundraising events; and sales of concert CDs and related memorabilia.
BCCO depends on financial and other support from our community – without it, we would not be able to bring exceptional choral works to our audiences free of charge. BCCO welcomes and gratefully accepts this generous community support.
Please Join Us!
We invite your participation as a singer, audience member or supporter!
BCCO is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
Contributions are tax deductible to the extent of the law. February 2010
Fed ID: 94-2734159