Featuring masterworks by three beloved composers Haydn, Beethoven, and Fauré
Date: October 15, 2024
Location: Berkeley, CA
For further information call 510-433-9599 or email Jan Murota, publicity chair, at jmsings17@gmail.com. Also see website: https://www.bcco.org
PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release
For further information call 510-433-9599
or email Jan Murota, publicity chair at jmsings17@gmail.com or see www.bcco.org
Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra, (BCCO)
Joseph Haydn: Mass in Time of War
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
Ludwig van Beethoven: Choral Fantasy
Ming Luke, conductor
John Wilson, solo pianist
Ellen Leslie, soprano
Sara Couden, contralto
Jonathan Elmore, tenor
Simon Barrad, baritone
Friday, January 3, (at 7:30 pm)
Saturday, January 4, (at 3:00 pm)
Sunday January 5, (at 3:00 pm)
Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley Campus
Free concert. General admission.
No tickets issued. Donations gratefully accepted.
The Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra’s (BCCO) winter concert features three masterworks by three beloved composers Haydn, Beethoven, and Fauré.
Haydn’s Mass in Time of War was composed in 1796 as Europe was at war and Austria feared invasion by the armies of Napoleon. Haydn himself gave the Mass its name by writing the title in Latin on his manuscript (Missa in Tempore Belli) But it is also called the Paukermausse due to its dramatic use of timpani (pauken in German) to add a military sense and drama. Nonetheless, the Mass is musically optimistic and at some points almost light-hearted and dance-like. It reflects Haydn’s steadfast faith, his fantastic compositional genius, and a glorious full chorus.
For good reason, the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré is one of the most frequently performed choral works in the world. It was first performed about 90 years after the Haydn Mass in Time of War. It is marked by the most clear and lovely harmonies. Sections of the chorus have significant choral solos in this piece. But the individual soprano and baritone soloists have exquisite music, most famously in the soprano movement Pie Jesu. Fauré sought to provide a sense of transition, deliverance, and peace in this work. In this spiritual sense, though not in musical style, the Fauré Requiem has the same attitude as Brahms’ famous Deutsche Requiem.
Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, a piece scored for piano and chorus, will showcase award-winning SF Symphony pianist John Wilson, who is also the principal keyboardist for the San Diego, Oakland, and Marin symphonies. The music encapsulates Beethoven’s identity as a pianist and a composer. Many consider the piece to shadow Beethoven’s famous Ninth Symphony, and listeners may notice familiar strains of the Ninth Symphony’s finale, Ode to Joy.
For almost 60 years, BCCO has provided performances of the greatest classical choral music without charge to its audiences. The members of the chorus have a deep love of the repertory, and their dedication and hard work give the chorus its great expressiveness and timbre. BCCO is one of the largest choruses in California and therefore able to present all the great choral masterworks. Join these dedicated musicians at their first performance of 2025 and enjoy these choral masterworks of Haydn, Fauré, and Beethoven.