The 2023 - 2024 Season
JAMES BAGWELL CONDUCTS MAGNIFICAT
Saturday, May 11, 2024 | 4pm
The First Congregational Church
251 Main Street | Great Barrington, MA
James Bagwell conducts professional soloists, chorus, and Baroque orchestra in a much-anticipated performance of two Magnificats by father and son—J.S. and C.P.E. Bach. Join Berkshire Bach for this special event and hear different settings of the Song of Mary that is one of the most ancient hymns in the Christian tradition and an inspiration to composers from the Renaissance to the 21st centuries.
Preferred Seating: $55* Non-members | $50* BBS Members **
Regular Seating: $45* Non-members | $40* BBS Members**
Children under 18 and Students with valid ID admitted FREE
* plus $1.50 handling fee per ticket | ** maximum 2 tickets per purchase available at this price
A BAROQUE SPRING POSY
Saturday, June 8, 2024 | 4pm
Kellogg Music Center | Bard College at Simon’s Rock
84 Alford Road | Great Barrington, MA
Join Berkshire Bach in a concert of music for Violin and Harpsichord by J.S. Bach, G.F Handel, and others with The Berkshire Bach Ensemble’s Laura Lutzke, Baroque Violin, and Mariken Palmboom, Harpsichord.
Tickets: $45* Non-members | $40* BBS Members** | $10 Card to Culture***
Children under 18 and Students with valid ID admitted FREE
* plus $1.50 handling fee per ticket | ** maximum 2 tickets per purchase available at this price | *** with card
PLEASE NOTE: EVENT POSTPONED TO AUGUST 3, 2024
This event is postponed to August 3, 5pm. Thank you for your patience.
EUGENE DRUCKER & FRIENDS
A Berkshire Bach Fundraiser marking Mr. Drucker’s appointment as Artistic Director of The Berkshire Bach Society | Saturday, August 3, 2024 | 5pm
Doors open at 4:30pm
Kellogg Music Center | Bard College at Simon’s Rock
84 Alford Road | Great Barrington, MA
All Seats: $80* in advance| Tickets include concert and reception
* plus $1.50 handling fee per ticket
Celebrate the appointment of Eugene Drucker as Berkshire Bach’s Artistic Director with an inaugural concert and fundraiser featuring EUGENE DRUCKER, violin, ROBERTA COOPER, cello, and RENÉE ANNE LOUPRETTE, piano. The program includes chamber music by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Brahms and is followed by a reception to meet the artists.
*** Season Schedule subject to change. Please visit often for updates. ***
COMPLETED EVENTS in our 2023-2024 SEASON
THE BERSHIRE BACH ORGAN MASTERS
II. PETER SYKES PLAYS THE GREAT ROOSEVELT ORGAN
THANK YOU FOR A THRILLING AFTERNOON!
Saturday, April 13, 2024
2:45 Documentary about the Roosevelt Organ
4:00 Recital
The First Congregational Church
251 Main Street | Great Barrington, MA
Join us for a musical tour of the great Roosevelt Organ played by the consummate organ master
Peter Sykes in a program of music by Bach, Buxehude, and Mendelssohn.
Arrive early to see a documentary about the Roosevelt Organ by Peter Sykes and Ryan Bartosiewicz
Stay late to tour the organ loft after the recital.
Tickets: $45* Non-members | $40* BBS Members**
$10 Card to Culture | Children under 18 and students with valid ID FREE
* plus $1.50 handling fee per ticket | ** maximum 2 tickets per purchase available at this price
THE BERSHIRE BACH ORGAN MASTERS
I. RENÉE ANNE LOUPRETTE PLAYS THE HISTORIC
JOHNSON ORGAN
Saturday, February 10, 2024 | 2pm THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL RECITAL!
The Unitarian Universalist Meeting House
1089 Main Street | Housatonic, MA
GEORGE STAUFFER, PhD, provides commentary on Bach’s Music, Life, & Times
2023 EVENTS
BACH AT NEW YEAR’S: A VERY BAROQUE CELEBRATION
THANKS FOR SPENDING YOUR NEW YEAR’S HOLIDAY WITH US! We had fun sharing the music with you!
Saturday, December 30, 2023 | 7pm
Academy of Music |Northampton, MA
Tickets: 413-584-9032 • boxoffice@aomtheatre.com
Box Office Hours: Tues-Fri, 3-6pm
Sunday, December 31, 2023 | 6pm
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center |Great Barrington, MA
Tickets: 413-528-0100 • boxoffice@mahaiwe.org
Box Office Hours: Wed-Sat, Noon-4pm
Monday, January 1, 2024 | 3pm
Co-presented with WMHT
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall |Troy, NY
Tickets: 518-273-0038 • tickets.troymusichall.org
Box Office Hours: Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm
Celebrate New Year’s with the virtuosi of The Berkshire Bach Ensemble and nine-time Grammy Award winner and Music Director Eugene Drucker playing Baroque music by the very best—Bach, Biber, Corelli, Handel, and Telemann. The concerts are dedicated to longtime Berkshire Bach Board Member Henry Meininger.
Children under 18 and students with valid ID admitted FREE
THE STOCKBRIDGE MAIN STREET AT CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY CONCERT
WITH THE BERKSHIRE BACH PLAYERS
Saturday, December 2, 2023 | 7pm
Thanks for helping make this event a success for the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce! We loved playing for you!
First Congregational Church
4 Main Street | Stockbridge, MA
This festive holiday concert is part of the Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas celebration, held this year from December 1-3. Share the magic of the season with The Berkshire Bach Players in a program of Baroque favorites performed by a superb quartet of violin, viola, cello, and harpsichord, complete with a sing-along that gets everyone in on the act.
Tickets: $40 available through the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce
MESSIAH SING!
Saturday, November 25, 2023 | 4pm
Thank you for coming and for making this one of the most successful sing-alongs ever!
The First Congregational Church
251 Main Street | Great Barrington, MA
The audience performs in this FREE community event!
Conductor James Bagwell invites any and all singers and lovers of Baroque choral music to raise their voices in popular choruses from Handel’s Messiah, including Hallelujah, accompanied by The Berkshire Bach Players. Bring your own score, buy, or borrow one of ours, and kick off the holiday season with this magical musical tradition.
Non-singers are encouraged to come and cheer on the singers!
The Program
Part I
No. 1 Overture
No. 4 And the Glory of the Lord
No. 7 And he shall purify
No. 9 O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion (Aria and Chorus)
No. 12 For unto us a child is born
No. 16 And suddenly there was with the Angel (Recitative)
No. 17 Glory to God
No. 21 His yoke is easy
Part II
No. 22 Behold the Lamb of God
No. 24 Surely he hath borne
No. 25 And with his stripes
No. 26 All we like sheep
No. 28 He trusted in God
No. 33 Lift up your heads
No. 44 Hallelujah
Part III
No. 46 Since by man came death
No. 53 Worthy is the lamb / Amen
THE BERKSHIRE BACH HARPSICHORD FESTIVAL
Kellogg Music Center | Bard College at Simon’s Rock
84 Alford Road | Great Barrington, MA
Join us for our 2023 Harpsichord Festival—two concerts that follow the development of keyboard music from the 17th to the 18th centuries in works by the leading proponents of the day.
I. THE SOLO HARPSICHORD with Mariken Palmboom
Saturday, October 14, 2023 | 4pm
THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING TO THIS WONDERFUL EVENT! It was a very special afternoon.
Dutch, English, and German keyboard music by Sweelinck, John Bull, Orlando Gibbons, Henry Purcell and J.S. Bach played by Dutch harpsichordist—and Berkshires resident—Mariken Palmboom. She performs on two single-manual harpsichords built by distinguished maker Charles Dudash of Norfolk, CT.
II. THE ENSEMBLE HARPSICHORD with Elliot Figg and Caitlyn Koester
Sunday, November 12, 2023 | 4pm
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING! We really enjoyed showcasing our harpsichords in the Festival.
Harpsichord music that’s all in the family: works by J.S. & W.F. Bach and Louis & François Couperin, members of two of the era’s foremost musical dynasties, performed on two double-manual harpsichords. This event is a special preview of the concert Figg and Koester will present at St. Malachy’s Church in NYC on November 30, 2023.
Single-concert tickets: $45* Non-members | $40* BBS Members**
Two-concert package: $85*
Berkshire Bach Member discounts apply to individual concert tickets
Children under 18 and students with valid ID admitted FREE
* plus $1.50 per ticket handling fee | ** maximum 2 tickets per purchase available at this price
LAST SEASON’S EVENTS
2022-2023
Thank you for a wonderful season!
ORLI SHAHAM IN RECITAL
A BERKSHRE BACH FUNDRAISER
Saturday, July 9, 2022
Piano music by Mozart, Liszt, Clara Schumann, Chopin, and George Perle
MESSIAH SING!
Saturday, November 26, 2022
A FREE sing-along of favorite choruses accompanied by The Berkshire Bach Players and led by James Bagwell.
THE STOCKBRIDGE MAIN STREET AT CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY CONCERT featuring The Berkshire Bach Players
Saturday, December 3, 2022
Baroque favorites played by and ensemble of violin, viola, cello, and harpsichord plus a sing-along of popular holiday carols including Handel’s Hallelujah chorus.
BACH AT NEW YEAR’S: A BAROQUE CONCERTO SHOWCASE
Saturday, December 31, 2022| The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (Great Barrington, MA)
Sunday, January 1, 2023|Troy Savings Bank Music Hall (Troy, NY)
Monday, January 2, 2023| Academy of Music (Northampton, MA)
A concert of single, double, and triple concertos for every instrument in the orchestra.
THE ORGAN MASTERS-I:
RENÉE ANNE LOUPRETTE
plays the historic Johnson Organ
Saturday, February 11, 2023
Music by J.S. Bach, J.A. Reincken, J. Pachelbel, and N. Bruhns
THE ORGAN MASTERS-II:
BAROQUE ORGAN AND BRASS
Sunday, June 4, 2023
Peter Sykes, Ogan
John Thiessen, Baroque and Modern Trumpet,
Adam Gautille, Modern Trumpet
Music by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, A. Marcello, Franceschini, Clarke, Stanley,
J.S. Bach, and Vivaldi
JAMES BAGWELL CONDUCTS BACH AND VIVALDI
May 13, 2023
A. Vivaldi: Stabat Mater, RV 621
J.S. Bach: Cantata, Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4
J.S. Bach: Cantata, Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211 (The Coffee Cantata)