THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM ANNOUNCES 2020-21 SEASON
A Season of Grace
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem has announced its 2020-21 Concert Season – which will be centered on a most appropriate theme for our world and one that celebrates the leadership and illustrious career of our retiring Artistic Director and Conductor, Greg Funfgeld. Titled “A Season of Grace,” The Choir will demonstrate indefatigable “grace under pressure” as we plan for virtual performances, pivot to live concerts as soon as we’re able, and mark the 113th Bethlehem Bach Festival, the last festival under the leadership of Conductor Funfgeld.
With much of our Arts community in transition, redefining how we produce and distribute our programs to our audience, The Choir remains under the watchful and dedicated guidance of Greg Funfgeld, who will lead his final season in ways we never imagined, but with enormous passion and enthusiasm, delivering music of exquisite beauty that will resonate with audiences again and again. About this season, Greg Funfgeld said, “In the midst of uncertainty and much that remains unknown, I offer you this pledge – we will sing again! We have the will to do it – we will be patient, will persevere, will be careful, thoughtful and mindful of the guidelines from experts and the government. Without question – we will sing – and play – again! The human voice is a miracle and a marvel – it expresses the most profound thoughts and beauty, carries the heart and soul of the singers to the heart and soul of the listeners and create a bond that is life giving, uplifting, sustaining.”
This season also marks the final one for Executive Director Bridget George. After a career with the Choir of twenty-four years, she is leading the administration of the organization through this time of change and embracing the technology that keeps us connected to our audience. When announcing the 20-21 Season, Bridget George commented, “In spite of the heartbreak of our choristers not yet being able to rehearse together, there is a great deal of optimism about the musical connections we are making this season through our virtual Moments of Comfort and Bach at Noon Watch Parties, as well as outside choral rehearsals and recordings to prepare for a virtual Christmas production full of the joy of the season. Our artists, students, loyal supporters, and newly discovered audiences near and far are all grateful for this opportunity to share live music-making together in new ways. We have great hope that this is all leading to a spectacular 113th Bach Festival in May 2021, to be shared in person with audiences from across the United States, all eager to make the pilgrimage to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and share in Greg Funfgeld’s final Festival.”
As it has in the past, Johann Sebastian Bach’s music remains the core of The Choir’s performances, with additional repertoire from both baroque masters and significant 20th century composers, as well as the artistry of special guests at our Festival. Distinguished soloists this year include two artist-in-residence guests for the Festival: Paul Taylor Dance Company (Festival premiere of this group during Weekend One) and Elliot Fisk, guitar, (Weekend Two). In addition to our annual performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, the 2021 Festival will include another monumental work, the Saint Matthew Passion, presented in two parts. The Season will conclude with the postponed but much anticipated appearance by The Choir at the Bachfest in Leipzig, Germany in June, 2021.
Founded in 1898, the Bach Choir celebrates its 123rd season this year, and presents more than 40 concerts and educational programs for an audience of more than 22,000 who attend from across the country and around the world. As Artistic Director and Conductor Funfgeld begins his 38th and final season with the Choir, his commitment to the community has been and continues to be significant, as he envisions and implements the Choir’s ever-expanding role in education and community engagement. This season, he will lead The Choir on
its postponed European tour, the first in more than ten years, starting with the invitation to perform at the internationally renowned Bachfest in Leipzig, Germany. In addition to Bachfest, The Choir has concerts scheduled in Herrnhut and Dresden in Germany, and a final stop in Prague, in the Czech Republic.
Bel Canto Youth Chorus
Founded by director Joy Hirokawa in 1993, Bel Canto Youth Chorus celebrates its 27th anniversary this season. Comprised of auditioned treble singers from five counties in Pennsylvania, our Youth Chorus performs a diversified choral repertoire. Both The Bach Choir and Bel Canto foster a lifelong passion for the choral art in a community of inclusion and musical excellence.
Under the direction of Greg Funfgeld, there have been many opportunities for mutual support of educational expansion for both choirs, and for joint programming. In the 2019-20 season, Bel Canto participated in “A Joyful Noise” a major community-wide choral event co-produced by The Bach Choir and Touchtone Theatre for Touchstone’s Festival Unbound, as well as in The Bach Choir’s Family Concert – Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood (Noyes Fludde), February 29 and March 1, 2020.
For the 2020-21 Season, Bel Canto and Joy Hirokawa have embarked on an imaginative virtual curriculum both in the annual Choral Village summer camp and its "Stand-up" Summer Camp, a partnership with The Choir School of Delaware for a Choral Intensive featuring music from the movie “Harriet”. This new choral collaboration celebrates the legacy of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in the Brandywine and Lehigh Valleys and focuses on building empathy and understanding. Greg Funfgeld will also be working with the Bel Canto choristers throughout the season to prepare them for their role in the epic musical and spiritual journey of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion at the Bethlehem Bach Festival.
About The Bach Choir of Bethlehem
“Their choral sonority is so rich you can feel it in your bones.” –Wall Street Journal, May 2015
A glorious friendship between a great composer and the orchestra, conductor and choir at the heart of an extraordinary town.” – The Whole Note, Toronto, June 2015
“The Bach Choir must surely be one of the most extraordinary musical institutions in the world.”
New York Arts, 2016
Over three decades, Funfgeld has guided the Bach Choir skillfully and imaginatively to unprecedented levels of impact, public service, and artistic distinction.
- Ellis Finger, Director Emeritus, Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College 2020
A Joyful Noise made stunning, unexpected connections across the community. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, a church Gospel Choir, high school choruses, a juggler, an astonishing body percussionist, a New Orleans style brass band, a garage rock band, and Ysaye Barnwell getting maybe 800 people to sing together. Diversity, youth, and the interconnectedness of everybody. Bet you could feel the hope from there.”
- Jerry Stropnicky – theater director, Bloomsburg PA 2019
SEASON & FESTIVAL SCHEDULE WITH REPERTOIRE AND ARTISTS – SEE PAGES 3-8
FOR INFORMATION AND TICKETS: BACH.org, 610-866-4382
All repertoire, performance details and soloists subject to change.
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem & Bach Festival Orchestra
2020-21 Concert Season and Schedule
(All repertoire, performance details and soloists subject to change)
Greg Funfgeld, Artistic Director and Conductor
Bel Canto Youth Chorus of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem
Joy Hirokawa, founder and Artistic Director
Bach at Noon
Second Tuesdays, 12:10-1:00pm
This season, Bach at Noon concerts begin virtually, with our fall concerts recorded live at Central Moravian Church with a small ensemble of musicians, all following our COVID-19 protocol for safety. We will present choral and instrumental works by Bach and other composers, introduced by Greg Funfgeld with an informal and enlightening talk. Our virtual performances also include some conversation with the soloists who offer remarks about the music and the current atmosphere of performing during a time of distance and isolation for many. A free-will offering will be received.
2020-21 Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem
September 8
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duo Nr. 2 in B-flat Major, KV 424
Adagio – Allegro
Andante cantabile
Thema & Variazioni: Andante grazioso-Allegretto-Allegro
Elizabeth Field, violin
Uri Wassertzug, viola
Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata 51 – “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen”
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Rob Skoniczin, trumpet
October 13 – our 110th Bach at Noon in Bethlehem!
Repertoire to come
November 10
Repertoire to come
January 12, February 9, March 9, April 13, 2021 – repertoire and performance venue (live or virtual) to come.
Summer Series in partnership with Arts at St. Johns
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Allentown
June 8, July 13, August 10, 2020
Please join us this season for our 115th Bethlehem Bach at Noon in April and our 20th Allentown Bach at Noon in August!
Visit BACH.ORG for the complete 2020-21 Bach at Noon repertoire as it is announced.
Christmas Concert –Opening up Our Hearts – Music and Inspiration of Christmas
December 13, 2020 at 4pm
Virtual Concert presented on You Tube and Facebook
FREE registration | Contributions of any amount gratefully received, along with the following suggested giving options:
$20 Shepherd
$50 King
$75 Angel
$100 Star of Bethlehem
At this year’s virtual Christmas concert, we invite everyone to “open our shut up hearts,” and experience this beautiful season online through the words and music we offer. Recorded outdoors in Nazareth and in Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, members of The Bach Choir and our soloists offer seasonal selections from Bach and other composers, along with poetry and scared texts expressing the beauty of the season. Repertoire includes:
J.S. Bach: Arias from the Christmas Oratorio
Robert Parsons Ave Maria - a riveting jewel of Tudor polyphony weaves a tapestry of beauty, concluding with one of the most powerful “amens” in all of sacred music.
Franz Xaver Gruber:
Silent Night: For many people, Christmas isn’t Christmas until the Choir sings Silent Night with the soprano descant and Greg Says, “Merry Christmas, everybody!” We continue this much-loved tradition this year, sending our message of hope and peace to the audience near and far.
Soloists:
Daniel Taylor, countertenor
Lawrence Jones, tenor
Christophéren Nomura, bass-baritone
Robin Kani, flute
Greg Funfgeld, organ & piano
Greg Funfgeld Family Concert – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 3pm
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Tickets: $18, Students (up to 22) $9
Benjamin Britten:
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Following up on our triumphant performance of Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood last season, we present his show-stopping Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra as this year’s Family Concert, with the Lehigh University Philharmonic and Eugene Albulescu, as well as dancers from the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts, who will also dance to movements from the Mass in B Minor. Childlike wonder fills all of Britten’s music, but perhaps none more than the Guide. Expect orchestral fireworks, intricate dance, and much humor, and exciting and exceptionally compelling introduction to the instruments and inner-workings of an orchestra.
Spring Concert – Dureflé and Handel ~ Requiem and Messiah, Part 2
Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 4pm
First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem
Tickets: $39, Students (up to 22) $9
Maurice Duruflé:
Requiem is Duruflé’s longest and most substantial work, composed at the end of World War II. The Requiem Op. 9 is suffused throughout with the melodies of Gregorian chant, and by the impressionist harmonies of Debussy, Dukas, and Ravel. It balances a tremendous mystic sense of peace with moments of extraordinary power, including in the sanctus, one of the greatest musical climaxes in all of 20th century music.
George Frederic Handel:
After our much-acclaimed performances of Part I for Christmas of 2019, the long-delayed exploration of Handel’s Messiah continues with Part II of this baroque masterpiece. Messiah Part II delves into the Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, and reign in glory, beginning with the haunting chorus, "Behold the Lamb of God." When The Choir erupts with zeal into the famous "Hallelujah Chorus," it will have special meaning for us all.
Soloists:
Ellen McAteer, soprano
Daniel Taylor, counter-tenor
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
Daniel Lichti, bass-baritone
Bel Canto Spring Concert
May 1, 2021 at 2pm
Tickets: Adult, Senior and Student $11, Children under 10 are free
Tickets purchased at the door: $15
Directed by Joy Hirokawa, this concert will feature the Bel Canto Concert Choir and Preparatory Choirs building on the musical, spiritual, and social justice themes studied by the choristers throughout the 20-21 season.
113th Bethlehem Bach Festival May 14-15 & 21 - 22, 2021
Lehigh University & Payrow Plaza, Bethlehem
Festival Tickets: Adults $20-$58, Students $9-$20
This year, our annual Festival caps off Artistic Director and Conductor Greg Funfgeld’s final season with The Bach Choir. In recognition of almost four decades of leadership, we look forward to people “coming home” to Bethlehem, to offer warm wishes to Greg, and revel in the glorious weekends of music from J.S. Bach and other composers. Transcendent weekends of music life no other: The 2021 Festival is certain to touch us all.
Soloists include:
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano,
Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano
Daniel Taylor, countertenor
Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
Isaiah Bell, tenor
William Sharp, baritone
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Festival Artist-in-Residence (Weekend One) – Paul Taylor Dance Company
Festival Artist-in-Residence (Weekend Two) – Elliot Fisk, Guitarist
Festival Brass Choir - Main Street Brass
Youth Ensembles including Lehigh Valley Suzuki violin program & Bach Chaconne Project student composers
Fridays May 14 & 21, 2021
NOON – Festival Opening – Bach Outdoors!
Payrow Plaza, adjacent to City Hall in downtown Bethlehem
The Festival opens outside on Payrow Plaza, adjacent to the Bethlehem Public Library and City Hall. Led by our principal violist Paul Miller, this casual concert presents arrangements using electric violin along with other “modern” instruments to offer some classic pieces in this open-air setting.
2pm Distinguished Scholar Lecture – Dr. George Stauffer – Bach in Leipzig: The Great Passion
Zoellner Arts Center Room 145
As The Choir prepares to travel to Europe in June, 2021, including a performance in Leipzig, Germany, we are delighted to welcome back Dr. George Stauffer to present our lecture at this year’s Festival. Dr. Stauffer is a Distinguished Professor of Music History and Dean Emeritus, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. His publications include Bach: The Mass in B Minor – The Great Catholic Mass (December 2018.)
4pm Part 1 Saint Matthew Passion
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
This year’s Festival includes two of Bach’s towering choral masterpieces, with the Saint Matthew Passion on Friday and the Mass in B Minor on Saturday. Presented in two parts, the Passion is cosmic, operatic in scope, making use of three choirs, two orchestras, and a wealth of soloists, and yet, moments of stunning intimacy shock listeners with their equal power and beauty. Joining the Choir and soloists for this performance will be The Bel Canto Youth Chorus performing the great chorale, “O Lamb of God.” Composed for use at the Thomaskirche on Good Friday, 1729, this work of extraordinary complexity and power goes straight from Bach’s heart and mind to those of the listeners.
5:45pm – Buffet Dinner with informal talk – Dr. Larry Lipkis
Butz Lobby, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Dr. Lipkis is Professor of Music and Composer-in-residence at Moravian College
8:00pm – Part 2 Saint Matthew Passion
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
Saturdays, May 15 and 22, 2021
10:30am – Ifor Jones Chamber Music Concert Weekend 1
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Bach Festival Orchestra, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Artist-in-Residence
For the first time, we present the full Paul Taylor Dance Company in two stunning performances choreographed to Bach’s music, with the Bach Festival Orchestra. The Brandenburgs and the Esplanade are audience favorites. And presenting them during Greg Funfgeld’s final season is one of the highlights of our Festival.
Brandenburgs, Opus Number: 88 – Bach Festival premiere!
Esplanade, Opus Number: 61
J.S. Bach Flute Sonata – Greg Funfgeld & Robin Kani
10:30am – Ifor Jones Chamber Music Concert Weekend 2
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Bach Festival Orchestra, Eliot Fisk, Artist-in-Residence and Chaccone Project
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center
A breathtaking guitar concerto, a beautiful sonata and the return of the Chaconne students’ masterful compositions.
Luigi Boccherini Concerto in E major for Guitar and Orchestra, featuring artist-in-residence, Eliot Fisk
J. S. Bach Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major, BWC 529 with Charlotte Mattax Moersch
Chaconne Project Guided by Dr. Larry Lipkis, young musicians will perform variations they have composed over the chord progressions heard in Bach’s famous Chaconne in D Minor. Eliot Fisk performs the solo Chaconne as a finale.
12:30pm Festival Lunch
Butz Lobby, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
This special event, open to the public, includes remarks from one of our Festival soloists
2:00pm Bach Chorale Sing
Festival attendees join together to sing Bach chorales for 20 minutes with Greg Funfgeld and members of The Choir. Gather by the flag pole close to Packer Church, and you will be accompanied by The Festival Brass Choir.
2:30pm The Mass in B Minor (Part 1) and 4:30pm (Part 2)
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
The choir has performed Bach’s magnificent Mass in B Minor for more than a century and this year’s performance will be particularly poignant. Perhaps more than ever, we recognize the treasured tradition it is for so many – as some experience the comfort it offers from year to year, and others experience the power of the music for the first time as it fills Packer Memorial Church. Join us as Conductor Funfgeld leads his beloved Choir and Orchestra in this monumental composition for the final time.
THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM: The oldest American Bach Choir, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem gave the first complete American performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor in 1900 and Christmas Oratorio in 1901. Since its founding in 1898, The Choir has been attracting thousands of visitors from across the United States and beyond to the annual Bethlehem Bach Festival in Pennsylvania. Since 1983, under Greg Funfgeld’s direction, the 85 dedicated volunteer singers of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, performing with the Bach Festival Orchestra and distinguished soloists, have received international acclaim. Programming has expanded to 40 concerts and educational programs per year for an audience of more than 22,000. Venues have included the Herkulessaal at Munich’s Royal Residence and the Thomaskirche, Bach’s church in Leipzig, as part of the 1995 Germany tour; The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall as part of The Choir’s Centennial Celebration in 1998-2000; the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall as part of an eight-concert tour of the United Kingdom in 2003; Severance Hall, Cleveland for the 75th anniversary of the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival in 2007. In September 2011, The Bach Choir represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the 10th anniversary musical observance of 9/11 in New York City, giving concerts in Saint Paul’s Chapel and Trinity Church Wall Street. In 2013, The Choir performed Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Strathmore in the Washington D.C. area, and in 2014, the new opera Young Meister Bach for the 250th anniversary of the German Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In June, 2021, the Bach Choir will be featured in a performance in the Thomaskirche, as part of Leipzig’s famous Bachfest, with additional concerts in Dresden, Herrnhut and Prague.
The Choir has released nine recordings on the Dorian and Analekta labels including most recently Bach and Handel (2018), A Child’s Christmas in Bethlehem (2013) and Saint John Passion (2012). The Choir has been featured on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and Prairie Home Companion, Deutsche Radio, the BBC World Service, CBS Sunday Morning, and the Emmy award-winning PBS documentary on The Choir, Make a Joyful Noise. The Choir has been recognized for its outstanding educational outreach programs (Bach at Noon, Bach to School, and interdisciplinary Family Concerts) by annual awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (2011-2020). The J.S. Bach Foundation in Switzerland named The Bach Choir of Bethlehem as the first American recipient of its annual award to a single Bach organization, recognizing The Bach Choir’s outstanding work in Bach performance and education for young people (2012). Mr. Bach Comes to Call, a film based on the acclaimed Classical Kids CD, was co-produced by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and is
distributed internationally by The Children’s Group. In July 2018, the Choir’s affiliated Bel Canto Youth Chorus, currently celebrating its 27th year under the direction of founder Joy Hirokawa, officially merged with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Both organizations are looking to increase their impact in training the next generation of choral singers and cultivating a life-long passion for the choral arts. For more information: https://bach.org/
THE BEL CANTO YOUTH CHORUS: Founded in 1993 and comprised of auditioned treble singers from five counties in southeastern Pennsylvania, The Bel Canto Youth Chorus has developed an international reputation for performing diversified choral repertoire at the highest standard of musical excellence and
style. Noted for the innovative, artistic programs they present, the choir has been invited to perform for numerous music conferences, including the Eastern Division ACDA (2010 and 2006), Eastern Division MENC, PMEA, AGO and Pennsylvania ACDA conferences. In 2013, the choir completed a recording with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem for a Christmas CD that was released on the Analekta label. The choir was honored in July 2011 to be recognized as the winner of The American Prize in the Children’s Chorus category. The choir frequently collaborates with other artists, such as the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, the Allentown Symphony, the Bucks County Choral Society, and the Lehigh University Choral Union. They performed a Concert for Peace with Philadelphia based Atzilut in March 2009. In 2007, the choir was honored to be part of the Philadelphia premiere performance of John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, presented by the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia (Alan Harler, director). Tours have taken the choir to Central Europe, Italy, Ireland, Canada, England, Oregon, Brooklyn, Disneyworld, Ohio, and twice to Hawaii for the Pacific Rim Children’s Choral Festival under the direction of Henry Leck. The choir has been under the direction of Dr. Joy Hirokawa since its founding in 1993. For more information: https://bach.org/belcanto/
For tickets and further information: BACH.org, 610-866-4382
With much of our Arts community in transition, redefining how we produce and distribute our programs to our audience, The Choir remains under the watchful and dedicated guidance of Greg Funfgeld, who will lead his final season in ways we never imagined, but with enormous passion and enthusiasm, delivering music of exquisite beauty that will resonate with audiences again and again. About this season, Greg Funfgeld said, “In the midst of uncertainty and much that remains unknown, I offer you this pledge – we will sing again! We have the will to do it – we will be patient, will persevere, will be careful, thoughtful and mindful of the guidelines from experts and the government. Without question – we will sing – and play – again! The human voice is a miracle and a marvel – it expresses the most profound thoughts and beauty, carries the heart and soul of the singers to the heart and soul of the listeners and create a bond that is life giving, uplifting, sustaining.”
This season also marks the final one for Executive Director Bridget George. After a career with the Choir of twenty-four years, she is leading the administration of the organization through this time of change and embracing the technology that keeps us connected to our audience. When announcing the 20-21 Season, Bridget George commented, “In spite of the heartbreak of our choristers not yet being able to rehearse together, there is a great deal of optimism about the musical connections we are making this season through our virtual Moments of Comfort and Bach at Noon Watch Parties, as well as outside choral rehearsals and recordings to prepare for a virtual Christmas production full of the joy of the season. Our artists, students, loyal supporters, and newly discovered audiences near and far are all grateful for this opportunity to share live music-making together in new ways. We have great hope that this is all leading to a spectacular 113th Bach Festival in May 2021, to be shared in person with audiences from across the United States, all eager to make the pilgrimage to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and share in Greg Funfgeld’s final Festival.”
As it has in the past, Johann Sebastian Bach’s music remains the core of The Choir’s performances, with additional repertoire from both baroque masters and significant 20th century composers, as well as the artistry of special guests at our Festival. Distinguished soloists this year include two artist-in-residence guests for the Festival: Paul Taylor Dance Company (Festival premiere of this group during Weekend One) and Elliot Fisk, guitar, (Weekend Two). In addition to our annual performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, the 2021 Festival will include another monumental work, the Saint Matthew Passion, presented in two parts. The Season will conclude with the postponed but much anticipated appearance by The Choir at the Bachfest in Leipzig, Germany in June, 2021.
Founded in 1898, the Bach Choir celebrates its 123rd season this year, and presents more than 40 concerts and educational programs for an audience of more than 22,000 who attend from across the country and around the world. As Artistic Director and Conductor Funfgeld begins his 38th and final season with the Choir, his commitment to the community has been and continues to be significant, as he envisions and implements the Choir’s ever-expanding role in education and community engagement. This season, he will lead The Choir on
its postponed European tour, the first in more than ten years, starting with the invitation to perform at the internationally renowned Bachfest in Leipzig, Germany. In addition to Bachfest, The Choir has concerts scheduled in Herrnhut and Dresden in Germany, and a final stop in Prague, in the Czech Republic.
Bel Canto Youth Chorus
Founded by director Joy Hirokawa in 1993, Bel Canto Youth Chorus celebrates its 27th anniversary this season. Comprised of auditioned treble singers from five counties in Pennsylvania, our Youth Chorus performs a diversified choral repertoire. Both The Bach Choir and Bel Canto foster a lifelong passion for the choral art in a community of inclusion and musical excellence.
Under the direction of Greg Funfgeld, there have been many opportunities for mutual support of educational expansion for both choirs, and for joint programming. In the 2019-20 season, Bel Canto participated in “A Joyful Noise” a major community-wide choral event co-produced by The Bach Choir and Touchtone Theatre for Touchstone’s Festival Unbound, as well as in The Bach Choir’s Family Concert – Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood (Noyes Fludde), February 29 and March 1, 2020.
For the 2020-21 Season, Bel Canto and Joy Hirokawa have embarked on an imaginative virtual curriculum both in the annual Choral Village summer camp and its "Stand-up" Summer Camp, a partnership with The Choir School of Delaware for a Choral Intensive featuring music from the movie “Harriet”. This new choral collaboration celebrates the legacy of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in the Brandywine and Lehigh Valleys and focuses on building empathy and understanding. Greg Funfgeld will also be working with the Bel Canto choristers throughout the season to prepare them for their role in the epic musical and spiritual journey of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion at the Bethlehem Bach Festival.
About The Bach Choir of Bethlehem
“Their choral sonority is so rich you can feel it in your bones.” –Wall Street Journal, May 2015
A glorious friendship between a great composer and the orchestra, conductor and choir at the heart of an extraordinary town.” – The Whole Note, Toronto, June 2015
“The Bach Choir must surely be one of the most extraordinary musical institutions in the world.”
New York Arts, 2016
Over three decades, Funfgeld has guided the Bach Choir skillfully and imaginatively to unprecedented levels of impact, public service, and artistic distinction.
- Ellis Finger, Director Emeritus, Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College 2020
A Joyful Noise made stunning, unexpected connections across the community. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, a church Gospel Choir, high school choruses, a juggler, an astonishing body percussionist, a New Orleans style brass band, a garage rock band, and Ysaye Barnwell getting maybe 800 people to sing together. Diversity, youth, and the interconnectedness of everybody. Bet you could feel the hope from there.”
- Jerry Stropnicky – theater director, Bloomsburg PA 2019
SEASON & FESTIVAL SCHEDULE WITH REPERTOIRE AND ARTISTS – SEE PAGES 3-8
FOR INFORMATION AND TICKETS: BACH.org, 610-866-4382
All repertoire, performance details and soloists subject to change.
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem & Bach Festival Orchestra
2020-21 Concert Season and Schedule
(All repertoire, performance details and soloists subject to change)
Greg Funfgeld, Artistic Director and Conductor
Bel Canto Youth Chorus of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem
Joy Hirokawa, founder and Artistic Director
Bach at Noon
Second Tuesdays, 12:10-1:00pm
This season, Bach at Noon concerts begin virtually, with our fall concerts recorded live at Central Moravian Church with a small ensemble of musicians, all following our COVID-19 protocol for safety. We will present choral and instrumental works by Bach and other composers, introduced by Greg Funfgeld with an informal and enlightening talk. Our virtual performances also include some conversation with the soloists who offer remarks about the music and the current atmosphere of performing during a time of distance and isolation for many. A free-will offering will be received.
2020-21 Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem
September 8
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duo Nr. 2 in B-flat Major, KV 424
Adagio – Allegro
Andante cantabile
Thema & Variazioni: Andante grazioso-Allegretto-Allegro
Elizabeth Field, violin
Uri Wassertzug, viola
Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata 51 – “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen”
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Rob Skoniczin, trumpet
October 13 – our 110th Bach at Noon in Bethlehem!
Repertoire to come
November 10
Repertoire to come
January 12, February 9, March 9, April 13, 2021 – repertoire and performance venue (live or virtual) to come.
Summer Series in partnership with Arts at St. Johns
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Allentown
June 8, July 13, August 10, 2020
Please join us this season for our 115th Bethlehem Bach at Noon in April and our 20th Allentown Bach at Noon in August!
Visit BACH.ORG for the complete 2020-21 Bach at Noon repertoire as it is announced.
Christmas Concert –Opening up Our Hearts – Music and Inspiration of Christmas
December 13, 2020 at 4pm
Virtual Concert presented on You Tube and Facebook
FREE registration | Contributions of any amount gratefully received, along with the following suggested giving options:
$20 Shepherd
$50 King
$75 Angel
$100 Star of Bethlehem
At this year’s virtual Christmas concert, we invite everyone to “open our shut up hearts,” and experience this beautiful season online through the words and music we offer. Recorded outdoors in Nazareth and in Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, members of The Bach Choir and our soloists offer seasonal selections from Bach and other composers, along with poetry and scared texts expressing the beauty of the season. Repertoire includes:
J.S. Bach: Arias from the Christmas Oratorio
Robert Parsons Ave Maria - a riveting jewel of Tudor polyphony weaves a tapestry of beauty, concluding with one of the most powerful “amens” in all of sacred music.
Franz Xaver Gruber:
Silent Night: For many people, Christmas isn’t Christmas until the Choir sings Silent Night with the soprano descant and Greg Says, “Merry Christmas, everybody!” We continue this much-loved tradition this year, sending our message of hope and peace to the audience near and far.
Soloists:
Daniel Taylor, countertenor
Lawrence Jones, tenor
Christophéren Nomura, bass-baritone
Robin Kani, flute
Greg Funfgeld, organ & piano
Greg Funfgeld Family Concert – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 3pm
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Tickets: $18, Students (up to 22) $9
Benjamin Britten:
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Following up on our triumphant performance of Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood last season, we present his show-stopping Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra as this year’s Family Concert, with the Lehigh University Philharmonic and Eugene Albulescu, as well as dancers from the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts, who will also dance to movements from the Mass in B Minor. Childlike wonder fills all of Britten’s music, but perhaps none more than the Guide. Expect orchestral fireworks, intricate dance, and much humor, and exciting and exceptionally compelling introduction to the instruments and inner-workings of an orchestra.
Spring Concert – Dureflé and Handel ~ Requiem and Messiah, Part 2
Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 4pm
First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem
Tickets: $39, Students (up to 22) $9
Maurice Duruflé:
Requiem is Duruflé’s longest and most substantial work, composed at the end of World War II. The Requiem Op. 9 is suffused throughout with the melodies of Gregorian chant, and by the impressionist harmonies of Debussy, Dukas, and Ravel. It balances a tremendous mystic sense of peace with moments of extraordinary power, including in the sanctus, one of the greatest musical climaxes in all of 20th century music.
George Frederic Handel:
After our much-acclaimed performances of Part I for Christmas of 2019, the long-delayed exploration of Handel’s Messiah continues with Part II of this baroque masterpiece. Messiah Part II delves into the Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, and reign in glory, beginning with the haunting chorus, "Behold the Lamb of God." When The Choir erupts with zeal into the famous "Hallelujah Chorus," it will have special meaning for us all.
Soloists:
Ellen McAteer, soprano
Daniel Taylor, counter-tenor
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
Daniel Lichti, bass-baritone
Bel Canto Spring Concert
May 1, 2021 at 2pm
Tickets: Adult, Senior and Student $11, Children under 10 are free
Tickets purchased at the door: $15
Directed by Joy Hirokawa, this concert will feature the Bel Canto Concert Choir and Preparatory Choirs building on the musical, spiritual, and social justice themes studied by the choristers throughout the 20-21 season.
113th Bethlehem Bach Festival May 14-15 & 21 - 22, 2021
Lehigh University & Payrow Plaza, Bethlehem
Festival Tickets: Adults $20-$58, Students $9-$20
This year, our annual Festival caps off Artistic Director and Conductor Greg Funfgeld’s final season with The Bach Choir. In recognition of almost four decades of leadership, we look forward to people “coming home” to Bethlehem, to offer warm wishes to Greg, and revel in the glorious weekends of music from J.S. Bach and other composers. Transcendent weekends of music life no other: The 2021 Festival is certain to touch us all.
Soloists include:
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano,
Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano
Daniel Taylor, countertenor
Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
Isaiah Bell, tenor
William Sharp, baritone
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Festival Artist-in-Residence (Weekend One) – Paul Taylor Dance Company
Festival Artist-in-Residence (Weekend Two) – Elliot Fisk, Guitarist
Festival Brass Choir - Main Street Brass
Youth Ensembles including Lehigh Valley Suzuki violin program & Bach Chaconne Project student composers
Fridays May 14 & 21, 2021
NOON – Festival Opening – Bach Outdoors!
Payrow Plaza, adjacent to City Hall in downtown Bethlehem
The Festival opens outside on Payrow Plaza, adjacent to the Bethlehem Public Library and City Hall. Led by our principal violist Paul Miller, this casual concert presents arrangements using electric violin along with other “modern” instruments to offer some classic pieces in this open-air setting.
2pm Distinguished Scholar Lecture – Dr. George Stauffer – Bach in Leipzig: The Great Passion
Zoellner Arts Center Room 145
As The Choir prepares to travel to Europe in June, 2021, including a performance in Leipzig, Germany, we are delighted to welcome back Dr. George Stauffer to present our lecture at this year’s Festival. Dr. Stauffer is a Distinguished Professor of Music History and Dean Emeritus, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. His publications include Bach: The Mass in B Minor – The Great Catholic Mass (December 2018.)
4pm Part 1 Saint Matthew Passion
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
This year’s Festival includes two of Bach’s towering choral masterpieces, with the Saint Matthew Passion on Friday and the Mass in B Minor on Saturday. Presented in two parts, the Passion is cosmic, operatic in scope, making use of three choirs, two orchestras, and a wealth of soloists, and yet, moments of stunning intimacy shock listeners with their equal power and beauty. Joining the Choir and soloists for this performance will be The Bel Canto Youth Chorus performing the great chorale, “O Lamb of God.” Composed for use at the Thomaskirche on Good Friday, 1729, this work of extraordinary complexity and power goes straight from Bach’s heart and mind to those of the listeners.
5:45pm – Buffet Dinner with informal talk – Dr. Larry Lipkis
Butz Lobby, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Dr. Lipkis is Professor of Music and Composer-in-residence at Moravian College
8:00pm – Part 2 Saint Matthew Passion
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
Saturdays, May 15 and 22, 2021
10:30am – Ifor Jones Chamber Music Concert Weekend 1
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Bach Festival Orchestra, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Artist-in-Residence
For the first time, we present the full Paul Taylor Dance Company in two stunning performances choreographed to Bach’s music, with the Bach Festival Orchestra. The Brandenburgs and the Esplanade are audience favorites. And presenting them during Greg Funfgeld’s final season is one of the highlights of our Festival.
Brandenburgs, Opus Number: 88 – Bach Festival premiere!
Esplanade, Opus Number: 61
J.S. Bach Flute Sonata – Greg Funfgeld & Robin Kani
10:30am – Ifor Jones Chamber Music Concert Weekend 2
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Bach Festival Orchestra, Eliot Fisk, Artist-in-Residence and Chaccone Project
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center
A breathtaking guitar concerto, a beautiful sonata and the return of the Chaconne students’ masterful compositions.
Luigi Boccherini Concerto in E major for Guitar and Orchestra, featuring artist-in-residence, Eliot Fisk
J. S. Bach Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major, BWC 529 with Charlotte Mattax Moersch
Chaconne Project Guided by Dr. Larry Lipkis, young musicians will perform variations they have composed over the chord progressions heard in Bach’s famous Chaconne in D Minor. Eliot Fisk performs the solo Chaconne as a finale.
12:30pm Festival Lunch
Butz Lobby, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
This special event, open to the public, includes remarks from one of our Festival soloists
2:00pm Bach Chorale Sing
Festival attendees join together to sing Bach chorales for 20 minutes with Greg Funfgeld and members of The Choir. Gather by the flag pole close to Packer Church, and you will be accompanied by The Festival Brass Choir.
2:30pm The Mass in B Minor (Part 1) and 4:30pm (Part 2)
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
The choir has performed Bach’s magnificent Mass in B Minor for more than a century and this year’s performance will be particularly poignant. Perhaps more than ever, we recognize the treasured tradition it is for so many – as some experience the comfort it offers from year to year, and others experience the power of the music for the first time as it fills Packer Memorial Church. Join us as Conductor Funfgeld leads his beloved Choir and Orchestra in this monumental composition for the final time.
THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM: The oldest American Bach Choir, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem gave the first complete American performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor in 1900 and Christmas Oratorio in 1901. Since its founding in 1898, The Choir has been attracting thousands of visitors from across the United States and beyond to the annual Bethlehem Bach Festival in Pennsylvania. Since 1983, under Greg Funfgeld’s direction, the 85 dedicated volunteer singers of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, performing with the Bach Festival Orchestra and distinguished soloists, have received international acclaim. Programming has expanded to 40 concerts and educational programs per year for an audience of more than 22,000. Venues have included the Herkulessaal at Munich’s Royal Residence and the Thomaskirche, Bach’s church in Leipzig, as part of the 1995 Germany tour; The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall as part of The Choir’s Centennial Celebration in 1998-2000; the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall as part of an eight-concert tour of the United Kingdom in 2003; Severance Hall, Cleveland for the 75th anniversary of the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival in 2007. In September 2011, The Bach Choir represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the 10th anniversary musical observance of 9/11 in New York City, giving concerts in Saint Paul’s Chapel and Trinity Church Wall Street. In 2013, The Choir performed Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Strathmore in the Washington D.C. area, and in 2014, the new opera Young Meister Bach for the 250th anniversary of the German Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In June, 2021, the Bach Choir will be featured in a performance in the Thomaskirche, as part of Leipzig’s famous Bachfest, with additional concerts in Dresden, Herrnhut and Prague.
The Choir has released nine recordings on the Dorian and Analekta labels including most recently Bach and Handel (2018), A Child’s Christmas in Bethlehem (2013) and Saint John Passion (2012). The Choir has been featured on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and Prairie Home Companion, Deutsche Radio, the BBC World Service, CBS Sunday Morning, and the Emmy award-winning PBS documentary on The Choir, Make a Joyful Noise. The Choir has been recognized for its outstanding educational outreach programs (Bach at Noon, Bach to School, and interdisciplinary Family Concerts) by annual awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (2011-2020). The J.S. Bach Foundation in Switzerland named The Bach Choir of Bethlehem as the first American recipient of its annual award to a single Bach organization, recognizing The Bach Choir’s outstanding work in Bach performance and education for young people (2012). Mr. Bach Comes to Call, a film based on the acclaimed Classical Kids CD, was co-produced by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and is
distributed internationally by The Children’s Group. In July 2018, the Choir’s affiliated Bel Canto Youth Chorus, currently celebrating its 27th year under the direction of founder Joy Hirokawa, officially merged with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Both organizations are looking to increase their impact in training the next generation of choral singers and cultivating a life-long passion for the choral arts. For more information: https://bach.org/
THE BEL CANTO YOUTH CHORUS: Founded in 1993 and comprised of auditioned treble singers from five counties in southeastern Pennsylvania, The Bel Canto Youth Chorus has developed an international reputation for performing diversified choral repertoire at the highest standard of musical excellence and
style. Noted for the innovative, artistic programs they present, the choir has been invited to perform for numerous music conferences, including the Eastern Division ACDA (2010 and 2006), Eastern Division MENC, PMEA, AGO and Pennsylvania ACDA conferences. In 2013, the choir completed a recording with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem for a Christmas CD that was released on the Analekta label. The choir was honored in July 2011 to be recognized as the winner of The American Prize in the Children’s Chorus category. The choir frequently collaborates with other artists, such as the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, the Allentown Symphony, the Bucks County Choral Society, and the Lehigh University Choral Union. They performed a Concert for Peace with Philadelphia based Atzilut in March 2009. In 2007, the choir was honored to be part of the Philadelphia premiere performance of John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, presented by the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia (Alan Harler, director). Tours have taken the choir to Central Europe, Italy, Ireland, Canada, England, Oregon, Brooklyn, Disneyworld, Ohio, and twice to Hawaii for the Pacific Rim Children’s Choral Festival under the direction of Henry Leck. The choir has been under the direction of Dr. Joy Hirokawa since its founding in 1993. For more information: https://bach.org/belcanto/
For tickets and further information: BACH.org, 610-866-4382
Are you looking for a shipping solution? Maybe you need to change freight carriers? Find out what the hard working and reliable people at Team Worldwide can do over land, sea and air