THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM and THE AMERICAN BACH SOCIETY announce The 11th Biennial competition for American Singers with special interest in the music of J.S. Bach
After a delay of more than 18 months, the finals of the Young American Singer’s Competition, sponsored by the American Bach Society and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, will be held this fall in Bethlehem PA. From a group of some fifty applicants, nine finalists have been selected to compete for the top prize.
Of the long-awaited competition about to take place, Artistic Director and Conductor Greg Funfgeld reflected: “Our Competition for Young American Singers has identified some incredible talent, including Dashon Burton, Meg Bragle, Sascha Cooke and several others, all of whom are enjoying major international careers. Hearing these incredibly gifted young artists and doing our part to foster their career development and artistic and musical growth has been deeply rewarding and satisfying. It’s one more aspect of our Educational Engagement and I’m proud of all that we’ve accomplished!”
Leela Breithaupt, who began her tenure as The Bach Choir’s Executive Director in July, is looking forward to meeting and hearing the finalists in November. “The Young American Singers competition is such a vital way to discover and encourage young vocalists who have a special interest in the music of Bach. We’re delighted to once again host the competition and invite these talented musicians to Bethlehem.”
The Competition:
Finalists will appear before a panel of distinguished judges and a live audience in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 14 at 12:30 pm. The finals will be held at the Luckenbach Mill, 459 Old York Road, Bethlehem, located in the Colonial Industrial Quarter of the city. The First Prize winner chosen by the judges will receive a career development grant of $3,000 and a solo performing opportunity with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, in a future season.
In addition to the first prize, up to three additional cash awards of $500 may be awarded to other finalists, at the judges' discretion.
Judges at the Finals will include:
· Kendra Colton, soprano
· Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano and Bach Choir vocal coach
· David Newman, bass-baritone
· Stephen Crist, Bach Scholar and faculty member at Emory University
· Greg Funfgeld, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem
Competition Finals:
The competition finals are open to the public at no charge. Please visit the Bach Choir of Bethlehem's website https://bach.org/event/young-american-singers-competition/ for additional information. Each singer will present one secco recitative and two arias by J.S. Bach.
Please note: Bach Choir COVID protocol: Audience members must show proof of vaccination and id; masks must be worn indoors.
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
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 now-famous 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; and 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 a 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. The Choir has released 11 recordings on the Dorian and Analekta labels including most recently Bach’s Cantata 21 (2018), Handel’s Ode for Saint Cecilia’s Day (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. It 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 (2011–2019). 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. Our affiliated Bel Canto Youth Chorus is currently celebrating its 29th year under the direction of founder Joy Hirokawa. 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 visit The Bach Choir’s website – BACH.org.
FOR INFORMATION AND TICKETS: BACH.org, 610-866-4382
About the American Bach Society
The beginnings of the American Bach Society can be dated to 1972, when a group of American scholars met in Princeton and formed a chapter of the Neue Bachgesellschaft (New Bach Society), an organization founded in Germany in 1900 to promote the study and performance of Bach’s music. When Germany became a divided country after World War II, the New Bach Society sought to retain its members and, in particular, to find a means whereby members living in East Germany would be able to attend its annual meetings. By forming chapters in East and West Germany as well as the United States, the Neue Bachgesellschaft was established as an international organization, enabling it to achieve its goals.
Charter members of the American chapter included Gerhard Herz, Alfred Mann, Robert Marshall, Arthur Mendel, William Scheide, and Christoph Wolff. Mann, as secretary, administered the business of the chapter from the offices of the oldest American Bach organization, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem (founded in 1898), where he served as director from 1970 to 1980. The Bach-Jahrbuch, along with English translations of the Gesellschaft’s newsletters, were distributed annually to members of the chapter. The New Bach Society, American Chapter, held its first meeting in 1976 at the Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, PA, and continued to hold meetings on a triennial basis until 1988.
In 1988, under the guidance of George Buelow, the chapter incorporated as the American Bach Society, an independent, non-profit organization. Administered by a president, vice-president, and secretary-treasurer in consultation with an advisory board, a primary goal of the Society was to encourage and sponsor the publication of Bach research in English. In addition to issuing a semiannual Newsletter, from 1989 to 1993 the Society published the journal BACH in collaboration with the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. In 1994, the Society initiated Bach Perspectives, a serial publication edited by members of the Society in consultation with an editorial board, and in 2004 replaced its Newsletter with Bach Notes, a semiannual publication that includes articles, reviews, and information about members of the Society.
The creation of an endowment by William H. Scheide in 1990 enabled the Society to award, in alternate years, the Scheide Fellowship to support individual research projects, and the Scheide Prize to honor a publication of exceptional merit. In 2000, in collaboration with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, the Society established a biennial Bach Vocal Competition for Young American Singers. All awards are announced at the biennial meeting of the Society, normally held in association with a college or university but also occasionally hosted by other institutions, such as the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution (2000), the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig (2006), and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem (2008).
Of the long-awaited competition about to take place, Artistic Director and Conductor Greg Funfgeld reflected: “Our Competition for Young American Singers has identified some incredible talent, including Dashon Burton, Meg Bragle, Sascha Cooke and several others, all of whom are enjoying major international careers. Hearing these incredibly gifted young artists and doing our part to foster their career development and artistic and musical growth has been deeply rewarding and satisfying. It’s one more aspect of our Educational Engagement and I’m proud of all that we’ve accomplished!”
Leela Breithaupt, who began her tenure as The Bach Choir’s Executive Director in July, is looking forward to meeting and hearing the finalists in November. “The Young American Singers competition is such a vital way to discover and encourage young vocalists who have a special interest in the music of Bach. We’re delighted to once again host the competition and invite these talented musicians to Bethlehem.”
The Competition:
Finalists will appear before a panel of distinguished judges and a live audience in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 14 at 12:30 pm. The finals will be held at the Luckenbach Mill, 459 Old York Road, Bethlehem, located in the Colonial Industrial Quarter of the city. The First Prize winner chosen by the judges will receive a career development grant of $3,000 and a solo performing opportunity with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, in a future season.
In addition to the first prize, up to three additional cash awards of $500 may be awarded to other finalists, at the judges' discretion.
Judges at the Finals will include:
· Kendra Colton, soprano
· Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano and Bach Choir vocal coach
· David Newman, bass-baritone
· Stephen Crist, Bach Scholar and faculty member at Emory University
· Greg Funfgeld, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem
Competition Finals:
The competition finals are open to the public at no charge. Please visit the Bach Choir of Bethlehem's website https://bach.org/event/young-american-singers-competition/ for additional information. Each singer will present one secco recitative and two arias by J.S. Bach.
Please note: Bach Choir COVID protocol: Audience members must show proof of vaccination and id; masks must be worn indoors.
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
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 now-famous 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; and 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 a 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. The Choir has released 11 recordings on the Dorian and Analekta labels including most recently Bach’s Cantata 21 (2018), Handel’s Ode for Saint Cecilia’s Day (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. It 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 (2011–2019). 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. Our affiliated Bel Canto Youth Chorus is currently celebrating its 29th year under the direction of founder Joy Hirokawa. 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 visit The Bach Choir’s website – BACH.org.
FOR INFORMATION AND TICKETS: BACH.org, 610-866-4382
About the American Bach Society
The beginnings of the American Bach Society can be dated to 1972, when a group of American scholars met in Princeton and formed a chapter of the Neue Bachgesellschaft (New Bach Society), an organization founded in Germany in 1900 to promote the study and performance of Bach’s music. When Germany became a divided country after World War II, the New Bach Society sought to retain its members and, in particular, to find a means whereby members living in East Germany would be able to attend its annual meetings. By forming chapters in East and West Germany as well as the United States, the Neue Bachgesellschaft was established as an international organization, enabling it to achieve its goals.
Charter members of the American chapter included Gerhard Herz, Alfred Mann, Robert Marshall, Arthur Mendel, William Scheide, and Christoph Wolff. Mann, as secretary, administered the business of the chapter from the offices of the oldest American Bach organization, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem (founded in 1898), where he served as director from 1970 to 1980. The Bach-Jahrbuch, along with English translations of the Gesellschaft’s newsletters, were distributed annually to members of the chapter. The New Bach Society, American Chapter, held its first meeting in 1976 at the Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, PA, and continued to hold meetings on a triennial basis until 1988.
In 1988, under the guidance of George Buelow, the chapter incorporated as the American Bach Society, an independent, non-profit organization. Administered by a president, vice-president, and secretary-treasurer in consultation with an advisory board, a primary goal of the Society was to encourage and sponsor the publication of Bach research in English. In addition to issuing a semiannual Newsletter, from 1989 to 1993 the Society published the journal BACH in collaboration with the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. In 1994, the Society initiated Bach Perspectives, a serial publication edited by members of the Society in consultation with an editorial board, and in 2004 replaced its Newsletter with Bach Notes, a semiannual publication that includes articles, reviews, and information about members of the Society.
The creation of an endowment by William H. Scheide in 1990 enabled the Society to award, in alternate years, the Scheide Fellowship to support individual research projects, and the Scheide Prize to honor a publication of exceptional merit. In 2000, in collaboration with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, the Society established a biennial Bach Vocal Competition for Young American Singers. All awards are announced at the biennial meeting of the Society, normally held in association with a college or university but also occasionally hosted by other institutions, such as the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution (2000), the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig (2006), and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem (2008).
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