(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – The 85-voice Berkshire Lyric Chorus will be joined by its youth faction, the Blafield Children’s Chorus, in “Making Spirits Bright, a Concert of Christmas Music,” a wide-ranging choral program of some of the most beloved music of the Xmas season, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Park Square in downtown Pittsfield on Saturday, December 21, 2013, at 7:30pm. Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Marjorie Elinor Dix, the Berkshire Lyric 2013-2014 season guest artist, will perform.
The featured work will be Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols,” performed as part of the celebration of the centennial anniversary of his birth. This famous work, originally written for a boy’s choir, has been reimagined for Berkshire Lyric and celebrates their own Blafield Children’s Chorus in several movements. Teresa Mango will perform the virtuoso harp part and also accompany the chorus in an arrangement of Silent Night to end the program.
Marjorie Dix
The concert will be led by artistic director Jack Brown and accompanied by Joe Rose on the great St. Stephen’s Pipe Organ in the rich acoustics of the historic church. There will be a sing-a-long portion for the audience.
Berkshire Lyric has been a fixture in the Berkshire musical landscape for more than 50 years, beginning as a lyric theatre performance group. It has since grown to be the only multi-generational music performance and educational group in the Berkshires, providing scholarships, tuition-free education, and quality performance opportunities to Berkshire residents of all ages.