(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century opens its 2015 summer season with the Tenth Annual Paul Grunberg Memorial Bach Concert on Sunday, June 28, 2015, at 2pm. This year’s all-Bach program features the Broad Street Chorale and Orchestra directed by David Smith, performing works of Johann Sebastian Bach for chorus, orchestra, and both vocal and instrumental soloists. A Gala Opening Reception for the festival will follow the performance.

The program for this tenth-anniversary concert will include:

the motet “Lobet, den Herrn”

Cantata 150 “Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich”

Cantata 72 “Alles nur nach Gottes willen”

the Concerto for Violin and oboe in c minor

the Concerto for Keyboard in d minor (from Cantatas 35 and 156)

Vocal soloists will include Amanda Boyd-Grout, soprano; Vicki Smith, mezzo soprano; Derek Stannard, tenor; and Michael Hofmann, bass. Instrumental soloists will include Jessica Belflower, Mitsuko Suzuki and Kathryn Aldous, violins; Karen Hosmer, oboe; Cornelia McGiver, bassoon; and David Smith, organ.

The 20th century organist Helmut Walcha wrote, “Bach opens a vista to the universe. After experiencing him, people feel there is meaning to life after all.” This annual concert is held in memory of Paul Grunberg, the late husband of PS21 president Judy Grunberg. “There is something about Bach’s work that goes beyond music,“ said Grunberg. “It was Bach’s music that touched Paul most deeply.”

“We kick off each new season at PS21 with a big Bach program,” explained Susan Davies, Administration Director at PS21. “In the past we’ve hosted the Berkshire Bach Ensemble, Hudson Valley Choral Society, Andrew Appel and the Four Nations Ensemble, cellist Yehuda Hanani, violinist Eugene Drucker, and others. This year we are excited to be working with the Broad Street Chorale and Orchestra and David Smith.”

A resident of Kinderhook with training at Harvard, Yale and in France with Nadia Boulanger, David Smith is an experienced conductor, keyboard player, and scholar. He founded Concerts in the Village (CITV) in 2010 and is now its artistic director and conductor. “CITV has become, in effect, kind of musical academy, now including about 75 regionally based professional and experienced non-professional singers and instrumentalists,” said Smith. “CITV is remarkably collegial and as community-spirited as I could imagine. Our audiences have been wonderfully supportive.”

This is the second major collaboration between PS21 and CITV (Concerts in the Village). “Last year I learned that Concerts in the Village would be performing ‘Dido and Aeneas’ in concert form in Kinderhook,” explained Judy Grunberg, “Knowing the well-established quality of CITV music-making, I approached them with the idea of coming to PS21. Our collaboration was a great success last year, and we knew we wanted to work together again this year on Bach.”

Tickets for the Tenth Annual Paul Grunberg Memorial Bach Concert on Sunday, June 28 at 2pm are $35/$30 members/$20 students 18 and under and can be purchased at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, by calling 1-800-838-3006, or at the door until the show sells out. A reception for the audience and artists will follow the Sunday performance. For other information about this or any other event at PS21, call (518) 392-6121.

PS21 is located at 2980 Route 66, just one mile north of the village of Chatham.

PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century is a not-for-profit organization in Chatham, NY, dedicated to the performing arts and to serving a diverse community with concerts, programs and residencies by professional artists and ensembles, youth and children’s programming and cultural education opportunities for all ages.