Frank Nemhauser discusses the 2020 summer season
Frank Nemhauser joined the Berkshire Choral International faculty in 1986 and was appointed Music Director in 1992. Under Frank’s guidance, the organization has become the premier choral/educational organization in the United States. With great knowledge, skill and passion, Frank assembles each summer season, engaging the finest conductors who lead the great choral masterpieces in many of the world’s finest concert halls. Frank is enthusiastic about the upcoming season and sat down with BCI to talk about what’s in store for the singing weeks in Lenox, Boston, Amsterdam, and Barcelona.
LENOX | MAY 31 – JUNE 7, 2020 | JULIAN WACHNER | SEIJI OWAWA HALL
“Julian Wachner is a brilliant musician and conductor – one of our most popular. He works with a wide range of singers from top professionals through very talented amateurs, such as we have at BCI. Our choristers really love working with him. We’ll be in residence at the Tanglewood Institute for Learning for a week. They are wonderful facilities in which to rehearse and learn, and a short walk from beautiful Seiji Ozawa Hall, our concert venue. The Tanglewood grounds and area are absolutely gorgeous. I thought it was time to bring the Mozart Requiem back; we haven’t performed the piece for quite a number of years. It’s so well known by so many people, but there are always choristers who haven’t sung it. Julian and I thought it would be nice to pair the Requiem with something that we’ve never performed at BCI: J.S Bach’s Lutheran Mass in F Major. The masses are such terrific pieces.”
BOSTON | JUNE 21-28, 2020 | SYMPHONY HALL | GRANT GERSHON
“Boston’s Symphony Hall is one of the concert hall gems in the world. It is acoustically spectacular, not only from the audience’s perspective, but also from the performer’s. There is something thrilling about being in a space that has such a storied history. We are thrilled that Grant Gershon will lead the Boston week. He is another one of our most popular conductors. I describe him as being a deeply soulful musician. The way he demonstrates a musical phrase is so innately musical that our choristers instinctively respond in kind. Carmina Burana is one of those pieces that is popular for both audiences and performers alike. Many people love to come back and experience it time and time again. We thought it would be nice to pair Carmina with the beautiful Poulenc Gloria – premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Symphony Hall In 1961. We will be In residence at Tufts University outside Boston, where rehearsals and classes will take place. The facilities are very good and the rehearsal space is wonderful. It’s very convenient: the dorms are across the street, and the dining hall is down the block.”
AMSTERDAM | JULY 19-26, 2020 | JOE MILLER | MUZIEKGEBOUW
“Joe Miller returns for his second appearance with BCI. Joe is one of the great teaching conductors that I’ve come across. He has wonderful and inventive ways of getting results from his choruses. Through his work with the Westminster Symphonic Choir, he has prepared choruses for the world’s great conductors. Dan Forrest’s Requiem For the Living has become one of the most popular contemporary choral works in the United States. It is a piece not for those who died, but for those who survived. We all have experienced loss, and there’s a lot to be said for the sharing of one’s story; that can be very healing. I wanted to pair it with Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht, which has not been performed by BCI for 25 years. The Mendelssohn is a lot of fun for the chorus: it’s full of witches and goblins and all sorts of wonderful pagan rituals. The Muzikgebouw is only 15 years old and has become one of the major concert halls in Amsterdam. It’s absolutely stunning. Rehearsals and classes take place at the Barbizon Palace Hotel, where we will be staying. It’s about a two-minute walk from the Central Train Station in downtown Amsterdam.”
BARCELONA | AUGUST 5-12, 2020 | PALAU DE LA MÚSICA | SAUL ZAKS
“This will be BCI’s first time in Barcelona and our debut at the Palau de la Música, a spectacularly beautiful concert hall that was built for a choral society in Catalonia. It’s now a UNESCO world heritage site. The conductor Saul Zaks, who is based in Denmark, makes his BCI debut. He’s got a lot of experience working with both professional and amateur singers, and leading workshops with groups that have come together for a particular project. This guy gets us and knows what we are all about. I scheduled Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis because 2020 marks Beethoven’s 250th birthday, and I wanted BCI to be part of the world-wide celebration. Many consider the Missa Solemnis to be the Mount Everest of choral singing. It is challenging and there is a high return on your investment. Saul felt strongly that we should sing something in a language familiar to the local people, so he suggested we sing a set of Sephardic songs. They are written in Ladino. The chorus will stay at the Catalonia Barcelona Plaza Hotel, where we will hold rehearsals and a wide array of classes. It’s a convenient, ten-minute subway ride from the hotel to the concert hall.”
Openings for most voice parts are still available for all weeks.
