Berkshire Choral International will present a concert of three centuries of choral-orchestral masterpieces by Haydn, Brahms, and Jake Runestad on Saturday, June 28, 2025 at 7:30 pm at Tillis Performance Hall, Bromery Center for the Arts at UMass Amherst.  The program will be guest conducted by Grammy Award-winning conductor Robert Istad, Artistic Director of the Pacific Chorale and Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at California State University (CSUF), Fullerton.

The chorus is comprised of 130 experienced choral singers from across the United States who are spending an intensive week with BCI in residence at UMass. Now in its 43rd year, BCI has hosted more than 9000 choristers in programs around the world.

Haydn’s stirring Lord Nelson Mass is paired with Brahms’ transcendent Nänie set to poetry by Friedrich Schiller. A new work, Jake Runestad’s luminous and colorful Into the Light, features texts by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Helen Keller among others. The composer writes, “Into the Light allows us to be immersed in the wisdom of some of the most important and influential reformers in history, and challenges us to consider how we can move beyond fear and onto a path of love, compassion, and kindness.”

Tickets are just $20, with discounts for youth and UMass students and staff. Tickets may be purchased on the Fine Arts Center website at https://bit.ly/UMassBCI25 or by calling the UMass Fine Arts Center ticket line at 413-545-2511.