PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release
For further information, call 510-433-9599 or email Jan M, publicity chair, at
jmsings17@.... Also see website:
The Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra (BCCO) is excited to announce the program for its Spring 2025 Concert Series, Friday May 30¡ªSunday June 1:
St. John of Damascus, by Sergei Taneyev
Requiem, by Camille Saint-Sa?ns
Performances take place at Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.
Friday, May 30 (at 7:30 pm)
Saturday, May 31 (at 3 pm) and
Sunday, June 1 (at 3 pm)
The concerts are free. Donations in support of these concerts are gratefully accepted.
Maestro Ming Luke leads the chorus, full orchestra, and four soloists who join the nearly 60-year-old chorus in this rare performance.
Ellen Leslie, soprano
Sara Couden, contralto
Brian Thorsett, tenor
Simon Barrad, baritone
"For our spring 2025 concert series, the Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra (BCCO) explores two brilliant but lesser-known works of compositional genius, Sergei Taneyev's St. John of Damascus and Camille Saint-Sa?ns' Requiem. St. John of Damascus was Taneyev's
first published work; it immediately placed him in the upper echelons of composers during his day," says Maestro Luke.
Saint-Sa?ns, known mostly for his orchestral works, wrote the Requiem to honor his great friend and benefactor, Albert Libon.
Saint-Sa?ns' biographer, Jacques Bonnaure, noted in his 2010 book: "This unjustly neglected Requiem is perhaps the most sensitive, imaginative, and perfect work by the composer, who finds here, more than ever before, a classical balance between form and expression,
innovation and tradition, sophisticated compositional style and immediate effect."
"Both works deserve to be performed more often, and it's a treat for BCCO to explore these significant works," says Ming.
