Messiah Sing-Along Sunday Nov 24 at 4:00 pm

Join vocal soloists Kerry Ryer-Parke, Emily Ham ('22), Kurt Pfrommer ('18) and Keith Kibler in the Christmas section and Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah on Sunday, November 24 at 4 pm at St. John’s. 

Audience members are invited to sing the choruses – bring your vocal score (the church will have some on hand). 

If you’d like to come and just listen, that’s fine too! 

Jimmy Bergin will conduct an orchestra consisting of local professionals, Williams students, and CIAO! (Community Intergenerational Action Orchestra).  

Free will donations will be gratefully accepted to benefit Berkshire Food Project and the Friendship Center Food Pantry. 

A wonderful way to kick off the holiday season before the rush!

Folk-gospel-American concert Friday, Nov 2 at 8 pm

Piper Higgins (Williams '21) and Bill Reyburn perform gospel, Americana, folk music
Suggested donation $10
All donations benefit the Berkshire Immigrant Center

Free piano recital Monday, August 19th at noon

The 16th annual free Summer Noontime concert series concludes this Monday, August 19th, with a performance by pianist Mo Xu.  The program includes Beethoven: Sonata No. 6, Op. 10/2; Robert Schumann: Papillons, Op. 2; and the towering and monumental Sonata in B Minor of Franz Liszt.

New to our series, Mo Xu has performed at many prestigious venues, including Weill Recital Hall at the Carnegie Hall, Benzanson Recital Hall, Kemp Recital Hall, ISU Center for the Performing Arts and Sweeney Concert Hall. 

Mo received second prize at the American Protégé International Concerto Competition, second prize at the "Golden Classical Music Awards" International Competition and honorable mentions at the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition and the Paderewski International Piano Competition in Connecticut.

free violin and viola duo recital

The 16^th annual Summer Noontime concert series continues with a performance by violinist Emily Kalish and violist James Bergin.The program features music by Morley and Mozart, as well as new works written for the duo by Gary Philo and Amy Reich. 

Emily Kalish has performed annually on the St. John's Summer Noontime Concert Series since its inception in 2004. She is a member of the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. She produces chamber music concerts for and performs with the Dream Unfinished, an activist orchestra dedicated to engaging audiences with issues related to racial and social justice.

James Bergin is a member of the Berkshire Symphony, founder and conductor of the Community Intergenerational Action Orchestra (CIAO!) based in Williamstown, MA, a composer, and the executive director of the Boston Microtonal Society. He directs the music program at the Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter School (BART) in Adams and is a teaching artist with Eighteen Degrees/Kids 4 Harmony in North Adams. He co-directs the Williamstown Orchestra Workshop (WOW) with Emily Kalish

free viola recital

Michael Strauss, violist, is on the faculty of the Doylestown Community Conservatory and maintains private teaching studios in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and Chestertown, Maryland. For the last six summers, he has taught chamber music and ear training at the renowned Philadelphia International Music Festival. 

Mr. Strauss has performed professionally as an orchestral and chamber musician throughout the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, Israel, and Mexico. From 1999 until his 2009 move to Philadelphia, he was Principal Violist and Director of Education and Outreach for the Mid-Atlantic Symphony, director of the Washington College String Orchestra, the Kent School Strings, and “Classical Advantage,” a musical day camp, and founded the Mariner String Quartet. 

He received a BA from Yale, majoring in English Literature, then, from the New England Conservatory, a Master’s Degree with Distinction in Performance. His most influential teachers were Eugene Lehner, George Neikrug, Benjamin Zander, and Karen Tuttle.

Free piano recital by Music Director Matt Thomas

The 16^th annual Summer Noontime concert series continues with a performance by Matthew O. Thomas. The one-hour program includes sonatas by Scarlatti and Haydn, as well as the Kinderszenen/Scenes from Childhood of Robert Schumann. 

Audience members are invited to bring a bag lunch; the church will provide drinks and cookies. 

Mr. Thomas is the Director of Music, Choirmaster, and Organist at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Williamstown, and is a regarded and highly active collaborative pianist, music director and music educator.

Free chamber music of Schubert and Mozart

The Summer Noontime concert series continues with a concert of chamber music by Schubert and Mozart, performed by Andrew King, piano; Emily Kalish, violin; James Bergin, viola; and Perri Morris, cello. 

The one-hour program includes the String Trio in B-flat, D. 471 by Schubert, and Mozart's Piano Quartet in E-flat, K. 493.

Children are invited. Admission is free (donations are welcome).

 Audience members may bring a bag lunch to eat during the concert; drinks and cookies will be provided.

Concerts every Monday through August 19.

Free violin and piano recital

The 16th Summer Noontime concert series continues with a recital by New York-based violinist Akiko Kobayashi and pianist Eric Siepkes. The 1-hour program includes music by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, and de Falla.

An intimate setting with superb acoustics; children are welcome.
Admission is free (donations gratefully accepted).

Violinist Akiko Kobayahi has performed as soloist and in recital at venues including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in the Young Musicians Concert sponsored by the MTNA League; Steinway Hall in New York; Cathedral of St. John in New York; Bach-Archiv in Leipzig, Germany; Konzertsaal des Rathauses in Bavaria; and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center, broadcast live on WFMT.

Pianist Eric Siepkes performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as prize winner of the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition in New York. Other recital appearances include the Baruch Center of Performing Arts in New York and the Allegheny Riverstone Center for the Arts in Pennsylvania. He has  participated in the Chautauqua Institution Summer School of Fine Arts and in the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Soesterberg, Netherlands where he performed solo and chamber music recitals. 

Free piano recital

The 16^th annual Summer Noontime concert series opens with a recital by New York-based pianist Kyle Walker. The one-hour program includes music by J.S. Bach, Zenobia Powell Perry, Margaret Bonds, Frédéric Chopin. 

Walker has performed on WQXR radio, NPR and UNC-TV, and is a member of The Dream Unfinished, an activist orchestra that supports NYC-based civil rights and community organizations through concerts and presentations.

Children are invited. Admission is free (donations are  welcome).

Audience members may bring a bag lunch to eat during the concert; drinks and cookies will be provided.

Concerts every Monday through August 19.

Summer Noontime Concert Series calendar

The 16th annual free Summer Noontime concert series begins on Monday, July 8 with a performance by New York-based pianist/activist Kyle Walker.  These one-hour concerts continue on Mondays through August 19.

Children are invited. Admission is free; donations are welcome.

Audience members may bring a bag lunch to eat during the concert; drinks and cookies will e provided.

Free piano recital - Sunday, June 9 at 4:00 pm

Pianist Paul Celebi performs music by Alexander Scriabin, Claude Debussy, Leos Janacek, Thomas Ades, Fazil Say, and Philip Glass.

Admission is free; donations will be gratefully received at the door.

Paul Çelebi is completing studies in piano and composition at Oberlin under the direction of pianist Alvin Chow and composer Jesse Jones. He previously studied with pianists Ursula Oppens, Peter Frankl, Di Wu, Johnathan Bass, Stephen Drury, Ian Hobson, Alexandre Motouzkine, Monique Duphil, Jean Stackhouse and Anton Nel, among others. 

A winner of several piano competitions, Çelebi has received fellowships from Aspen Music Festival and the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice at New England Conservatory. 

He performs regularly as the pianist for Oberlin's renowned Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME), and has premiered numerous pieces, among which is a piano concerto by fellow composition student Hao Zou, composed for Çelebi and the CME. 

Çelebi will attend McGill University next year on a full scholarship to study with Kyoko Hashimoto. 

Village Harmony alumnae ensemble

This unique select world music vocal ensemble includes a dozen college-aged and young adult Village Harmony veterans, many of whom have sung and traveled with other Village Harmony or Northern Harmony ensembles for many years. The program features songs and dances from South Africa, contemporary American shape-note songs, quartet gospel, traditional songs from Corsica, Bosnia, Croatia and Bulgaria, Monteverdi madrigals and other renaissance works, and original compositions by Simon. 

Larry Gordon is the founder of Village Harmony and has been leading choirs and community music in Vermont for over forty years.  He has a vast repertoire of music from harmony traditions across the world and has led scores of Village Harmony and Northern Harmony performances tours to South Africa, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Georgia and throughout western Europe.  

Sophie Michaux and Adam Simon, based in Boston, are brilliant singers who have participated in many European tours with Northern Harmony and also perform with the vocal quartet Colomba.  Originally from France, Sophie is a remarkble singer in a variety of styles: classical, Corsican, Balkan, Franch cafe songs.  She sings with the women’s ensemble Lorelei and is in great demand as a classical vocal soloist.  Adam is also a fine composer.  He is currently in a masters program in composition at Tufts University.  The concert will feature a number of his compositions.

Free string orchestra concert - Monday, May 20 at 7:30 pm

CIAO! is an intergeneraional string orchestra conducted by Jimmy Bergin and based in Williamstown at St. John's.

Berkshire Children and Families/Kids  4 Harmony is a free after school program at Morningside Community School in Pittsfield, MA and at the Brayton School in North Adams. It has been transforming lives through music with its intensive classical music instruction to children and youth from under-resourced communities.

Join us for an exciting concert of music by a wide variety of composers including Bach, Telemann, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Piazzolla, as well as new works written by Krishan Rai and Sam Tucker-Smith (students who play in CIAO!).

The concert is free; donations will be accepted to benefit the Kids 4 Harmony program.

In Echo, a Williams College student-led vocal ensemble of six lower voices, will perform a free concert of music by traditional and contemporary composers.  

On this concert they will be joined by treble voices, and will perform music by composers including Stephen Paulus, Kurt Bestor, Don Macdonald, and Joseph Gregorio.

Free chamber music concert Saturday, May 11 at 4 pm

Williams College music students perform piano trios 

and a string quartet.

Admission is free.

Program:

Mozart: String Quartet in E-flat, K. 428

Beethoven: Piano Trio, Op. 97 "Archduke"

Schoenfield: Piano Trio "Cafe Music"

Free violin and piano recital "For the Beauty of the Earth"

New York-based violinist Emily Kalish and pianist Kyle Walker will perform a recital of music inspired by the beauty of the earth on Sunday afternoon, April 14th, at 3:00 p.m.

Admission is free; donations gratefully accepted to benefit The Dream Unfinished,  an orchestra of

musicians committed to raising awareness of social and environmental issues.

4-Hand Piano Recital Sunday Jan. 27

On Sunday, January 27 at 3:00 pm pianists Andrew King and Julia Bady will perform a free concert of music for piano 4-hands.  The program features Dvorak Slavonic Dances, the Schubert Fantasie in F Minor, and Faure’s Dolly Suite.  Come hear our piano put to wonderful use!