Pittsfield — Steven Kurutz’s recent New York Times article in praise of January makes the weird claim that “the sad sack of months” ought to be our favorite of the year. Others, like New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast, call it the “cruelest” month. But to many of us, January is just something to be endured. That is why it is indisputably good news that Berkshire Opera Festival (BOF) is hosting its first community sing-along event on Saturday, January 27, at 1 p.m., in the Common Room of Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield.
If you have ever sung in a choir, then you know what a thrill it would be to join the chorus of a professional opera company and sing the greatest hits from Puccini, Verdi, Wagner, and others. Even more fun: doing it alongside other local singers, including members of the Berkshire Concert Choir. Now is your chance, because this week, BOF is offering singers of all ages and abilities the opportunity to experience this rare pleasure. The event’s timing couldn’t be better because we could all use a gusty jolt of musical inspiration around the third week of January.
If you would like to participate in this free event, you need to register right away at this link, because singers will be sent music and more information closer to the event, although you needn’t prepare anything other than an optional bagged lunch. Email glarson@berkshireoperafestival.org with your questions.
Here is the day’s schedule:
12:15 – 12:45 p.m. — Check-in
1 – 1:50 p.m. — Warm-up
2 – 4 p.m. — BOF Opera Chorus Sing-Along
4 p.m. — Post-event mingling
Singers are welcome to attend as much or as little of the schedule as they would like.
Berkshire Opera Festival has made it their mission to stage a broad range of operas in the Berkshires and to restore opera’s place of prominence here by making world-class performances accessible and affordable to people of all ages and backgrounds. And by all accounts, they have succeeded. Early on, in BOF’s second season, Joel Rozen wrote for The New York Times, “Grassy Tanglewood has long been my summer music destination of choice. But this August I discovered yet another reason to return to Western Massachusetts: the Berkshire Opera Festival, which, for the second year in a row, has struck me with awe.” Other publications, such as Opera News, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker, and Classics Today, have identified BOF as sufficient reason to visit the Berkshires.
The Berkshire Opera Festival’s first community sing-along event is on Saturday, January 27, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., in the Common Room of Zion Lutheran Church, Pittsfield. By Saturday, the weather will probably be a little more conducive to leaving your home.
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