Among the country’s 270,000 choruses, comprising some 42 million singers, Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra (BCCO) stands out in a number of ways.
Ever since its founding in 1966 by Oakland firefighter Eugene Jones, BCCO has given free concerts of ambitious, unusual programs with its large chorus recruited without auditions — programs that have never been more adventurous than during the past 13 years with Ming Luke as music director.
BCCO’s first concerts of 2025 — Jan. 3–5 at UC Berkeley’s Hertz Hall — will present a rich, varied program of Haydn, Gabriel Fauré, and Beethoven.
Luke describes the repertoire: “Haydn’s Mass in Time of War takes us to a very specific time in Haydn’s life, composed at the Esterházy Palace but with Napoleon’s war at the doorstep. Haydn’s deep religious fervor winds through this powerful piece, the peace and tranquility of the time shattered by the ongoing wars in Europe.”
Last year, BCCO presented another large work dealing with war, Michael Tippets’s A Child of Our Time.
“Though we might find ourselves at the beginning of the new year with similar anxiety about the future,” Luke says, turning to the next piece on the program, “we might find a little respite in Fauré’s Requiem. Fauré eschews the bombast found in other Requiems. He [conceived of the work as] ‘an aspiration toward happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.’
“The Choral Fantasy of Beethoven, an early draft of the Ninth Symphony, rounds out the program. It explodes with the confident message that we all can unite through music and the arts. So in times of difficulty, let us all heal and connect through music and each other.”
Soloists for the concerts include soprano Ellen Leslie, contralto Sara Couden, tenor Jonathan Elmore, baritone Simon Barrad, and pianist John Wilson.
Another distinctive feature of Luke’s time with BCCO has been the conductor mentorship program he established.
Derek Tam was Luke’s first assistant conductor. After three years of training with BCCO, Tam went on to become the executive director of the San Francisco Early Music Society and the music director at First Congregational Church of Berkeley.
Eric Choate, BCCO’s second assistant conductor, is now music director at Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco and an active composer.
Julia Morris, BCCO’s third assistant conductor, now conducts Vallejo Choral Society, Berkeley Women’s Community Chorus (which BCCO sponsors), and Soli Deo Gloria.
As for BCCO’s tradition of open participation, Luke says, “We believe that every single one of us has a valid artistic voice and deserves to take part in music-making.
“The choir is made up of those that have sung in choirs for decades, singing alongside those that have never sung before. Through community, we come together to perform some of the most challenging symphonic choral literature, from Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem to Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah to commissioned new works.”
