Berkshire Lyric to Hold Cabaret Fundraiser
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Lyric will present "An Evening Cabaret", a benefit concert for the Blafield Children’s Chorus, its tuition-free music program for children ages 6 through 13, on Saturday, Aug. 21. The performance will take place at The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, 28 Renee Ave., at 7:30 p.m.The concert will be an evening of Broadway and Jazz, showcasing some of the finest young talent in the Berkshires in a wonderfully intimate setting. Vocal selections include music by Sondheim, Rodgers, Legrand, Bacharach, Styne, Stephen Schwarz and other pieces from the American Songbook.
The singers will be accompanied by a jazz ensemble featuring Steve Murray, Joe Rose, Caleb Davis and Alfred Brewer. Steve Murray, an award-winning composer and arranger, is known to Berkshire audiences as the leader of the Steve Murray 8, a jazz band with several recordings to their credit. Joe Rose is well known as a jazz pianist, arranger and producer. He is the accompanist for Berkshire Lyric as well as the director of the Berkshire Singers, Berkshire Lyric’s teen chorus. Caleb Davis, a former member of the Blafield Children’s Chorus, is a member of the New York State Percussion Ensemble.
A 2009 graduate of Mountain Regional High School, he had the rare distinction of being selected as the drummer for the Massachusetts All State Jazz Band during each of his four years in high school. He is currently studying music at Purchase College, State University of New York. Trombonist Alfred Brewer is a 2010 winner of Berkshire Lyric’s Young Musician’s Scholarship. He is a junior at Monument Mountain Regional High School and has been the first trombone in the Massachusetts’ All State Jazz Band.
Among the participating singers are two former members of the Blafield Children’s Chorus, Kim Gritman and Liz Butler. Gritman has performed lead roles in several high school and college productions as well as with the Barrington Stage Youth Theater and the Berkshire Theater Festival. She was recently the Valedictorian at BCC. Butler has been a voice student of Berkshire Lyric Artistic Director Jack Brown at the Berkshire Music School. In 2009, she began voice and theater study at the very competitive Walnut Hill Performing Arts High School in Boston.
Also performing will be the 2009 and 2010 recipients of the top vocal prize given at the Berkshire Lyric Young Musicians Scholarship competition, the Joy Barnes Award. Elaina Pullano, who also studies voice at the Berkshire Music School, was the 2009 award winner and the featured soloist at the Berkshire Lyric 2009 Christmas Concert. Soprano Gwen Tunnicliffe, the 2010 winner, recently graduated from Mt. Greylock High School and will be attending Bennington College in the fall. A voice student of Keith Kibler, she has already appeared in several musicals and opera productions.
The Blafield Children’s Chorus, named in honor of founding director Robert Blafield, continues a tradition of joyous music making, presenting five high quality programs throughout Berkshire County each season. It is the only tuition-free, professionally led children’s choir in the county.
Tickets are $25, including refreshments. For more information, contact Berkshire Lyric Artistic Director Jack Brown at 413-298-5365.
This concert is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council awarded by the following local cultural councils: Pittsfield, Great Barrington, Dalton, Stockbridge, Lenox, Lee, Washington, West Stockbridge and Richmond.
