As the Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra (BCCO) prepares to open its 60th anniversary season with its Jan. 2-4 concerts, Music Director Ming Luke is contemplating the enormous work on the program — Verdi’s Requiem.
“Verdi's monumental Requiem turns the liturgical text into a dramatic and at times combative exhortation to God,” Luke told SF Classical Voice. “Navigating the emotional extremes of this sprawling work requires the fullest commitment to bring out all the rich colors of the score.”
With upward of 200 voices and a legacy of generations of non-auditioned singers, the chorus has consistently received rave reviews for its concerts, which are always offered free of charge (Reservations required.)
Alto Jan Murota is awed by the Requiem: “There is one line where the basses sing ‘dies irae’ in low rumbling tones that sound like tremors before a big earthquake. It’s terrifying. At first you’re not even sure these are human voices.”
Luke compares the Requiem with other grand works: “One thinks of Beethoven's 9th Symphony played when the Berlin Wall fell, or the Funeral March from Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, which was played just after the announcement of the assassination of JFK.
“Verdi’s Requiem has a similar history, being performed at the Terezin concentration camp in World War II. We open our 60th anniversary season with the Verdi Requiem and finish it with a commission by Michael Schachter to echo the artistry of the musicians, artists, poets, and intellectuals who came together during difficult times” To sing Verdi’s music.
In addition to Schachter’s Terezin Requiem, the June, 2026 concert will include Josef Haydn’s "Maria Theresa" Mass. In 2027, concerts will feature William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, Gabriela Lena Frank’s Conquest Requiem, and the Mozart Requiem .
BCCO is an independent nonprofit organization funded by chorus member tuition (about $230 per semester) and donations from both the chorus and general community. “The goals of BCCO remain steadfast: to offer anyone in the community the opportunity to sing and hear great choral music,” Luke said.
Among the estimated 42 million Americans singing in the country’s 270,000 choral groups (according to a study by Chorus America), members of the Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra have some special claims to fame, often performing large-scale works including local premieres.
"Singing with BCCO brings even more color and joy to my already rich Bay Area life. The opportunity to join a nonauditioned chorus of this caliber is life changing,” soprano Elise Proulx told SF Classical Voice.
Preparation is intense: 2.5-hour weekly rehearsals for four months, with numerous sectionals and all–day rehearsals on weekends. BCCO produces CDs and MP3s for practice and provides its members with printouts of the pronunciation of the text.
Some singers say they constantly play the CDs during the time of preparation. Every rehearsal is recorded and can be heard on BCCO’s Story Chorus channel. Singers who can’t attend a rehearsal in-person follow it on Zoom.
“BCCO runs on volunteer power, singers in the chorus who arrange weekly rehearsals and sectionals,” Murota, the chorus’ volunteer publicist, says. “They are the concert organizers, ushers, and donation collectors. Singers publicize the concerts, order scores, arrange for orchestral rehearsals, and support the professional soloists.
“BCCO sends its chamber group, Berkeley Community Chamber Singers (BCCS), to perform for patrons who are unable to make it to the concert hall.”
