Crescendo, Da Capo

This weekend Crescendo will present its final concert series of the season with "In Search of The Bridges." In this piece, Crescendo chorus member Matthew Kreta looks back at the origins of the music organization.

The Berkshires-based chorus Crescendo will be celebrating its 20-year anniversary this October. Founded in 2003, director Christine Gevert began by collaborating with church choirs in the region to present weekly concerts. As this project grew, Gevert soon outpaced what she could do in her capacity as a church organist and was given the suggestion to create a nonprofit organization. Gevert agreed and created Crescendo with the help of Trinity Church in Lakeville, Conn.

The first public event Crescendo held was not a musical performance, but a series of lectures, ranging from talks on music theory, history, and choral music, made possible by funds raised through a private concert held at Weatherstone, the estate of designer and author Carolyne Roehm in Sharon, Conn. Their first public concert was held in Feb. 2004, singing a repertoire in celebration of Valentine’s Day with a smaller group of singers and madrigals. Their first large-scale public concert premiered that fall.

Since then, Crescendo has brought a wide variety of repertoire to the Berkshires region. Gevert, a trained musician in early period music, has brought rarely-heard and forgotten Baroque and Classical era pieces to the stage. Crescendo has performed contemporary selections, Latin American music, original commissioned works by several composers, multimedia concerts with light shows, dance and art pieces, and even the late Norwalk, Conn., based composer Dave Brubeck’s jazz mass. In addition to performing at Trinity Church, the group has been performing in Great Barrington, Mass., since 2006. Crescendo collaborated with the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., won national awards, and received international attention in Florence, Italy.

In addition to these accolades, Crescendo has also provided outreach to the community since its inception, with workshops and private lessons.

“I took education very seriously,” Gevert said. While not the chorus’ main mission, education continually remains a part of its identity by offering keyboard, solo singing, and choral workshops, as well as giving a platform to young artists over the years.

Though COVID restrictions temporarily restricted live performances, Crescendo continued with a virtual season, adapting to the changing times by recording concerts. Talks and lectures were also held and can still be found as recordings online. Despite the restrictions, the group is moving forward and it is finally, yet carefully, beginning to hold in-person events and performing without masks again.

Crescendo will present “In Search of The Bridges,” on Friday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Church in Lakeville and Sunday, April 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Saint James Place in Great Barrington, Mass. This will be the  premiere of a composition commissioned by Crescendo: “In Search of The Bridges,” a four-movement work by composer John Myers. For tickets go to www.crescendomusic.org.

Latest News

Fallen trees injure man, destroy fences at dog shelter

Two uprooted locust trees still lie in the yard in front of Animal Farm Foundation’s original kennels where they fell on a fence during a storm on Thursday, June 19.

Nathan Miller

AMENIA — Fallen trees, uprooted and splintered during a thunderstorm, injured a man, destroyed fences and damaged a dog kennel at the Animal Farm Foundation facilities in Bangall.

Isaias Nunez was cleaning along a road on the property with Marco Ortiz, another employee of the dog shelter, when the storm rolled in on the afternoon of Thursday, June 19.

Keep ReadingShow less
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit millertonnews.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less