The Berkshire Choral Festival is the premier international educational institution dedicated to enhancing the skills of choral singers, while extending the knowledge and appreciation of choral singing and its tradition to singers and audiences. We accomplish this by:
Berkshire Choral Festival
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Site Credits
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Creator Daniel Molkentin, tenor, graduated from Mannes College of Music in 2006 and has since been actively performing works from the 16th century to the present day. His collaborations with composers, such as Robert Cuckson, David Loeb, James Blachly, Matt Johnson, Paul Smith and Terry Champlin, have led to the premieres of over a dozen solo works. The Spoon River Duo, formed by Daniel and guitarist/composer Paul Smith, presents works exclusive to the voice and guitar medium or that share a special place in the history of the ensemble. In addition to Daniel’s performance activities, he teaches diction courses in the Mannes Extension Division, is the diction coach for the Oratorio Society of New York and has served as the German diction coach for the Bard Summer Music Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, Clarion Music Society, and Manhattan School of Music Chorus, among others. Daniel’s passion for teaching diction lead him to join forces with Trudy Weaver Miller to co-found and develop SingersBabel (launching January 2012), a website dedicated to providing singers and musicians with lyric diction resources and tools for preparing texts in many languages. His translations and pronunciation guides of hundreds of German choral and solo works, such as Matthäus Passion, Die Schöpfung, Ein deutsches Requiem, Dichterliebe, and Winterreise, are being used with increasing frequency around the United States and can be found at www.SingersBabel.com | ||
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Female Speakers Young soprano Katharina Hagopian, originally from Mainz, Germany, has performed in a wide range of styles, ranging from ancient to contemporary music. She had her stage debut at the age of 9, playing in the musical "Show boat" at the State Opera in Mainz; since then she has wanted to be on stage for a lifetime. On the concert stage Ms. Hagopian has performed in Lied Recitals including Schumannfest Düsseldorf 2006, German Forum New York, German Embassy New York, Scandinavia House, and International Festivals for Contemporary Music in Darmstadt, Brussels, Dresden, Köln, Berlin and Donaueschingen. In November 2008 she made her Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium) debut as first solo soprano in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang. Her interest in acting led her to work with composer Manos Tsangaris and with stage director Anja Kolacek, among others. Scholarships include the Fulbright Scholarship 2007/08, DAAD Scholarship 2008/09, the Scholarship of the Tavitian Foundation, a Scholarship of Mannes College of Music and the Scholarship of the Horst-und-Gretl-Will-Stiftung in Köln. |
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Male Speaker Tenor Nils Neubert was born and raised in Hamburg, Germany. He holds a B.M. from The Juilliard School and is currently completing his M.A. at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is active in opera, recital and oratorio. During the 2008/09 season he is performing in Le Nozze di Figaro, Amahl and the Night Visitors, I Puritani, La Traviata, L’Elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni, Four Saints in Three Acts, and Susannah as resident artist with the Opera Company of Brooklyn and Encompass New Opera Theater. Past venues include Steinway, Yamaha, and Alice Tully Halls, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, and Queens College’s Kupferberg Auditorium. Additional studies include the Mozarteum (Salzburg), Festival de Musica Clasica (Spain), and Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Italy (Bori Grant). The coming summer holds invitations to the International Academy of Music (Italy), the Burgos International Music Festival (Spain), and the Qabala International Music Festival (Azerbaijan). |
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