{"id":86954,"date":"2026-01-14T23:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/86954\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T23:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:08:09","slug":"berks-sinfonietta-opens-2026-season-highlighting-local-soloists-and-underperformed-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/86954\/","title":{"rendered":"Berks Sinfonietta opens 2026 season highlighting local soloists and underperformed works"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Berks Sinfonietta opened its 2026 season over the weekend with a program that paired familiar Classical-era concertos with 20th-century works that remain far less frequently heard, offering audiences both grounding and discovery in a single afternoon.<\/p>\n

Presented at Atonement Lutheran Church in Wyomissing, the concert featured two Mozart concertos in the first half before turning, after intermission, to Ruth Gipps\u2019 Jane Grey, Fantasy for Viola and String Orchestra and David Diamond\u2019s Rounds for String Orchestra. Guest conductor Tyler Readinger led the ensemble for the final work, with solo performances throughout the program by bassoonist Joshua Schairer, flutist Suzanne Francis, and violist Kathleen Stevens Bahena.<\/p>\n

While the Mozart selections provided a bright and balanced opening, it was the Gipps work\u2014anchored by Bahena\u2014that formed the emotional and conceptual core of the program.<\/p>\n

\"\"Joshua Schairer performs Mozart\u2019s Concerto for Bassoon in B-flat Major during Berks Sinfonietta\u2019s 2026 season-opening concert at Atonement Lutheran Church in Wyomissing.<\/p>\n

Gipps\u2019 Jane Grey Fantasy is not new to Berks Sinfonietta\u2019s broader mission. According to Bahena, the ensemble has been gradually exploring Gipps\u2019 catalog for several years, beginning around 2021. When she was invited to perform the Jane Grey work, it became part of a deeper personal and academic engagement with the composer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearning the Jane Grey Fantasy has become part of my exploration and pursuit of Gipps\u2019 music,\u201d Bahena said, noting that she sought out other viola works by Gipps and performed them in multiple academic and professional settings to help bring attention to the composer\u2019s output. She described Ruth Gipps as \u201ca severely underperformed composer,\u201d adding that she was grateful to work with an organization willing to support that exploration.<\/p>\n

That advocacy was evident in the performance itself. Unlike a traditional concerto, Gipps\u2019 piece avoids virtuosity for its own sake. Instead, the viola functions as a narrative voice\u2014an approach Bahena emphasized both musically and conceptually.<\/p>\n

Composed as a musical portrait of Lady Jane Grey\u2014the English queen who reigned for just nine days before being executed at age 16\u2014the Jane Grey Fantasy unfolds as a series of interwoven themes rather than a soloist-versus-orchestra display.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis piece is not a typical concerto,\u201d Bahena said. \u201cThe viola part is not showy or predominantly virtuosic. Instead, Gipps uses the viola to be a voice for the tragic Jane Grey. In essence, the viola is Jane Grey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Suzanne Francis performs as soloist in Mozart\u2019s Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major with Berks Sinfonietta during the ensemble\u2019s weekend performance.<\/p>\n

Throughout the piece, the solo viola weaves in and out of the orchestra rather than standing apart from it, especially at the beginning, where musical ideas are shared instead of clearly separated. As the work moves forward, those ideas return in shorter, more intense bursts during the final section, often described as Jane Grey\u2019s death scene, building to a single high note before the music suddenly falls silent.<\/p>\n

Bahena described that concluding passage as both technically and emotionally demanding. \u201cPacing this section and making sure to communicate with the lower strings and David\u2026 if it all works out, it will be very powerful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In performance, the restraint of the earlier sections made the ending\u2019s intensity all the more striking, with the orchestra responding closely to the solo line rather than overpowering it. The result was a quiet but unsettling conclusion that lingered well beyond the final silence.<\/p>\n

Bahena said her preparation process begins long before rehearsals, often starting with learning the music by ear and studying how the solo line interacts with the orchestra. For a work that has been performed relatively few times, that preparation required additional score study and historical research.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite parts is researching the piece and the composer,\u201d she said. \u201cIt helps my understanding of what the composer was trying to say with the music, and that shapes my interpretation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also pointed to a perceived kinship between Gipps and her subject, noting that both women were shaped\u2014and constrained\u2014by the social structures of their times. Gipps, she said, did not find sustained professional success until late in life, despite early promise, a reality that resonates with the tragic brevity of Jane Grey\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tyler Readinger conducts David Diamond\u2019s Rounds for String Orchestra during the final work of Berks Sinfonietta\u2019s 2026 season-opening concert at Atonement Lutheran Church in Wyomissing.<\/p>\n

The surrounding works on the program offered contrast rather than competition. Mozart\u2019s Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major and Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major emphasized lyricism and clarity, allowing soloists Schairer and Francis to engage in refined dialogue with the orchestra. Diamond\u2019s Rounds for String Orchestra, composed during World War II, closed the concert with rhythmic momentum and tightly constructed textures that highlighted the ensemble\u2019s cohesion.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the program reflected Berks Sinfonietta\u2019s dual commitment to accessible repertoire and the intentional elevation of overlooked voices. In placing Gipps\u2019 Jane Grey Fantasy at the heart of the concert, the ensemble reinforced that mission not as a thematic gesture, but as a living, interpretive practice\u2014one grounded in research, advocacy, and performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Berks Sinfonietta opened its 2026 season over the weekend with a program that paired familiar Classical-era concertos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-86954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-reading-city","9":"tag-reading-city-headlines","10":"tag-reading-city-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}