Community Concerts at Epworth

The mission of Community Concerts at Epworth is to bring high quality concerts of diverse styles and genres to our community in an accessible format for all. The concerts are free of charge so that everyone can have access to great music.

Message from Artistic Director, Caroline Lee:

Our Fall 2020 Series, Music for the Times will be streamed live from our main concert venue, the sanctuary of Epworth United Methodist Church of Berkeley. We hope to share the immediacy and energy of a small-concert setting with our audience, even when they can't be physically present.

This year marks the celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birth year. All over the world, concert halls large and small were planning to celebrate one of the most recognized and celebrated composers of all times until the coronavirus shut them down. I can’t think of another composer whose music and life speak so deeply and eloquently to the human condition in all its forms and speak to the times such as the present. This fall we will celebrate Beethoven’s amazing achievement with performances of three of his monumental and beloved chamber works — Judas Maccabaus variations for cello and piano, the “Kreutzer” violin sonata, and the great opus 127 string quartet from his late period.

We also look to the present and the future. Community Concerts at Epworth has commissioned two critically acclaimed composers, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Kay Kyurim Rhee, to produce new works to be premiered on our stage this fall. We asked them to write works that speak to the time we are living in, and bring their own perspectives as composers of color. I can’t wait to share these works that look deeply at our world and help us find connection and meaning.

The concert series is a community service of Epworth United Methodist Church of Berkeley, a Reconciling Congregation committed to justice for all people.