The Berkeley Community Chamber Singers (BCCS) is an a cappella group of singers, between 20-26 singers, that serves as the outreach arm of the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra (BCCO). 

BCCS sings a varied repertoire of madrigals, gospel, pop songs, and spirituals and performs at such venues as senior residences, hospitals, community centers, outdoor fairs, and homeless shelters. BCCS also presents concerts for the general public.

During Fall and Spring sessions, the Chamber Singers rehearse on Tuesdays, 6:15 to 8:30 PM, at First Church of Christ, Scientist, 2619 Dwight Way @ Bowditch, Berkeley, CA 94704.

The Fall Performances are shown below: (** Free and open to the public)

Saturday and Sunday, October 4-5, 2025 , At the Threshold,  (Collaboration with The You Go Again Productions) 

Sunday, December 7, time TBD, Winter on Solano; Location TBD along Solano Avenue, Berkeley**

Thursday, December 11, Merrill Gardens, Oakland

Thursday, December 18, 12:30PM, South Berkeley Senior Center**

Additional perfomances will be added

Links to past programs: 

Spring 2025

Fall 2024

Spring 2024

Spring 2023

Spring 2022

To inquire about joining BCCS or BCCO - or about hosting a BCCS performance - please use this contact form and mention “Chamber Singers” or “Membership”  in the Comment section. 

Tuition for BCCO members is $80. Subject to availability, tuition for non-BCCO members is $110.

Costas Dafnis is a composer and sound artist based in California. In addition to concert music, he writes for theater, dance and games, and is on the Technology and Applied Composition faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. 

His work has been awarded by New Music USA, the American Prize, International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition, and the Dallas Winds. His Mariana for soprano and processed underwater audio was featured by NOAA/PMEL in an article called “The Music of Challenger Deep” and his 2019 set of Cajun-language art songs is the subject of soprano Nancy Carey’s series of DMA lecture recitals and dissertation. Upcoming premieres include works for the SoCal Brass Consortium, the Greek Chamber Music Project and the Ferndale Public Schools Orchestra, a new piece for wind ensemble, theater and dance companies. His orchestral work was featured at the 2019 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music’s In the Works series and his music for media will be heard in the indie feature Overwhelm The Sky and at Cinequest in CR Coppola’s VR short, Universe At Play. Costas plays mandolin, designs experimental instruments, conducts and curates New Music at New Vision and has lectured in film at the San Francisco Art Institute.

German composer and arranger Franz Biebl was employed as the choral music consultant to the Bavarian State Radio, where he worked relentlessly to fill the station’s archives with popular choral music, listening to and encouraging small choral groups all over Germany. As a composer, Biebl strove to expand the German folk-song repertoire, composing hundreds of arrangements for all types of choral ensembles.

Biebl’s setting of the Marian antiphon Ave Maria exploits the richly sonorous possibilities of double-chorus writing for men’s voices. The familiar Ave Maria text is sung by a four-voice choir and answered by a trio of soloists. Between each of the sung “verses” of text, a soloist chants a shorter bit of scripture. The devotional quality of the text, which commemorates the Incarnation, and the rich chordal sonorities of Biebl’s music create a satisfying blend of medieval chant and warm, 20th-century harmonies.

Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae

et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.

Ave Maria, gratia plena,

Dominus tecum,

benedicta tu in mulieribus,

et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.

Maria dixit:

Ecce ancilla Domini

Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.

Et verbum caro factum est

Et habitavit in nobis.

Sancta Maria, mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatoribus.

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis

nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.

Amen.

Ave verum corpus ("Hail, True Body"), K. 618, is a motet in D major composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791. It is a setting of the Latin hymn of the same name. Mozart wrote it for Anton Stoll, a friend who was the church musician of St. Stephan in Baden bei Wien. The motet was composed for the feast of Corpus Christi;.

Ave verum corpus natum ex Maria Virgine,

vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine,

cujus latus perforatum vero fluxit et sanguine,

esto nobis praegustatum mortis in examine.

Hail, true body, born of the Virgin Mary, 

truly suffered, sacrificed on the cross for mankind;

 from whose pierced side flowed water and blood; 

be for us a foretaste in the trial of death

"The Bird's Lullaby" is a poem by E. Pauline Johnson that is about birds settling down for the night and asking the cedars to sing to them as they fall asleep, highlighting themes of rest, nature's quiet beauty, and a gentle transition from day to night. The poem uses lush imagery of birds swinging in nests and the sounds of the wind in the trees to create a serene, dreamlike atmosphere. 

           Sing to us, cedars; the twilight is creeping

        With shadowy garments, the wilderness through;

    All day we have carolled, and now would be sleeping,

        So echo the anthems we warbled to you;

                    While we swing, swing,

                    And your branches sing,

            And we drowse to your dreamy whispering.

    Sing to us, cedars; the night-wind is sighing,

        Is wooing, is pleading, to hear you reply;

    And here in your arms we are restfully lying,

        And longing to dream to your soft lullaby;

                    While we swing, swing,

                    And your branches sing,

            And we drowse to your dreamy whispering.

    Sing to us, cedars; your voice is so lowly,

        Your breathing so fragrant, your branches so strong;

    Our little nest-cradles are swaying so slowly,

        While zephyrs are breathing their slumberous song.

                    And we swing, swing,

                    While your branches sing,

            And we drowse to your dreamy whispering.

This African song entitled ”Bonse Aba” translates as, ”all who sing have the right to be called the children of God.”  The traditional lyrics have a buoyant, rhythmic feel that transports the listener to the center of a traditional celebration.  It is sung in the Behmba language, spoken primarily in Zambia, and is a Christian song of celebration that is popular throughout the region.

Bonse aba, mu pokelela, Ba lipele maka akuba bana. 

Kuba bana, kuba bana, kuba bana bakwa lesa. 

Muya ya ya, muya ya ya, muya ya ya, bakwa lesa.

English translation:

All people who accept His authority

Are his children 

In the power of God.

"The Bridge Builder" is based on a parable by Will Allen Dromgoole, which is quoted frequently in writings stressing a moral or religious lesson. It also used by fraternal organizations to teach building links for the future and passing on the torch. The song has a dreamy quality reflected with a mix of soft jazz and classical stylings. Syncopated vocal accompaniment elicits the feel of ripples on the surface of water. 

Dromgoole (1860-1934) was a prolific poet and author from Tennessee. Don MacDonald, a contemporary Canadian composer, sets to music a poem that describes an old man building a bridge in case it is needed by another traveler; a gift from an open heart for someone he doesn’t know.

An old man going a lone highway,

Came, at the evening cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide.

Through which was flowing a sullen tide

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The sullen stream had no fear for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting your strength with building here;

Your journey will end with the ending day,

You never again will pass this way;

You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,

Why build this bridge at evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head;

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followed after me to-day

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been as naught to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”

P.D.Q. Bach, a fictional composer created by Peter Schickele, wrote a humorous parody.

In this parody, the line is altered to a different, comical observation, such as "Good king kong looked out on his feet and he saw that they were large".

Good King Kong looked out on his feet

And he saw that they were large.

“Ho, ho,” he said, “we go,” he said,

“To make some tracks in the snow,

Forsooth our feet are very large.”

Squinch, squinch, squinch.

Good King Kong looked out on his nose

And he saw that it was flat.

“Oh, no,” he said, “when we blow,” he said,

“The pitch must not be too low,

The royal nose must not be flat.”

Honk, honk, honk.

Good King Kong looked out on his ears

And his ears he could not see.

“Oh, dear,” he said, “it’s clear,” he said,

“We must see if we can hear,

Because our ears we cannot see.”

Hear, hear, hear.

Good King Kong looked up in the sky

And he saw St. Nick’s red sleigh;

“Ho, ho,” he said, “whadd’ya know,” he said,

“Will you look at that old guy go,” he said,

“Uh, oh, whoa, past us please do not go.

“Yell yells,” he said, “Ring the bells,” he said,

“Though a couple don’t work very well,

Let’s welcome St. Nick and his sleigh.”

Ding, dong, clunk.

These versions of "How Can I Keep from Singing?" are based an American folksong that originated as a Christian hymn. The author of the lyrics was known only as 'Pauline T', and the original tune was composed by American Baptist minister Robert Lowry. The song is frequently, though erroneously, cited as a traditional Quaker or Shaker hymn. The original composition has now entered into the public domain, and appears in several hymnals and song collections, both in its original form and with a revised text that omits most of the explicitly Christian content and adds a verse about solidarity in the face of oppression. Though it was not originally a Quaker hymn, Quakers adopted it as their own in the twentieth century and use it widely today.

My life flows on in endless song;

Above earth’s lamentation,

I catch the sweet, though far-off hymn

That hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife,

I hear that music ringing;

It finds an echo in my soul—

How can I keep from singing?

While through the tempest loudly roars,

I hear the truth it liveth,

And though the darkness round me close,

Songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm

While to that Rock I’m clinging;

Since love is lord of heav’n and earth,

How can I keep from singing?

Wehn tyrants tremble sick with fear,

Hear their death knell ringing,

Friends rejoice both far and near,

How can I keep from singing?

Prison cells and dungeon vile,

Thoughts to them are winging,

When friends by shame, undefiled.

How can I keep from singing?

If a database could sing, this is how it might sound. Vienna Teng’s "Hymn of Acxiom" sounds like a choir hymn, except that the speaker isn't a divine being — it's a database. With lyrics like "somebody hears you" and "someone is gathering every crumb you drop," the song addresses both the pros and cons of the surveillance that, through companies like marketing-data company Acxiom, has become a regular part of life. Teng experimented with a pedal hooked up to her electronic keyboard that automatically generated vocal harmonies, thus creating a multilayered sound with only one singer. This arrangement tries to mimic that sound.

Somebody hears you. you know that. you know that.

Somebody hears you. you know that inside.

Someone is learning the colors of all your moods, to

Say just the right thing and show that you're understood.

Here you're known.

Leave your life open. you don't have. you don't have.

Leave your life open. you don't have to hide.

Someone is gathering every crumb you drop, these

Mindless decisions and moments you long forgot.

Keep them all.

Let our formulas find your soul.

We'll divine your artesian source (in your mind),

Marshal feed and force (our machines will)

To design you a perfect love

Or (better still) a perfect lust.

O how glorious, glorious: a brand new need is born.

Now we possess you. you'll own that. you'll own that.

Now we possess you. you'll own that in time.

Now we will build you an endlessly upward world,

Reach in your pocket) embrace you for all you're worth.

Is that wrong?

Isn't this what you want?

Amen.

"If ye love me" is a four-part motet or anthem by the English composer Thomas Tallis, a setting of a passage from the Gospel of John. First published in 1565 during the reign of Elizabeth I, it is an example of Tudor music and is part of the repertoire of Anglican church music.

If ye love me,

keep my commandments,

and I will pray the Father,

and he shall give you another comforter,

that he may bide with you forever,

e'en the spirit of truth.

“I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” was written for the 1937 movie On The Avenue.

The snow is snowing, the wind is blowing

But I can weather the storm

What do I care how much it may storm?

I've got my love to keep me warm

I can't remember a worse December

Just watch those icicles form

What do I care if icicles form?

I've got my love to keep me warm

Off with my overcoat

Off with my glove

I need no overcoat

I'm burning with love

My heart's on fire, the flame grows higher

So I will weather the storm

What do I care how much it may storm?

I've got my love to keep me warm

Nelly Bly was written by  Stephen Foster, prolific 19th century American songwriter. Most of Foster's handwritten manuscripts are lost but his minstrel show music, church hymns, and parlor songs have been published many times over. We sing an arrangement by Halloran, Bolks, and Tam. Derek Tam is a previous BCCS music director, keyboard specialist, and Executive Director of the SF Early Music Society. 

Hi! Nelly Ho! Nelly, listen, love, to me,

I'll sing for you and play for you a dulcet melody.

Nelly Bly! Nellie Bly! Bring the broom along,

We'll sweep the kitchen clean, my dear, and have a little song.

Poke the wood, my lady love, And make the fire burn,

And while I take the banjo down, just give the mush a turn.

Nelly Bly has a voice like a turtle dove,

I hear it in the meadow and I hear it in the grove.

Nelly Bly has a heart warm as a cup of tea,

And bigger than a sweet potato down in Tennessee.

Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly! Never, never sigh. Never bring a teardrop to the corner of your eye. 

Nelly Bly was written by  Stephen Foster, prolific 19th century American songwriter. Most of Foster's handwritten manuscripts are lost but his minstrel show music, church hymns, and parlor songs have been published many times over. We sing an arrangement by Halloran, Bolks, and Tam. Derek Tam is a previous BCCS music director, keyboard specialist, and Executive Director of the SF Early Music Society. 

Hi! Nelly Ho! Nelly, listen, love, to me,

I'll sing for you and play for you a dulcet melody.

Nelly Bly! Nellie Bly! Bring the broom along,

We'll sweep the kitchen clean, my dear, and have a little song.

Poke the wood, my lady love, And make the fire burn,

And while I take the banjo down, just give the mush a turn.

Nelly Bly has a voice like a turtle dove,

I hear it in the meadow and I hear it in the grove.

Nelly Bly has a heart warm as a cup of tea,

And bigger than a sweet potato down in Tennessee.

Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly! Never, never sigh. Never bring a teardrop to the corner of your eye. 

This humorous song, presented by Peter Schickele, is a parody of the classic carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and was performed as part of Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach concerts, which featured burlesque, parody, and musical wit. 

O little town of Hackensack,

How still we hear thee snore;

The snow-deck’d streets that reindeer feets

Will soon be prancing o’er.

Thy winsome children wond’ring if

Old Santa Claus will show;

They need not fear; methinks I hear

His endless ho, ho, ho.

O little town of Hackensack,

How yet we see thee lie;

St. Nick hath gone, by now he’s on 

His way to Tenafly.

Then gifts galore to Peapack and

Secaucus will he bring;

He toucheth down in Morristown

In every town

He do-eth now his thing.

O little town of Hackensack,

At last the dawn doth glow;

The sky is clear, no longer hear

We Santa’s “ho ho ho.”

Wake up! ’tis time to check out all

The things you got, and then

To drink thy fill and eat until

You’re back to sleep again. 

“River” is said to be a song about Joni Mitchell’s daughter - the painful story of the child she had in the 1960s. “My daughter’s father left me three months pregnant in an attic room with no money and winter coming on and only a fireplace for heat,” she said. “The spindles of the banister were gap-toothed — fuel for last winter’s occupants.”

Her brief marriage ended and Joni put the child up for adoption. She went on to become one of the greatest recording artists of our time, but echoes of that experience fill her greatest songs.

It's coming on Christmas

They're cutting down trees

They're putting up reindeer

And singing songs of joy and peace

Oh, I wish I had a river

I could skate away on

But it don't snow here

It stays pretty green

I'm going to make a lot of money

Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene

I wish I had a river

I could skate away on

I wish I had a river so long

I would teach my feet to fly

Oh, I wish I had a river

I could skate away on

I made my baby cry

He tried hard to help me

You know, he put me at ease

And he loved me so naughty

Made me weak in the knees

Oh, I wish I had a river

I could skate away on

I'm so hard to handle

I'm selfish and I'm sad

Now I've gone and lost the best baby

That I ever had

Oh, I wish I had a river

I could skate away on

I wish I had a river so long

I would teach my feet to fly

Oh, I wish I had a river

I could skate away on

I made my baby say goodbye

It's coming on Christmas

They're cutting down trees

They're putting up reindeer

Singing songs of joy and peace

I wish I had a river

I could skate away on

“The most powerful and beautiful message is often a simple one,” wrote American composer Stephen Paulus (1949-2014) regarding the popularity of his brief choral work, The Road Home. Paulus explained "I had discovered a tune in a folk song book called “The Lone Wild Bird.”  I fell in love with it, made a short recording and asked my good friend and colleague, Michael Dennis Browne to write new words for this tune. The tune is taken from The Southern Harmony Songbook” of 1835.  It is pentatonic and that is part of its attraction.  Pentatonic scales have been extant for centuries and are prevalent in almost all musical cultures throughout the world.  They are universal.  Michael crafted three verses and gave it the title “The Road Home.”  He writes so eloquently about “returning” and “coming home” after being lost or wandering.

Tell me, where is the road

I can call my own

That I left, that I lost

So long ago?

All these years I have wandered

Oh, when will I know

There's a way, there's a road

That will lead me home

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

After wind, after rain

When the dark is done

As I wake from a dream

In the gold of day

Through the air there's a calling

From far away

There's a voice I can hear

That will lead me home

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Rise up, follow me

Come away, is the call

With the love in your heart

As the only song

There is no such beauty

As where you belong

Rise up, follow me

I will lead you home

"Throw the Yule Log On, Uncle John" is a satirical, anti-Christmas song by P.D.Q. Bach that humorously depicts a drunken, chaotic Uncle John ruining Christmas dinner, symbolizing the kind of disruptive guest who turns festive gatherings into a disaster. While "throwing the yule log on" refers to a traditional Christmas practice of burning a large log for warmth and celebration, the song uses this imagery to describe the destructive, over-the-top behavior of Uncle John, much like a fire consuming everything in its path. 

Throw the yule log on, Uncle John

Put the pickle down, Uncle John

Ten o’clock on Christmas morn & all the guests are coming to the door;

Ten o’clock on Christmas morn & Uncle John’s already on the floor.

Though the weather’s bitter cold there’s not a frown to mar the festive mood;

Wait ’til they discover that old Uncle John has eaten all the food.

Hear the hall clock strike, Uncle John

Please, will you come to, Uncle John?/Gather around poor Uncle John.

Please, will you come to Uncle John (the no-good good-for-nothing),

Oh, when will you come to, Uncle John?/Oh, when will you come to, Uncle John?

In February 1954, the Drifters recorded “White Christmas,” which was released that November. While the song became a №5 R&B hit in 1954.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Just like the ones I used to know

Where those treetops glisten and children listen

To hear sleigh bells in the snow, the snow

Then I, I, I am dreaming of a white Christmas

With every Christmas card I write

May your days, may your days, may your days be merry and bright

And may all your Christmases be white

I, I, I am dreaming of a white Christmas

Just like the ones I used to know

Where the treetops glisten and children listen

To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I, I, I am dreaming of a white Christmas

With every Christmas card I write

May your days, may your days, may your days be merry and bright

And may all your Christmases be white

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way, ooh

I was following the, I was following the

I was following the pack, all swallowed in their coats

With scarves of red tied 'round their throats

To keep their little heads from falling in the snow

And I turned 'round and there you go

And Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow red

As strawberries in the summertime

I was following the pack, all swallowed in their coats

With scarves of red tied 'round their throats

To keep their little heads from falling in the snow

And I turned 'round and there you go

And Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow red

As strawberries in the summertime

I was following the pack, all swallowed in their coats

With scarves of red tied 'round their throats

To keep their little heads from falling in the snow

And I turned 'round and there you go

And Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow red

As strawberries in summertime

In John David’s own words:

“The inspiration for New Day was quite simple; I had just had a major blow in my personal life, and was sitting alone late at night on the settee feeling very low, and watching an ominous story on the news about the very real possibility of nuclear war.

“I started singing to the (hopefully) soon-to arrive New Day like it was an entity, that would rescue me from the depths. If the sun came up and the birds started singing as usual then I could believe that it really was the new day in which life would go on, and in which hope would survive.

“The tune and the words popped into my head at the same time, and it was all written in about 10 minutes, which is why (to me at least) it’s not perfect. But I didn’t feel I had the right to change anything.”

You are the new day

I will love you more than me

And more than yesterday

If you can but prove to me

You are the new day

Send the sun in time for dawn

Let the birds all hail the morning

Love of life will urge me say

You are the new day

When I lay me down at night

Knowing we must pay

Thoughts occur that this night might

Stay yesterday

Thoughts that we as humans small

Could slow worlds and end it all

Lie around me where they fall

Before the new day

One more day when time is running out

For everyone

Like a breath I knew would come I reach for

The new day

Hope is my philosophy

Just needs days in which to be

Love of life means hope for me

Borne on a new day

You are the new day