Each group on the Berwang Holiday Music Course works towards two formal concerts to be given during the fortnight.  Formal concerts are distinguished from the informal concerts by having an audience drawn from non-course members, especially the villagers of Berwang and local dignitaries.  Listener members are, of course, part of the audience at both informal and formal concerts.  Initial rehearsals for the concerts take place during the normal music course sessions, respectively.  We also have a 'dress' rehearsal at the concert venue earlier on 'the day', when any problems of bringing together the various groups are ironed out.

On the evening of the middle Sunday, we give a performance in the village church.  This beautiful, Baroque period church is an ideal setting in which to perform, having a wonderful acoustic and highly decorative interior.  This concert attracts an audience from not only the local village but also other holidaymakers and visitors to Berwang.  Each group contributes, so that a typical concert may comprise: a choral piece with organ; a movement from a wind chamber piece; a string serenade; and, finally, all join forces to perform a concluding mass.

In the last few years, we have performed:

Haydn - 'Harmony' Mass; Paukenmesse (Mass in Time of War); St Nicholas Mass; Nelson Mass

Schütz – German Requiem

Beethoven – Mass in C

Schubert – Mass in F; Mass in A flat                 

Mozart – Requiem; Missa Brevis [K 194]

Michael Haydn – Mass

Weber – Mass in G

Afterwards, we all adjourn to the Hotel Rose for a well-earned Glühwein or ein grosses Bier!

Towards the end of the course, on the final Thursday, we give a concert in the lounge of the Hotel Singer.  This concert is lighter in mood than the church concert, as befits its setting, and we invite all our friends in Berwang and from the surrounding villages.  This is always an enjoyable occasion, and affords us the opportunity to thank the local villagers for making us so welcome, so it usually ends with various small speeches and a rendition of both national anthems.

It also enables us to introduce them to (or remind them of) a selection from, for example:

Austrian songs for choir & orchestra

Gilbert & Sullivan items – eg from Pirates of Penzance; HMS Pinafore; Gondoliers

Choral Waltzes by Strauss – eg Künstlerleben; Tales from the Vienna Forest

Elgar – Choral Dances from the Bavarian Highlands

These are, as in the church concert, preceded by a selection of short pieces performed by the various groups.  At both of these concerts, a collection is taken and the entire proceeds are donated to the church to help fund restoration and maintenance work.

After the Hotel Singer concert, the hotel bar becomes the focal point where we all meet and share a glass or three (!) with our audience, and Günter and Gerti Singer (pictured above with Kerry Camden after the 2002 concert) invite everyone to partake of traditional Speck, sausages, gherkins, cheese and home-made crusty bread – quite a party!