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The American conductor, Greg Funfgeld, is a 1976 graduate of Westminster Choir College.
Greg Funfgeld has been Artistic Director and Conductor of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and The Bach Festival Orchestra since 1983. The Choir, performing with the Bach Festival Orchestra and world-renowned soloists, has achieved a level of musical excellence that has been recognized internationally. Bach Choir of Bethlehem tours have included a 14-day, seven-city concert tour of Germany in 1995. Among the highlights of this tour were a full house and standing ovation at Munich's Herkules-Saal and a performance in the Thomaskirche, J.S. Bach's Church in Leipzig.
Greg Funfgeld has expanded the schedule of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem beyond annual Bethlehem Bach Festival each May to include Christmas concerts, a Spring Concert, a performance at Bethlehem's annual summer Musikfest, and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem's educational out-reach program, Bach to School. As part of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem's Centennial Celebration 1998-2000, he directed performances by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Bach Festival Orchestra for the Bach Festival of Philadelphia and at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.
Under Greg Funfgeld leadership, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem has released three Dorian recordings, Wachet Auf!, Christmas in Leipzig and The Mass in B minor (BWV 232), in addition to the popular Christmas in Bethlehem, volumes 1& 2. Greg Funfgeld's guest engagements have included the Boulder Bach Festival in its 10th anniversary performance of the Mass in B minor (BWV 232).
In May of 1986 Greg Funfgeld received the Alumni Merit of Westminster Choir College for excellence in musical performance. He maintains a performing career that continues to command widespread critical acclaim. In September 1989 he made his European debut as an organ recitalist in Bethlehem's Sister City, Schwäbisch-Gmund, and in October 1998 he directed J.S. Bach's musical offering from the harpsichord in an historic collaboration with the acclaimed Trisha Brown Dance Company. |
