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Making Music in Greater Reading

Meet nearly a dozen groups that bring music and music education to the Berks County community.

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It’s the universal language. Music can pump up or soothe, motivate or relax, get you through a tough time or vividly evoke good times. You can enjoy it passively, appreciating its creation from the hands or throats of a consummate professional, or actively, making it on your own. Greater Reading is home to nearly a dozen organizations that offer numerous ways to do both.

Berks Arts

Founded in 1969 as Berks Arts Council, this organization is best known for presenting three area festivals highlighting music professionals — the worldrenowned Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest, the bluesy offshoot Reading Blues Fest and the recently reimagined Berks Summer Fest. But the group, which aims “to inspire, engage and unite our community through arts education, collaboration and presentation,” also supports the area’s aspiring amateur musicians. The Jazz Fest’s music education program, getJazzed, offers workshops and summer camps, jam sessions with top-tier musicians and scholastic music festivals. A partnership with Music Educators of Berks County led to the Senior County Music Festival, the Junior County Music Festival, the 6th Grade Band & String Fest and the 6th Grade Song Fest. The organization also offers the Young Artist Scholarship program, supporting those pursuing careers in the arts.

For more info: berksarts.org Make a donation: berksarts.org/donate

Berks Opera Company

This organization isn’t quiet about its goals, proclaiming in large font at the top of its website, “We Make Noise!” In fact, the noise created by the students of voice instructors/music educators Francine Black and daughter Tamara led to the organization’s incorporation in 2009. The students wanted to tackle more challenging material, so the Blacks founded Berks Opera Company, aiming to teach artists how best to perform it and teach audiences how best to appreciate it. Along with performing in traditional venues, Berks Opera Company artists take the art form directly to the people with Spring and Autumn Opera Nights at Judy’s on Cherry in Reading and performances at the American Diner in West Reading. It also performs operatic versions of shows for children in collaboration with the Yocum Institute for Arts Education and Reading Theater Project. Other community outreach efforts include Unleashing Your Inner Opera Fan, which consists of presentations highlighting an upcoming Metropolitan Opera Live in HD simulcast, and special programs at area colleges. Plans for the 2024-25 season include a party in August with a bluegrass band and opera singers, a barbecue and wine tasting; a staging of holiday favorite Hansel & Gretel in collaboration with Albright College; and a professional production in summer 2025.

For more info: berksopera.org Make a donation: Click the PayPal link at berksopera.org.

Berks Sinfonietta

Aspiring to be a hub for classical music in Berks, this nonprofit chamber orchestra has goals that expand beyond simply performing and promoting the music. According to its mission statement, Berks Sinfonietta wants to build camaraderie among its players, the audience and the community; aims to create a diverse and inclusive organization that reflects the area; and hopes its multigenerational and eclectic ensemble leads to mentorship through music. Its commitment to diversity extends beyond its members; it regularly spotlights music composed by women, people of color and living artists, an attempt to quash the narrative that classical music only consists of compositions by white men from centuries past. Founded in 2014, Berks Sinfonietta experienced growth during its first few years before COVID relegated its concerts to Zoom. Since resuming in-person performances, the orchestra has resumed growing its audience, allowing it to add a seventh concert to its 2024-2025 schedule. Its 11th season kicks off Aug. 17 with a performance of Mahler’s First Symphony at Atonement Lutheran Church in Wyomissing.

For more info: berkssinfonietta.org Make a donation: berkssinfonietta.org/donate

Friends of Chamber Music Reading

This nonprofit aims “to foster classical chamber music of the highest caliber,” making it accessible by presenting concerts with no admission fee. During the early years after its founding in 1953, the organization offered two concerts from one ensemble each year. It has since expanded to present six performances by six professional ensembles. Its mission also includes bringing those artists into area schools to educate and inspire the next generation. The group’s 2023-24 season featured performances by the Amernet Quartet with Matthew Bengtson on piano, t he Aeolus Quartet, the Weiss Kaplan Stumpf Trio, the AYA Piano Trio, the Dalí Quartet and the Brentano String Quartet. The 2024-25 season will kick off in the fall. All concerts take place in the WCR Center for the Arts on N. Fifth Street in Reading.

For more info: chambermusicreading.org Make a donation: Click the “Donate” link at chambermusicreading.org

KU Presents!

The original Performing Artists Series at Kutztown University started in 1988 with a mission of “bringing worldclass live arts that can entertain, educate and enrich” and “providing access to a variety of performing arts in the broadest sense to patrons of all ages.” Its initial season featured three performances; its just-concluded 2023-2024 season tallied 11. Its offerings are split into two categories: the Performing Artists Series and the Family Series, the latter of which is aimed at young audiences. Artists who have performed at the university include Grover Washington Jr., The Wallflowers, Roseanne Cash, the Branford Marsalis Quartet, Audra McDonald, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Mark Morris Dance. The organization also collaborates with the Kutztown University Arts Society to present shows and workshops for K-12 students in an initiative called P.L.A.Y. (Promoting the Love of Arts in Youth). The Arts Society covers the costs for visiting artists, production and transportation. Each season, KU Presents! works with the artists to offer master classes, workshops and meet-and-greets for Kutztown students.

For more info: kutztownpresents.org Make a donation: Donations can be added to any ticket purchase.

Miller Center for the Arts

Located on the Reading Area Community College (RACC) campus, the Miller Center for the Arts solved the city of Reading’s Goldilocks problem. Before the 500-seat theater opened, the downtown had no place to stage performances by artists who were too popular for the city’s smaller venues but not enough of a draw to pack the 1,800-seat Santander Performing Arts Center. Enter Arrow International founder Marlin Miller, who worked with RACC’s leadership to conceive and construct the Miller Center, which spawned the Downtown Performing Arts series. About to kick off its 17th season, the series has presented renowned dance troupes, comedians, live theater performances, children’s entertainment and a wide range of musical offerings, including Judy Collins, Three Dog Night, Taj Mahal, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Boscov's Berks Jazz Fest shows. It also showcases student productions by RACC’s theater department, allowing students to perform at the venue multiple times a year. Additionally, the Miller Center hosts community events and is available for rental.

For more info: millercenter.racc.edu Make a donation: Click the “Donate to the Miller Center for the Arts via the Foundation for RACC” link at millercenter.racc.edu.

Reading Pops Orchestra

Composed of musicians from the Greater Reading area and surrounding counties, the Reading Pops Orchestra has entertained lovers of all kinds of music since 1969. (“Pops” designates a symphony orchestra that performs semiclassical music or arrangements of popular music.) Reading Pops’ eclectic repertoire includes well-known classics along with pieces by American contemporary composers, such as George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, and popular tunes from Broadway musicals and Hollywood soundtracks. Its concerts include the Sunday with the Pops Series at the Miller Center for the Arts; Nutcracker performances with Berks Ballet Theatre; Side-by-Side Concerts, featuring area high school students performing alongside Pops musicians; the annual Fathers’ Day and Juneteenth Celebration Concert at the Green Valley Chateau Tent; and the Concert in the Park at the Wyomissing Stone House.

For more info: readingpops.com Make a donation: readingpops.com/donate-support

Reading Symphony Orchestra

One of the nation’s oldest continuously operating symphonies, the Reading Symphony Orchestra has enriched the Berks community since 1913. Performing a diverse repertoire spanning classical to contemporary, the orchestra has shared the stage with illustrious guest soloists, including soprano Renée Fleming, pianists Yuja Wang and Fabio Bidini, violinists Midori and Pinchas Zukerman and guitarist Jason Vieaux. Among its educational and outreach programs are the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra and Junior String Program, which allows students to perform advanced orchestral pieces under the tutelage of professionals; the Orchestra Zone program, which provides free, private instrumental music lessons to underserved students in the Reading School District; and the Masterclass series, which allows community members to learn from visiting soloists. Its 2024-2025 season kicks off Sept. 28 with a program highlighted by a performance of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.

For more info: readingsymphony.org Make a donation: readingsymphony.org/become-a-donor

Yocum Institute for Arts Education

It has a different name and resides at a different location than when it was founded, but the Yocum Institute for Arts Education has been an integral part of Berks County’s arts fabric for nearly a century. Established in 1934 as the Wyomissing Institute of Fine Arts, Yocum enriches the community through arts education, performance and programming. The institute’s classes include visual arts, theater, dance and martial arts along with residencies, summer camps, kindergarten and preschool, plays and musicals and gallery space. In its music wing, outfitted with five private studios and one large studio, Yocum offers classes and private instruction in voice, guitar, ukulele, piano, woodwinds and bagpipes. Music classes are also offered. Its Berks Piano Quartet, featuring accomplished keyboard players recommended by area teachers, has performed more than 60 concerts throughout the region. Yocum also offers Jazz on the Avenue, a monthly concert series featuring live jazz performances in its Schumo Theater.

For more info: yocuminstitute.org Make a donation: yocuminstitute.org/donate