ABOUT US
Community Concerts at Epworth is a neighborhood concert series whose mission is to bring high quality concerts of diverse styles and genres to the North Berkeley area in an accessible format for all. The concerts are free of charge so that all can have access to great music. We accept donations at the performances which will be used to bring our musicians to the larger community where music is hard to come by, such as homeless shelters, prisons and inner city schools. The concerts are about one hour in length and accessible for all ages.
Community Concerts is a service of Epworth United Methodist Church to the wider community.
Message from Caroline Lee,
Artistic Director of Community Concerts at Epworth
This season’s concerts are filled with music that are both old, familiar and beloved as well as new and off the beaten path. We often encounter new experiences and deeper meaning when we return to a familiar place, whether it be in literature, visual art, music, or even nature. And sometimes we are surprised by experiencing deep meaning in something completely new to us, which is always a gift.
One of the pieces we will present is Schoenberg’s early masterpiece Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), a string sextet based on Richard Dehmel’s poem by the same title. A word used most often in biblical context, the Oxford dictionary defines the word ‘transfigure’ as “to transform into something more beautiful or elevated.” It is a word and concept that is not fashionable these days.
In an age of deep anxiety, head-spinning changes, and threat of the uncertainty of AI, I wonder if now is a time to reclaim this revelatory concept-that we can be changed- through deeper relationships with each other, the natural world, and the arts-into better, more beautiful versions of ourselves.
We hope that our offerings of these concerts will play a small part in transfiguring our precious and fragile world.