Greg funfgeld short biography

Greg Funfgeld has been Artistic Director and Conductor of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and The Bach Festival Orchestra since 1983.
He's the artistic director and conductor of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem.
A native of Long Island—whose parents found his first piano teacher in the Yellow pages—and graduate of Westminster Choir College in organ.

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Listening to Bach in Bethlehem

Sunday afternoon included a release party for a book honoring our beloved conductor for his 30 years of leadership. We gathered following the concert and The Choir’s president, David Beckwith, had some eloquent words to mark the occasion. Greg then signed books for anyone present who would like them, and a lovely spread of refreshments was on offer.

The book was a labor of love on the part of our Executive Director, Bridget George, who compiled volumes of quotes and photography from The Choir’s extensive archives, and solicited introductions from some key figures. She collaborated with Anne Schauer, the incredibly gifted designer who works closely with the organization on our print materials. The two assembled an absolutely beautiful book that captures so much of the essence of our organization and its wonderful artistic leader. Congratulations to the both of them.

I’d like to offer a few words about the subject of their labors, though I cannot claim any objectivity on the matter. Greg Funfgeld is a close friend,

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Greg Funfgeld

I recently spent an afternoon at the 92nd Street Y, listening to Angela Hewitt play the Goldberg Variations, the second recital of a pair which began with the First Book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. The hall was packed for both concerts. The audience remained raptly silent during both. This afternoon every single member of the audience who was capable of standing was on his feet, expressing sincere gratitude for the great music they had just heard. There was a kind of religion in this, and it brought Jews, Christians, agnostics, and atheists together to hear the greatest of all music, which people who know it regard with spiritual fervor. This is the third year of Ms. Hewitt's Bach cycle, which will continue next season, overlapping with Garrick Ohlsson's traversal of the complete piano music of Brahms. That is how J. S. Bach is cultivated in the neighborhood where I live.

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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 B