About
The Bakersfield Masterworks Chorale is a choral society of adult voices directed by Phil Witmer and affiliated with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. During its concert season, the Chorale seeks to enrich community musical awareness by presenting performances of major choral literature, secular and sacred, from all musical eras.
The Chorale is a non-profit educational organization, and is Bakersfield’s only mixed adult choral group governed locally by a board of directors operating under a constitution and by-laws.
The Chorale performs Handel’s Messiah each Christmas. It has also several albums, audio tapes and CD’s. The Chorale toured the United Kingdom in the summer of 1999 and also completed European tours in 1975 and 1996, and an Eastern European Tour in 2003.
Chorale singers and board members represent a broad cross-section of the community, ranging in age from college students to retired adults. Membership ranges from 75 to 100 or more singers. Chorale members’ occupations include such diverse fields as education, medicine, agriculture, service industries, legal, oil and homemaking.
In addition to its established concert season, the Chorale performs at various community functions, such as Castle and Cook’s summer concert series at the Marketplace. It has also performed short programs for various groups in Bakersfield, including Symphony Associates, Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary, and the Kern County Bar Association.
Because ticket sales alone cannot financially support the concert season, a major portion of the Chorale’s expenses must be underwritten by donations from individuals, charitable foundations, and the business community. As Friends of Masterworks, donors help ensure the continued presentation of this outstanding musical entertainment.