Berks Sinfonietta will open its 2026 concert season with Soloists A Round, a program celebrating three homegrown musicians, on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at 4 p.m. The performance will take place at Atonement Lutheran Church, located at 5 Wyomissing Blvd. in Wyomissing. Buy tickets here: berkssinfonietta.org/concert/soloists-a-round.
The concert continues the ensemble’s mission of bringing people together through music by spotlighting locally sourced performers and pairing familiar masterworks with lesser-heard pieces that expand the traditional orchestral experience in Berks County.
Soloists A Round features four works spanning classical and 20th-century repertoire:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Concerto for Bassoon in B-flat Major, featuring soloist Joshua Schairer. Written when Mozart was just 18, it is his first wind concerto.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Concerto for Flute No. 1 in G Major, featuring soloist Suzanne Francis.
- Ruth Gipps – Jane Grey, Fantasy for Viola and String Orchestra, featuring soloist Kathleen Bahena.
- David Diamond – Rounds for String Orchestra, composed in 1944 as a creative response to the challenges of World War II.
Bassoonist Joshua Schairer, DMA, will take center stage in Mozart’s Concerto for Bassoon in B-flat Major—one of the most recognized works for the instrument.
“I auditioned for my bachelors playing the third movement of this work – the most fun to play, in my opinion,” Schairer said. “While this concerto is one of the most often performed for the instrument, the bassoon is rarely heard as a solo instrument; I am hoping that by seeing the bassoon in front of the orchestra, it will draw more young people to the instrument.”
Schairer began studying the bassoon at age 10 and later trained at the University of Northern Colorado and Temple University’s Boyer School of Music. His performance career includes appearances with orchestras across Colorado, New York, and the greater Philadelphia region. He has also taught at several universities and currently operates a private studio based in Oslo, Norway, with a focus on reed-making instruction.
Tickets and Information
Tickets are available online and at the door. Pricing, directions, and season subscription details can be found at berkssinfonietta.org/concert/soloists-a-round.