Violist and international conductor Joseph Firszt will be the featured soloist for the Berea College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers spring concert on Sunday, May 7, at 2 p.m. in Berea Baptist Church.

Music centered on two themes -- the life of Christ and a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach -- will be a focus of the program.

Two major works will be performed by the Choir during the first half of the concert. Bach's Cantata BWV 78 "Jesus, der de meine Seele" for soloists, chorus and orchestra will feature members of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra and music department faculty members at Berea and other local colleges and universities.

Firszt will be the soloist for the Kentucky premiere of the hymn cycle "Christus" for solo viola and choir by John Ferguson.

During the concert's second half, two humorous multi-movement works P.D.Q. Bach "Birthday Ode to 'Big Daddy Bach,' S. 100 and "Knock, Knock, s. 4/1," will be performed by the Chamber Singers. The program will conclude with two Samoan folk songs and Harry Belafonte's "Turn the World Around" performed by the Choir. Firszt has several musical ties to Central Kentucky. From 1953-1967, he was associate professor of music and director of instrumental music at Berea. He was music director and conductor of the Lexington Symphony Orchestra (now the Lexington Philharmonic) and Lexington "Pops" Orchestra from 1961-64 and also was director and founder of the South Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra. In 1965, he directed the Cumberland Chamber Orchestra and Berea Civic Orchestra and served as fine arts consultant for the Kentucky Department of Health, Welfare and Education.

During his career, Firszt has conducted orchestras in cities throughout Europe and in the United States, performed extensively as a violist, and has been a popular music lecturer and clinician in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Central America. From 1967-1996 he was music director and conductor of the Lima Symphony Orchestra, founder and advisor of the Lima Area Youth Orchestra and been special lecturer at several Ohio colleges.

Presently, Firszt resides in Vermont, where he is on the faculty of the Manchester Music Festival and has for several years been guest conductor of the chamber music ensemble Capella Cracoviensis in Kracow, Poland.

Admission to the concert is free and open to the public.