It was billed as a “Youth Choirs Festival.”

The “Greg Funfgeld 2025 Family Concert,” Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, was that and more.

The “more” was the audience, which nearly filled Baker Hall and was included, by design, in the concert.

There was something on the program for choral music fanciers of all ages.

What was most impressive was the way Dr. Christopher Jackson, Bach Choir of Bethlehem Artistic Director and Conductor, wove not only a tapestry of sound, but a tapestry of meaning, throughout the concert, subtitled “Music From Around The World.”

The annual Greg Funfgeld Family Concert, named in honor of the retired longtime artistic director and conductor, has since 2000 paired the music of Bach with dance, theater, poetry and visual arts. An underlying theme has been the participation of young artists.

So, it was natural that the Bach Choir would return to its roots, that of choral music, and include talented young singers for a Youth Choirs Festival.

The Feb. 23 concert included the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts Touring Choir, David Macbeth, Director; Nazareth Area High School Cantus, Kelly S. Rocchi, Director; Parkland High School Chorale, Alison Logan, Director, and Westminster Choir, Donald Nally, Director.

The concert lived up to its billing of “Music From Around The World,” with:

“A Zimbabwe Greeting,” sung by the Bach Choir and youth choirs; “Segalariak” from the Basque Country, by Nazareth Area High School Cantus, and “Cikala Le Pong Pong” from Indonesia, by Parkland High School Chorale;

Also: “Bogoroditse devo” by Rachmaninoff, from Russia, by the Bach Choir and Westminster Choir; “O Nata Lux” and “Democracy,” from the United States, by Westminster Choir; Four movements from “Requiem in D Minor” by Mozart, from Austria, by the Bach Choir and youth choirs, and

“World O World,” by Collier, from the United Kingdom, by Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts Touring Choir, and “Dona nobis pacem” from Bach’s “Mass in B Minor,” by the Bach Choir, Bach Festival Orchestra and youth choirs.

The concert program book included activities for young and old.

The main activity, of course, was the concert itself, which was thrilling, inspirational and memorable. The sound of the massed choirs was astounding and not soon forgotten.

As I basked in the concert’s afterglow, it led me to wonder why there aren’t more such annual youth choirs festivals in the Lehigh Valley, what with its rich choral tradition, pioneered by the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.

Do you hear ”America 250” calling for a Lehigh Valley-wide choral festival for ‎America’s ‎Semiquincentennial, marking the United States’ signing of the Declaration of Independence?

Meanwhile, don’t miss the 117th Bach Festival, May 8-11, Bethlehem, with lots of surprises in store this year.

Information: https://bach.org/