Gregory Berg

Professor Gregory Berg teaches private voice, coordinates the opera workshop, and serves as a piano and organ accompanist for various events and recitals as needed. He teaches Opera History and has also taught Exploring Music, Vocal Diction and Literature, and Popular Music in America. He has served as music director for staged productions of “The Magic Flute,” “Don Giovanni,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Gianni Schicchi,” “Il Tabarro,” “Suor Angelica,” “The Beggar’s Opera,” and scenes from “The Pirates of Penzance.”

He has composed five original one-act operas for the workshop: “Black September” (with Matt Boresi); “Courageous Rose,” a story of student resisters in the time of Hitler; “Woman & Children First,” a story of Titanic survivors; “Birds of a Feather,” a “Magic Flute” sequel; and “Balcony Scenes,” a series of original scenes composed during COVID that allowed the singers to perform together while physically distanced. He has also created programs such as “Happy Birthday, Herr Handel,” “In Memory of Mozart,” and “A Night with Franz Schubert,” of which he directed the music and crafted the script. 

He has considerable experience in musical theatre, having served as music director for the Racine Theater Guild’s productions of “Sweeney Todd,” “Cabaret,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Les Miserables,” “Chicago,” “Anything Goes,” “The Music Man,” “The Sound of Music,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Annie,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Mamma Mia,” and many other shows. He has written the Listener’s Gallery column (recently renamed the Media Gallery) for the Journal of Singing, the official publication of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) since the fall of 2001. He has had three choral anthems published by Hal Leonard publishing and has composed five liturgies and a number of commissioned hymns and anthems. Among those commissions was “One More Reason to Sing,” which was composed for the Kenosha Unified School District’s 50th Choral Festival. He also composed “Most Alive,” a piece for combined choral/band and orchestral forces that inaugurated the new auditorium at Indian Trails High School in Kenosha.

Outside of Carthage, Prof. Berg is an on-air radio host for the local NPR affiliate WGTD and minister of music for Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Racine. He has been an active soloist with the Racine Symphony, Kenosha Symphony, Kenosha Pops Band, Racine Municipal Band, and Choral Arts Society of Southeastern Wisconsin. A four-time first-place winner in NATS competition and a district winner in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Prof. Berg is also a proud alumnus of the prestigious Lyric Opera of Chicago Center for American Artists.

Prof. Berg is married to Kathleen (Gall), a 1984 Carthage graduate and retired elementary music teacher.

His personal website is messyprofessor.com.

Hear from Prof. Berg: Why music?

“Music is an amazing field because it touches on so many facets of the human experience: artistic expression, history, psychology, spirituality, and more. I feel privileged to teach at a school where music is valued and where I get to teach such a wide range of eager and enthusiastic students. I am beyond grateful.”

Media Mentions:

Music & More announces June 27 lineup
Professor Berg will be the emcee and a soloist for the SilverMusic Flute Ensemble. (Journal Times, June 22, 2019)

Racine Concert Band has two soloists July 7
Professor Berg will perform at the Racine Concert Band’s concert on July 7th. (Journal Times, July 1, 2019)

• M.A. — Vocal Performance, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1984
• B.A. — Music and Religion, Luther College, 1982

Professor Berg teaches a variety of courses in the Carthage Music Department, including a J-Term opera course in which students stage an full-length opera in a month. His courses include:

• MUS 0250 Private Voice
• MUS 1150 Exploring Music
• MUS 2200 Popular Music in America
• MUS 2210 Opera
• MUS 2490 Vocal Diction and Literature
• MUS 3000 Opera Production