Westminster Choir College: A Legacy of Choral Excellence and Musical Innovation
Princeton, New Jersey, a city near New York, is renowned in the choral singing world as the home of Westminster Choir College, a leading music conservatory. From its humble beginnings in 1920 to its current presence as a school within Rider University's College of Arts and Sciences, Westminster Choir College (WCC) has maintained a legacy of choral excellence, musical innovation, and a commitment to training musicians for leadership roles. The college's history is marked by significant milestones, including its founding, relocation, affiliation with Rider University, and recent move to the Lawrenceville campus.
Founding and Early Years: From Dayton to Princeton
The story of Westminster Choir College began in 1920. Conductor and musician John Finley Williamson, believing that a choir could be trained to perform professionally, founded the Westminster Choir at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio. The choir quickly gained national prominence, motivating Williamson to establish the Westminster Choir School in 1926 at the same church, with a faculty of ten and sixty students. This school aimed to professionally train musicians for churches, and its graduates became known as "Ministers of Music," a term coined by Williamson and still used today.
The sound of the choir in its early days was heavily influenced by the work of F. Melius Christiansen and The St. Olaf Choir. By 1922, the choir, then known as the Dayton Westminster Choir, began annual tours across the United States, performing in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Cincinnati Music Hall, Symphony Hall (Boston), the Academy of Music (Philadelphia), and Orchestra Hall (Chicago), and even at the White House for President Calvin Coolidge. In 1928, the Choir and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, under Leopold Stokowski, made the nation's first coast-to-coast broadcast on Cincinnati radio station WLW. The Choir performed at the White House for President Herbert Hoover in 1929. Later, the Choir also sang for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1929, the Choir embarked on its first European tour, sponsored by Dayton philanthropist Katharine Houk Talbott and endorsed by Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra. Originally a three-year program, the Choir School moved to Ithaca College in New York State in 1929 and enlarged its curriculum to a four-year program culminating in a Bachelor of Music degree. A major reason for the move involved the need to be able to reach the major cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York by rail.
In 1932, the choir school relocated to Princeton, New Jersey, which became its long-term home. Classes were held in the First Presbyterian Church and the Princeton Seminary until 1934, when the school moved to its own campus. This was made possible by a large gift from the Ohio philanthropist Sophia Strong Taylor. The dedication of the new campus was marked by a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor at the Princeton University Chapel with the Westminster Choir, soloists, and the Philadelphia Orchestra (conducted by Leopold Stokowski). In 1934, a second European choir tour took place, lasting for nine weeks and highlighted by a live radio broadcast from Russia to the United States. In the fourteen years since its founding, in 1920, the choir already had undertaken two European tours, earning international acclaim and a campus of its own.
Read also: Explore FRCC Westminster
In 1939, the State of New Jersey granted the choir school accreditation, and the name Westminster Choir College was adopted. In the years following accreditation, under Williamson's leadership, the choir would begin having regular concerts with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since the 1930s, the choir has performed over three hundred concerts with the Philharmonic, a record number for a single choir to perform with an orchestra. Late in 1939, the choir sang with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
The Williamson Era and Beyond
John Finley Williamson headed the college until 1958. In 1958, Williamson retired as President of Westminster Choir College. On July 3, 1964, shortly after his death, and in accordance with his requests, his ashes were scattered on his beloved campus. This was said to have taken place during the performance of the Verdi Requiem with the Westminster Festival Choir, soloists, and the Festival Orchestra conducted by maestro Eugene Ormandy. This performance on the Westminster campus was part of the Tercentennial Celebration of the State of New Jersey.
In 1976, the choir college celebrated its 50th anniversary, highlighted by a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Robert Shaw), alumni soloists, and the Westminster Alumni Choir on the Princeton University campus.
Merger with Rider University and Subsequent Challenges
Despite a promising future at the 50th anniversary, Westminster soon began to see its prospects for continued existence threatened. Facilities on the campus fell into disrepair, and Erdman Hall was ultimately condemned as unfit for use. Several schools, including nearby Princeton University as well as Drew University, Yale University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School, all had an interest in purchasing Westminster Choir College. The desire of Westminster to remain in its historic campus resulted in an arrangement with the nearby Rider College.
In 1992, following a year of affiliation, Rider College merged with Westminster Choir College and the music school became a part of the newly created Rider University. Despite promises that Rider would maintain the Westminster Choir College campus in Princeton, two years later, Rider President J.
Read also: Affording Westminster College
Despite the optimistic future in the 1990s, by the early 2000s Rider University determined Westminster Choir College either must create an even stronger fiscal future or face closure. Looking for a way to control costs and more effectively create synergies between the two campuses of Rider University (Westminster's and the main campus), in November 2007, Rider University President Mordechai Rozanski announced the creation of the Westminster College of the Arts. Westminster College of the Arts was envisioned to integrate Rider and Westminster more successfully, and create a new culture and environment of artistic excellence on both campuses. Westminster Choir College continued to educate Westminster College of the Arts students in the fields of piano, composition, voice, organ, choral conducting, sacred music, and music education. The newly formed School of Fine and Performing Arts served as the gateway to receiving a degree in musical theatre, arts administration, and music, as well as a non-professional degree (B.A.
To maximize the opportunities the project offers for enhancing The Playhouse itself, the college secured $1.5 million to upgrade this building that has played such an important role in Westminster's history. On March 28, 2017, after months of speculation following an announcement by Rider that it was again considering moving the Westminster students to the Lawrenceville campus and selling the Princeton campus due to purported financial problems, it was decided by the Board of Trustees that Rider would, instead, attempt to sell WCC to a new affiliate partner. On February 26, 2018, Rider announced its intention to sell Westminster to Kaiwen Education Technology (formerly Jiansu Zhongtai Steel Structure Company), a for-profit enterprise owned solely by the Chinese government.
On July 1, 2019, it was announced that Beijing Kaiwen was withdrawing from the proposed purchase. Westminster Choir College officially relocated to Rider's Lawrenceville campus in fall 2020, operating under remote instruction because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the Westminster College of the Arts merged with the Rider University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to create the College of Arts and Sciences of which Westminster Choir College is now a school. As of February 2023, the Princeton campus is still being used by Westminster Conservatory (the University's community music school), for outside rentals, and for a small number of Westminster Choir College rehearsals and performances. Rider University has also rented the parking lot to Princeton Council, garnering roughly $2000 per month. The Princeton Town Council has moved to purchase the campus via eminent domain, circumventing two lawsuits.
Academic Programs and Performance Opportunities
Westminster Choir College offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs designed to prepare students for careers in music. These programs cover various disciplines, including:
- Performance: Voice, piano, organ, and instrumental studies.
- Composition: Training in creating original musical works.
- Music Education: Preparing students to become music teachers in schools and communities.
- Choral Conducting: Developing skills in leading and directing choirs.
- Sacred Music: Focusing on music for religious settings.
- Music Theater: Integrating music, drama, and dance.
- Bachelor of Arts in Music: A non-professional degree offering a broader liberal arts education with a focus on music.
A distinctive feature of Westminster is its emphasis on choral performance. Students have the opportunity to participate in various ensembles, including the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.
Read also: Explore Westminster College
The Westminster Symphonic Choir
The Westminster Symphonic Choir is one of the world's leading choral ensembles. The Westminster Symphonic Choir has performed with many major orchestras and conductors including: New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Symphonic Choir, under the direction of Westminster's Director of Choral Activities, has sung at individual performances of large orchestral/choral works with professional orchestras conducted by Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Eugene Ormandy, William Steinberg, Leopold Stokowski, Charles Dutoit, Neville Marriner, Nicholas McGegan, Arturo Toscanini, and Bruno Walter, and such contemporary figures as Pierre Boulez, Mariss Jansons, Erich Leinsdorf, James Levine, ZdenÄk Mácal, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Seiji Ozawa, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Robert Shaw, Zubin Mehta, Albert Wolff, and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. The choir has also received numerous invitations over the years to sing with such touring orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin State Opera Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic when these orchestras have come to perform in New York City and Philadelphia.
The Westminster Choir
The Westminster Choir, the college's flagship ensemble, has a long and distinguished history of performing with renowned orchestras and conductors. The choir's performances have included collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and other major orchestras, under the direction of conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, and Leopold Stokowski.
Concert Bell Choir
Westminster's Concert Bell Choir is the world's premiere ensemble of its kind. Performing on the world's largest sets of concert bells, it has released 11 solo recordings and appears on NPR's "Christmas Around The Country II" recording. The ensemble appears annually on NPR's "Performance Today" as well as on other national broadcasts that range from "The Today Show" to "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" and in venues such as Carnegie Hall.
Legacy and Impact
Westminster Choir College has produced generations of accomplished musicians, conductors, and educators who have made significant contributions to the world of music. Its alumni have gone on to lead renowned choirs, orchestras, and music programs, and have achieved success as performers, composers, and scholars. The college's commitment to excellence in choral music has earned it a reputation as one of the leading music conservatories in the world.
The college is not only famous for being a top-class training center for music but also for its huge library, which possesses a wide scope of literature regarding music, specialized music books, scores and audio recordings. Apart from the musical major subjects students have the opportunity to excel at eight different ensembles such as the Westminster Symphonic Choir. The choir performed with well-known orchestras from New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. Joint concerts such as with the Berlin Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw and the Vienna Philharmonic belong to the highlights of the choir's history. The Westminster choirs belong to the most famous ensembles in the USA and feature over 180 commercial recordings.
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