| Westminster Choir College | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Spectemur agendo (Let us be judged by our deeds) |
| Established | 1926 |
| Type | Private |
| Endowment | $20,000,000 |
| President | Mordechai Rozanski |
| Dean | Robert L. Annis |
| Academic staff | 75 |
| Undergraduates | 440 |
| Postgraduates | 91 |
| Location | Princeton, New Jersey, United States |
| Campus | Suburban, 23 acres (93,000 m²) (Princeton Borough and Township) |
| Colors | Purple and Gold |
| Mascot | None |
| Website | Westminster Choir College |
Westminster Choir College is a residential college of music, part of Rider University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.
Westminster Choir College educates men and women at the undergraduate and graduate levels for musical careers in music education, voice performance, piano performance, organ performance, pedagogy, music theory and composition, conducting, sacred music and arts management; professional training in musical skills with an emphasis on performance is complemented by studies in the liberal arts. Westminster's proximity to New York City and Philadelphia provides students with easy access to the musical resources of both cities.
John Finley Williamson founded the Westminster Choir in 1920 at the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Dayton, Ohio. Convinced that professionally trained musicians could best serve the church, he established the Westminster Choir School in September 1926 with sixty students and a faculty of ten. As the Choir School and its choir's reputation grew, the demand for the School's graduates increased. The graduates came to be known as Ministers of Music, a term coined by Dr. Williamson and still being used today by many church music programs.
As early as 1922, the Choir, then known as the Dayton Westminster Choir, began touring the United States annually and sang in such prominent places as Carnegie Hall (New York City), Symphony Hall (Boston), the Academy of Music (Philadelphia), Orchestra Hall (Chicago) and the White House for President Calvin Coolidge. Years later the Choir also sang for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Westminster Choir made its first commercial recording with RCA Victor in 1926. Subsequently the Choir recorded with major conductors and orchestras.
In 1928, the Westminster Choir and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski made the nation's first coast-to-coast radio broadcast on Cincinnati station WLW. A few years later because of the Choir's growing reputation it made a total of 60 half-hour broadcasts from NBC's New York facilities.
The first European tour took place in 1929 and was sponsored by Dayton, Ohio philanthropist Katharine Houk Talbott and endorsed by Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra. The tour included 26 concerts in major cities of Europe.
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. All three were cities that sought the choirs under Williamson. This move ultimately proved unsatisfactory.
In 1932, the Choir School relocated to Princeton, New Jersey which became its permanent home. Classes were held in the First Presbyterian Church and the Princeton Seminary until 1934 when the Choir School moved to its present campus. This was made possible by a large gift from the 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. Because of his high regard for the Choir, the services of the soloists, orchestra, and conductor were a gift from Stokowski.
There was a second European Choir tour in 1934 lasting nine weeks and highlighted by a live radio broadcast from Russia to the United States. In the fourteen short years since its founding in 1920, the Choir already had two European tours which earned it international acclaim and a campus of its own. The State of New Jersey in 1939 granted the Choir School accreditation and the name Westminster Choir College was adopted.
In years to come, under Williamson's leadership, the Choir would begin having regular concerts with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Westminster Choir sang with the New York Philharmonic for the first time in 1939 conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. Since that time the Choir has sung over three hundred performances with the Philharmonic, a record number for a single choir to perform with an orchestra. Later that year the Choir sang with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. That same year the Choir, directed by Williamson, sang at the dedication of the New York World's Fair which was broadcast to fifty-three countries.
In 1957, under the auspices of the U.S. State Department Cultural Exchange Program, the Choir undertook a five month world tour, concertizing in twenty-two countries, covering 40,000 miles (64,000 km) and appearing before approximately a quarter of a million people.
Williamson retired as President of Westminster Choir College in 1958. Dr. Williamson's "retirement" consisted of conducting choral clinics and vocal festivals throughout the United States, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. A South American choir tour was being planned by the State Department but was cancelled because of Williamson's untimely death in 1964. In accordance with his request Dr. Williamson's ashes were scattered on the Quadrangle of his beloved campus on July 3, 1964. This turned out to be a myth perpetuated by many a faculty member. (Dr. Williamson's daughter corrected this notion by explaining that his ashes were scattered on the eastern side of the campus near the evergreen trees.) Dramatically the story went, 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. The following day a memorial service for Dr. Williamson was held in the College Chapel.
In 1976, the Choir College celebrated its fiftieth anniversary highlighted by a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Shaw, alumni soloists, and the Westminster Alumni Choir on the Princeton University campus. Despite a promising future at the fiftieth anniversary, Westminster soon began to see its future and prospects for continued existence threatened. Facilities on the campus were placed into disrepair, and Erdman Hall was ultimately condemned and unfit for use. Recognizing that the College could not continue in this path, Westminster was forced with two options, either finding a larger university to merge with or closure.
Despite the financial troubles several schools such as Drew University, Yale University, and The Juilliard School all had an interest in purchasing Westminster Choir College. However, the desire of Westminster to remain in its historic albeit dilapidated campus resulted in the College pursuing an arrangement with then-Rider College.[1] In 1992, following a year of affiliation, then-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 a mere two years later, Rider University President J. Barton Luedeke began exploring a move which would relocate the Choir College campus to Lawrenceville, New Jersey to be with the rest of Rider University.[2] By 1996, the Choir College appeared to have a vibrant fiscal future in Princeton, operating in the black, thanks to increased enrollment and donations.[3] Thanks to this optimistic era, one year later Erdman Hall was renovated, restored, and reopened as "The Presser Music Center at Erdman Hall" featuring teaching studios, a keyboard laboratory, Voice Library & Resource Center, and new classroom space.
Despite the optimistic future in the 90s, 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 Rozanski announced the creation of the Westminster College of the Arts. Westminster College of the Arts was envisioned to more successfully integrate Rider & Westminster, and create a new culture and environment of artistic excellence on both campuses. Westminster Choir College continues 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 & Performing Arts serves as the gateway to receiving a degree in Musical Theatre, Arts Administration, and Music, as well as a non-professional degree (B.A. in Fine Arts) in music, dance, and theater.[4] The creation of Westminster College of the Arts sparked heated debate between administrators and students, alumni and faculty that highlighted the divide between Rider's Princeton and Lawrenceville campuses.[5] Rider University continues to strive for unity between the two campuses while preserving the integrity and unique history of Westminster Choir College.
As Westminster Choir College enters the twenty-first century the college is looking towards the future more than ever before. In the early-mid 2000s the school unveiled an ambitious master-plan calling for a new building and other upgrades, the first to be created on the campus since the College was placed under Rider University's stewardship.[6] The Choir College also entered a cooperative agreement with the Princeton Regional Schools which allows for up to 40 Westminster performances a year to occur in their newly created Regional Performing Arts Center, heavily alleviating the struggle the Princeton Campus had by having no dedicated performance space on the campus.[7] Enrollment in the college is becoming increasingly selective, with approximately one in three of the auditioning students matriculating into the campus each fall.
The Westminster Symphonic Choir has performed with many major orchestras and conductors including: New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco 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, Arturo Toscanini, and Bruno Walter, and such contemporary figures as Pierre Boulez, Mariss Jansons, Erich Leinsdorf, James Levine, Zdeněk Mácal, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Seiji Ozawa, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Robert Shaw, Zubin Mehta, Albert Wolff, and Rafael Frübeck 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 Royal Concertgebouw, and the Vienna Philharmonic when these orchestras have come to perform in New York and Philadelphia.[8]
In the Fall of 2010, Westminster Symphonic Choir will perform with Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in a series of concerts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.[9] The Symphonic Choir will also appear with the Dresden Staatskapelle in performances of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem in Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and New York City's Avery Fisher Hall.[10][11]