Thursday, Aug 1, 2013
Performing in Philadelphia, New York and Princeton
The Westminster Symphonic Choir will begin its 2013-2014 season with a series of performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia September 26 - 28. The program will include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. Additionally, the Westminster Choir will perform Nico Muhly’s Bright Mass with Canons. The Westminster Symphonic Choir will return to Philadelphia in 2014 to perform Rachmaninoff’s The Bells conducted by Vladimir Jurowski February 13 through 15.
The new season also will include performances in New York City. The Symphonic Choir will perform Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Andrew Manze December 17 through 21 at Lincoln Center. On May 5 it join the New York Philharmonic again, conducted by Alan Gilbert, to perform the New York premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall.
In Princeton, the ensemble will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and works by Mendelssohn with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra conducted by Mark Laycock in celebration of the 100th birthday of philanthropist William H. Scheide. The concert will be Saturday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus.
Composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, the Westminster Symphonic Choir has recorded and performed with major orchestras under virtually every internationally acclaimed conductor of the past 78 years. Its first major collaboration was in 1934 when Leopold Stokowski brought the Philadelphia Orchestra to Princeton to perform Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Westminster Symphonic Choir in the Princeton University Chapel to celebrate the opening of the Westminster Choir College campus. Recognized as one of the world’s leading choral ensembles, the choir has sung more than 350 performances with the New York Philharmonic alone. Recent seasons have included performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Dresden Staatskapelle conducted by Daniel Harding, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by David Robertson, San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by Pierre Boulez and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons.
Performances with the Westminster Symphonic Choir are defining milestones in the musical lives of Westminster alumni.