Westminster Symphonic Choir Will Present "Visions of God" in Princeton and New York
The Westminster Symphonic Choir will perform a dramatic program of sacred music for choir and organ entitled “Visions of God” in the Princeton University Chapel Friday, April 28 and at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York on Saturday, April 29. Both performances begin at 8 p.m., and a pre-performance talk with composers James Whitbourn and M. Joseph Rendulic will be presented at 7 p.m. in Room 28 in McCosh Hall on the Princeton University campus.
James Jordan and Sun Min Lee will conduct the ensemble in performing Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor, Thomas Tallis’ 40-Part Motet Spem in alium, M. Joseph Rendulic’s Ana Beko'ach, and James Whitbourn’s Son of God Mass.
James Jordan will conduct Tallis’ 40-Part Motet Spem in alium for eight choirs, one of the treasures of Elizabethan English music, and James Whitbourn’s lush Son of God Mass, scored for choir, organ and soprano saxophone, which was composed for the BBC’s landmark series of the same name.
Sun Min Lee will conduct Vaughan Williams' Mass in G minor, one of the great glories of the English choral repertory, which pays homage to the traditions of Tudor church music while remaining distinctively 20th- century.
She will also conduct the world premiere of M. Joseph Rendulic’s Ana Beko'ach. The 2006 winner of Westminster Symphonic Choir’s composition competition, the work is scored for double chorus and organ. It is a sensitive yet powerful setting of a prayer used by Jewish mystics as a meditation and while blessing the traditional “red string” of protection. Mr. Plutz will also accompany the choir for the remainder of the program.
Composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, the 150-voice Westminster Symphonic Choir has recorded and performed with major orchestras under virtually every internationally known conductor of the last 75 years. Recognized as one of the world’s leading choral ensembles, the choir has sung over 300 performances with the New York Philharmonic alone.
The ensemble’s 2005-2006 season has included performances of Mozart’s Mass in C, “Coronation” with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Lorin Maazel, and Mozart’s Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony conducted by Bernard Labadie.
James Jordan is recognized as one of the nation’s pre-eminent conductors, writers and innovators in choral music. He has been called a “visionary” by The Choral Journal. His career and publications have been devoted to innovative educational changes in the choral art. A master teacher, Dr. Jordan’s pioneering writing and research concerning the use of Laban Movement Analysis for the teaching of conducting and movement to children has dramatically changed teaching in both of these disciplines.
One of the nation’s most prolific writers on the subjects of the philosophy of music making and choral teaching, James Jordan is also the founding conductor of the Westminster Williamson Voices.
Korean-born conductor Sun Min Lee is also conductor of the Westminster Chapel Choir. In the past two years, she has led concert tours along the East Coast with the Westminster Schola Cantorum and the Westminster Chapel Choir. She collaborated with many renowned guest conductors, including Anton Armstrong, Dale Warland, and Mark Laycock for a series of performances in Princeton. Last spring she prepared the Westminster Symphonic Choir for performances of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and most recently she collaborated with Lorin Maazel for performances of Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the New York Philharmonic.
Organist Eric Plutz is the accompanist for both the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir. He is also principal university organist at Princeton University. From 1995 through 2004 he was organist and director of music at the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C. During that time, he was also organist at Temple Sinai, and accompanist of the Cantate Chamber Singers. He has served as dean of the District of Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and recently concluded a six-year tenure as keyboard artist of the Cathedral Choral Society and rehearsal accompanist of the Washington Bach Consort.
Mr. Plutz has served as an accompanist with many Washington, D.C., organizations, including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, the American Repertory Singers, the Fessenden Ensemble, the Washington Symphonic Brass, and the Washington Ballet. He has also accompanied the Voices of Ascension conducted by Dennis Keene and has worked with conductors Leonard Slatkin, J. Reilly Lewis and Norman Scribner in various venues in the Washington area, including the National Gallery of Art, the Barns at Wolf Trap and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A seasoned concert artist, he has been invited to play organ concerts in distinguished locations across the United States.
Tickets for the Princeton performances are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors/students. For Princeton performance tickets call the box office at 609 921-2663. Tickets for the New York performances are $20. For New York performance tickets call 866-468-7619 or log on to www.ticketweb.com.
Click here for a concert poster pdf.
