Westminster Commencement is May 12
Westminster Choir College of Rider University will hold its 77th annual Commencement ceremony Friday, May 12 4:00 p.m. in the Princeton University Chapel. Pre-ceremony music will begin at 3:15 p.m.
Undergraduate and graduate degrees will be awarded to 107 students. Anthony Tommasini, chief classical music critic for The New York Times, will deliver the Commencement address and Sun Min Lee, a member of Westminster’s conducting faculty, will deliver the Charge to the graduating classes. An honorary doctorate will be awarded to Allen Crowell.
In addition to his position at The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini is an author and a pianist. Born in Brooklyn, he grew up in Long Island, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, and earned a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Boston University.
He has taught music at Emerson College in Boston, and given non-fiction writing workshops at Wesleyan University and Brandeis University. His interest in the work of the composer and critic Virgil Thomson culminated with his book Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle.”
His latest book, released in November of 2004 and published by Times Books/Henry Holt, part of the New York Times Essential Library series, is Opera: a Critic’s Guide to the 100 Most Important Works and the Best Recordings. It begins with a primer for newcomers to opera and includes 100 original essays on the chosen works.
As a pianist, he recorded two Northeastern Records compact discs of Thomson’s music, titled Portraits and Self-Portraits, and Mostly About Love: Songs and Vocal Works. Both were funded through grants he was awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Sun Min Lee joined Westminster’s choral conducting faculty in 2002, the same year that the graduating seniors enrolled at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Over the past four years, she has conducted the Westminster Chapel Choir, Westminster Schola Cantorum and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.
For the past two years, she has prepared the Westminster Symphonic Choir for performances with the New York Philharmonic and has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Lorin Maazel, Dale Warland and Kathy Romey. A native Korean, Ms. Lee is pursuing a doctorate in conducting at the Eastman School of Music.
She earned a Master degree in conducting from Westminster Choir College and a Bachelor degree in church music from Presbyterian College in Seoul, Korea. She also holds an advanced diploma from Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music in Kecskemét, Hungary, where she taught at the 17th International Kodály Seminar.
Allen Crowell, is the Mildred Goodrum Heyward Professor of Choral Music and Director of Choral Studies at the University of Georgia. Prior to coming to this position in the fall of 1999, he taught and conducted at Westminster Choir College of Rider University for 20 years. From 1992 to 1994, he served as Westminster's interim dean.
A native of Mobile, Ala., he earned his Bachelor degree from Westminster Choir College in 1959. He received a Master of Music degree from The Catholic University of America. In 1959, Crowell entered the U.S. Army as a member of The United States Army Chorus of Washington, D.C. and served for five years as bass soloist and enlisted leader until 1964 when he received a direct commission to Second Lieutenant. He then became associate bandmaster of The United States Army Band and director of The United States Army Chorus a position he held until July, 1979, when he retired as executive officer and a Major.
As a vocal soloist, he has appeared with Washington's National Symphony, the New Jersey Pops, and, among others, the orchestras of Baltimore, Annapolis, Trenton, and York, Pennsylvania; the Paul Hill Chorale, the Princeton Pro Musica and the Washington Cathedral Choral Society. In May 1966 and 1967 he was the bass soloist for the Bach Festival of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
For many years, Allen Crowell has worked closely with the musical youth of the nation conducting All-State Bands and Choruses, Honors groups, festivals and clinics from Florida to Montana and Maine to Alaska. In March, 1995, he led the first National Men's Honors Choir at the National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Washington, DC. Since the summer of 1998, he has been the Music Director of the Ghost Ranch Vocal Camp in New Mexico.
Westminster Choir College is the home of the world-renowned Westminster Choir, which has performed and recorded with virtually all of our era’s great orchestras and conductors. Its commencement ceremony is distinguished by outstanding choral, organ and brass music.
