J. Donald Dumpson, conductor

Westminster Jubilee Singers is a multicultural, multiracial and interdenominational choral ensemble composed of students from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, N.J.  Its repertoire, while specialized and select, is very diverse.  Part of the college’s sacred music department, the choir performs literature that includes African-American spirituals and folk songs; classical music by African-American composers; African chants and dances; gospel music and secular songs by musical greats such as William Dawson, Duke Ellington, Patti LaBelle, Walter Hawkins, Quincy Jones, Andre Crouch, Richard Smallwood, Kirk Franklin, Dr. Nathan Carter, Donald Dillard and more.  Also explored and performed are works by non-African-American composers, including George Gershwin, Alice Parker, Robert Shaw, Robert Page, Gail Poch, Steve Pilkington and others who have composed and/or arranged music of the African-American experience.

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In addition to its rich repertoire of African-American spirituals, hymn arrangements and gospel songs, the Westminster Jubilee Singers have performed And They Lynched Him On a Tree by William Grant Still, Shout for Joy and I Will Lift Up My Eyes by Adolphus Hailstork. Highlights of recent seasons include the performance of two Hannibal Lokumbe works with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra: African Portraits, conducted by André Raphael Smith, and the world premiere of God, Mississippi, and a Man Called Evers, conducted by Leslie Dunner.  In addition, the ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra, under the baton of Skitch Henderson, in a concert version of Porgy and Bess, and has presented a joint recital with the historic Fisk University Jubilee Singers at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.  It has also performed two benefit concerts at the Trenton War Memorial.  The Westminster Jubilee Singers has also performed for the Music Educators Association’s national convention in Kansas City and for the association’s regional conference in New Brunswick, N.J.

Its recording A Celebration of Spirituals, Hymns and Gospel Songs is available at www.westminsterchoircollege.org.  The ensemble has also performed with Denyce Graves at New York’s Apollo Theater to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Children’s Defense Fund; performed a joint concert entitled “Living the Dream” with Penn State University’s Essence of Joy ensemble as a tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and presented concerts in Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut, which included a performance at the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Regional Conference in Boston.