Conductor Joe Miller will present his first performance with the 150-voice Westminster Symphonic Choir Friday, October 20 at 8 p.m. at Saint Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Princeton.

Entitled Beginnings and Endings, the concert will focus on the universal themes of journey, light, love and life.   The centerpiece of the program will be Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year, a song cycle for double chorus.  The ensemble will also perform Lili Boulanger’s powerful Psaume 24,  “Pie Jesu”  from Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem and Gustav Mahler’s Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen.  The program will also include works by Haydn and Sisask.

Joe Miller was named director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in the spring after a three-year international search.  He succeeds Joseph Flummerfelt, who served for 33 years in that position, considered by many to be the nation’s most prestigious choral conducting appointment.

Before his appointment at Westminster, Joe Miller was director of choral studies, professor of music and voice area chair at Western Michigan University School of Music.   With the Western Michigan Chorale he received a number of awards, including the Silver Medal at the 2005 European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Varna, Bulgaria and the Grand Prize at the 2002 Robert Schumann International Choral Competition in Zwickau, Germany.  He has also served as director of choral and vocal activities at California State University, artistic director/conductor of the Stockton Chorale, and music director of the Mother Lode Music Festival.

He has conducted choirs in both national and international festivals, and he has served as guest conductor for numerous all-state and honors choirs.  A respected solo artist, he has performed with orchestras and in recital throughout the Midwest and in California.  In addition, he has served as music director at churches in Ohio and Tennessee. 
This past summer he was the keynote speaker at the Chorus Management Institute co-hosted by Chorus America and Westminster in Princeton.  “Choral music in the United States has seen unprecedented growth in the past several decades,” he said during his presentation. “The influence of our past leaders is part of our fabric, but we must seize this time to create a new vision based on the foundation that has been laid before us.  We must keep the traditions but be willing to change in order to build a vision for the future.”

Joe Miller earned a Master degree and a doctorate in choral conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and voice from the University of Tennessee.

He will make his conducting debut with the elite 32-voice Westminster Choir in a performance featuring Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem on Saturday, November 11 at Westminster.

Saint Paul’s Roman Catholic Church is located at 214 Nassau Street in Princeton.  Admission to the concert is $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors.  For tickets or to receive Westminster’s 2006-2007 season catalog, call the box office at 609-921-2663. 

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