Sunday, Jan 18, 2015
"The Invention of Love" concert postponed due to winter storm.
Due to the impending winter storm, this concert and broadcast have been postponed. Watch our website for a new date.
Welcome the Westminster Choir and Conductor Joe Miller back from their 2015 concert tour of California with their annual Homecoming Concert, featuring a program titled “The Invention of Love,” on Monday, January 26 at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the campus of Princeton University.
What inspires man to create? What drives him to invent machines and to cultivate ideas that can change the world? In this inspiring concert, the Westminster Choir will explore these questions, calling upon the ensemble’s wide-ranging sonic capabilities. The program will feature Urmas Sisask’s mystical Oremus, Eric Whitacre’s compelling Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine, the revolutionary passion of Monteverdi’s Si chi’io vorrei morire, and the perfect creation that is J. S. Bach’s opening chorus from Gott der Herr ist Sonn’ und Schild, BWV 79.
Setting the standard for choral excellence for 94 years, the Westminster Choir is composed of students at Westminster Choir College, a division of Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts. It has been the chorus-in-residence for the prestigious Spoleto Festival USA since 1977, performing both in concert and as the opera chorus.
In addition to its concert tour of California, the ensemble’s 2014-2015 season includes several performances and broadcasts at its home in Princeton and its annual residency at the Spoleto Festival USA. Its performance of John Adams’ El Niño, conducted by Joe Miller, at the 2014 Festival was praised by The New York Times as “… superb. Meticulously prepared, the chorus was remarkable for its precision, unanimity and power.”
Praised by The New York Times for its “full-bodied, incisive singing,” the Westminster Choir also forms the core of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with the leading conductors and orchestras of our time. The Symphonic Choir’s 2014-2015 season includes performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Jacques Lacombe, and the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Daniele Gatti.
Joe Miller is conductor of two of America’s most renowned choral ensembles: the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir. He is also director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
In addition to his responsibilities at Westminster Choir College, Dr. Miller is artistic director for choral activities for the renowned Spoleto Festival USA. His 2014 debut performance, a staged production of John Adams’ El Niño with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Westminster Choir and an international cast, earned critical acclaim. The Financial Times praised, “the driving minimalistic iterations of Adams’ score securely projected under Joe Miller’s direction.”
As conductor of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, Dr. Miller has collaborated with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. The New York Times wrote about Westminster Symphonic Choir’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Cleveland Orchestra, “Joe Miller's Westminster Symphonic Choir was subtle when asked and powerful when turned loose.”
Admission is free, but tickets are required. Tickets can be reserved through the Princeton University box office at (609) 258-9220 or online at www.princeton.edu/utickets. For more information, visit www.rider.edu/arts.