Thursday, Sep 29, 2016
The October 1 and 2 concerts have been cancelled due to the Philadelphia Orchestra musicians' labor action.
The Westminster Symphonic Choir performs Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin Thursday, Sept. 29, Saturday, Oct. 1 and Sunday, Oct. 2, at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.
This is the first time the ensemble has performed Mozart’s choral masterwork, also known as the “Great Mass,” since a 1991 concert with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Robert Shaw.
This series of concerts comes early in the academic year, and the Symphonic Choir members devoted many hours and a six-hour Saturday rehearsal to prepare. On Tuesday, Maestro Nézet-Séguin traveled to Princeton to rehearse with the Choir in the Hillman Performance Hall. This was Yannick’s first rehearsal in the new hall, and he praised its acoustics. He also had good words for the choir’s preparation, saying there’s "perfection in Princeton.”
The Symphonic Choir will collaborate again with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in November, when it will perform Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and Carnegie Hall in New York.
The Westminster Symphonic Choir has an illustrious history. In 1934 Leopold Stokowski brought The Philadelphia Orchestra to Princeton to perform Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Westminster Symphonic Choir in the Princeton University Chapel to celebrate the opening of the Westminster Choir College campus in Princeton. Since then, the ensemble, which is composed of all juniors, seniors and graduate students at the Choir College, has performed with virtually all of the leading orchestras and conductors of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Concert Information
Archival list of the Westminster Symphonic Choir’s Orchestral Performances
Westminster Symphonic Choir 2016-2017 Season Schedule