Westminster inducts two into Music Education Alumni Hall of Fame

Ming Luke '00 and Paul Chapin ’84 were recently inducted into the Westminster Choir College Music Education Alumni Hall of Fame.

Chapin is head of school for the Newark Boys Chorus School. Before his current appointment, he was an educator and administrator in the Princeton Public Schools for 35 years. A vocal music teacher at Riverside School, he also served as acting/interim principal of the school from 2014-2016. He also currently serves as an educational consultant to the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and a content instruction specialist at Princeton University. He also works with Educational Testing Service in developing assessments.

For the past 22 years, he has been the music director at First Baptist Church of Bordentown, N.J., and he has significant experience as a choral conductor and soloist. In addition to earning a bachelor’s from Westminster Choir College, he holds a master’s in educational leadership from the University of Scranton.

Ming Luke is rapidly establishing himself as an exciting and versatile conductor to watch. He has worked with ensembles across the United States, the U.K. and Europe. He has conducted the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, Birmingham Royal, San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Sacramento Philharmonic, Komorni Orchestr Akademie of Prague, the Napa Valley Symphony and others. He is the music director of the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, and he is the music director for the Merced Symphony in California’s Central Valley.

Recognized nationally for his innovative education programs, he has written, arranged, and performed more than 120 education concerts with the Berkeley Symphony. An exciting pops conductor, Luke has created and conducted a variety of pops concerts in many venues, from baseball stadiums, to picnics in the park with over 4,000 people in attendance, concert halls and recording for Major League Baseball. Equally talented as a ballet conductor, he is the main guest conductor with the San Francisco Ballet.

Established in 2014, the Westminster Choir College Music Education Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have earned distinction in their careers through teaching, scholarship, leadership and service to the profession and who have shown strong support for Westminster’s students and Music Education program.

Past honorees include Lynnel Joy Jenkins ’94, teacher at the Hopewell Valley Schools and Artistic Director of the Princeton Girlchoir; James Moyer ’86, director of vocal music for Pennsbury Schools; Paul Head ’97, on the faculty at the University of Delaware; Regina Carlow ’82, on the faculty at the University of New Mexico; Erica Washburn ’00, on the faculty at New England Conservatory; Patrick Freer ’88, ’93, on the faculty at Georgia State University; Susan Myers Riley ’03, founder and CEO of EducationCloset.com, the world's largest online resource for arts integration and STEAM education; Mark Dolan ’01 is choral director for Newtown Middle School, Council Rock School District; Derek Cressman ’04, a member of the faculty at Pennsbury Schools, and Jason Vodicka ’03, ’09, recently appointed chair of Westminster’s Department of Music Education.