About Westminster Chapel Choir
Founded in 1949, the Westminster Chapel Choir takes its name from Westminster’s rich history of leadership in the field of sacred music. The ensemble has evolved over the years, and today its repertoire includes both sacred and secular works. Composed of students in their first year of study at Westminster Choir College, this ensemble is a defining choral experience that remains with Westminster alumni throughout their lives.
Recent seasons have included performances of Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the Westminster Conservatory Youth Chorale, as well as concerts in Newtown, Pa. and Wilton, Conn. In addition to on-campus performances throughout the year, the Westminster Chapel Choir has toured extensively along the eastern United States with great success.
The Westminster Chapel Choir has also performed with many symphony orchestras, including the Trenton Symphony Orchestra (N.J.), the York Symphony (Pa.) and the Queens Symphony (N.Y.). At the request of Leopold Stokowski, the ensemble premiered Universal Prayer by Polish composer Adrezej Panufnik. It was heard by millions when it sang for the annual televised Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at Rockefeller Center. Previous performances have also included participation in Princeton University’s “Opera and Society” Conference, where it was the featured chorus for the conference and a chapel service honoring the centennial of world-renowned organist and teacher Alexander McCurdy, Jr.
The ensemble has also been honored to give several world premiere performances of works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlan, Stefan Young, Ronald Hemmel and Philip Orr.
Marion Jacob
Jacob holds a Masters degree in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College where she was a student of James Jordan and Simon Carrington. She also earned an M.M. in Music History from Temple University, and a B.M. with distinction in Piano Performance from the University of Delaware. Attending the Westminster Conducting Institute, Jacob studied with Donald Nally and Charles Bruffy. Jacob has been a guest lecturer for the University of Delaware, Temple University, and Padua Academy, and currently teaches World Musics and Cultures for Temple University.
Jacob is the founder and director of Sine Nomine, a chamber choir active in the Delaware and Chester County area, and the Director of Music at St. Elizabeth Church in Wilmington, DE. Jacob recently held the position of the Assistant Director of the five performing choirs of the Wilmington Children's Chorus, where she prepared ensembles for concerts and collaborations with Westminster Choir College’s Symphonic Choir, the Wilmington Ballet, and Delaware Choral Arts.
Prior to studying at Westminster Choir College, Jacob was the director of music at Daylesford Abbey, and the director of the Padua Academy Women’s Chorus, where she also developed and taught the course, Music In Action.
Jacob recently participated in the Sarteano Chamber Choral Workshop as an Advanced Conductor with Simon Carrington and Tony Thornton, and has participated in the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival as a singing Fellow. Jacob is a member of The Same Stream, and has been a member and soloist for Westminster Choir, Westminster Williamson Voices, the Chester County Choral Society, and the University of Delaware’s Schola Cantorum and Collegium Musicuum.
Being the daughter of French and Indian immigrants, Jacob has held a long-standing interest in ethnomusicology, exploring a wide range of music and dance from different cultures, including salsa, tango, merengue, swing, and capoeira. Of particular interest are themes of resistance in music. Jacob has written a senior thesis on music and musicians of France during the Nazi occupation, and her Master’s Thesis on research on Salsa music and dance as resistance, therapy, and an imagined community; both in historical and modern context. Jacob resides in Bear, DE with her husband, Michael, and their daughters, Adeline and Solène.