Summer Music Camps
Marianne Lauffer, Director
The Conservatory offers a variety of summer music camps for toddlers to teens. Students with or without previous musical experience are eligible to attend. Information outlining the 2019 summer camps will be available in January on the website at www.rider.edu/conservatorycamps. Summer camp registration begins on January 19, 2021. Resident middle-school, high-school, and adult programs are offered through Westminster Choir College Continuing Education; call 609-924-7416 or go to www.rider.edu/woce.
Summer Lessons
The Conservatory offers a flexible eight-week session for private instruction in all instruments, depending on availability of instructors. Students often enroll in summer lessons to try out a new instrument or to get extra coaching and practice. The 2019 summer session runs from June 28 to August 20, 2021. Registration forms will be available in all Conservatory locations by May 17, 2021.
Conservatory Faculty Recital Series
In addition to teaching, Westminster Conservatory faculty members enrich the musical life of the area and provide inspiring examples for their students through performance. Solo and chamber music recitals by Conservatory faculty take place on the Princeton campus of Westminster Choir College, the Lawrenceville campus of Rider University, and in the community. Admission is free to all Westminster Conservatory faculty performances. For a complete listing of performances, go to www.rider.edu/arts.
Recitals in the Westminster Conservatory Faculty Series are presented on Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. in Bristol Chapel, Westminster Choir College.
Kaleidoscope Chamber Series events are scheduled on Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. in Gill Memorial Chapel at Rider University, Lawrenceville.
Westminster Conservatory at Nassau recitals are held on the third Thursday of the month, September to May, at 12:15 p.m. in the Niles Chapel of Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street, Princeton. These half-hour lunchtime recitals are open to the public without charge. (This program is made possible, in part, by the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission through funding from the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment of the Arts.)
For more information on Kaleidoscope and Westminster Conservatory at Nassau, contact Melissa Bohl, Coordinator of Outreach Recitals, at the main Conservatory office at 609-921-7104.
Concerto Competition
Megan Hofreiter, Coordinator
This annual competition offers Conservatory students an opportunity to perform with the Westminster Community Orchestra. In the fall of 2020, Conservatory piano students who were registered with the Conservatory for the prior academic year (September through May) are eligible to participate with a recommendation from their private Conservatory teacher. Next fall (fall 2021) the competition will be open to wind, string, and adult voice students who are recommended by their private Conservatory teacher. Winners of the Concerto Competition will be featured in performances with the Westminster Community Orchestra. Competition applications and guidelines will be available in the main office by September 14, 2020.
Ena Bronstein Barton Piano Scholarship
This scholarship was established in Spring 2011 to honor Ena Bronstein Barton, the head of the piano department at Westminster Conservatory, member of the piano faculty at Westminster Choir College, and internationally acclaimed performer. Each spring, Conservatory piano teachers will nominate students in grades 9 through 11 who have studied with them for a minimum of two years. The student must be a talented and hardworking pianist—an all-around musician who studies theory and/or a second instrument at the Conservatory and exhibits the community spirit of the Conservatory. A panel of Conservatory piano teachers will choose the recipient and the scholarship winner receives a $250-per-term tuition remission to apply toward their piano study at the Conservatory in the following academic year.
Scholarship Awards Competition
Marvin Rosen, Coordinator
At the end of the fall term, faculty members may nominate outstanding students who have studied privately for the full fall term to compete for a Conservatory Scholarship Award. Awards are granted for achievement in private instrumental, vocal, or composition lessons. Winners are selected through a competitive audition by a panel of judges and receive a $200-per-term tuition remission to apply toward study at the Conservatory in their nominated field the following academic year.
Teen Voice Competition
Danielle Sinclair, Coordinator
In the spring term, Conservatory high school students who are taking private voice lessons or are in the Westminster Community Chorus or the Honors Music Program are invited, based on a recommendation from their teacher, to participate in the annual Teen Voice Competition. The winners receive gift certificates for the Westminster Choir College bookstore and the opportunity to perform in a recital.