Westminster Choir (Princeton, USA)

Westminster Choir College (WCC) is a historic conservatory of music, currently operating on the campus of Rider University, in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Rider's College of Arts and Sciences (the college under which the historic institution has been reorganized) consists of Westminster Choir College and an additional three schools. From 1926 to 1929, WCC was an independent school located in Dayton, Ohio; it was then moved to Ithaca, New York (1929–1932), before relocating to Princeton, New Jersey (1932–2020), for much of its operating history. In 1992, the college merged with Rider University, continuing to occupy the historic campus in Downtown Princeton. In 2019, Rider University (controversially) attempted to monetize and sell the school, an issue under ongoing litigation by numerous plaintiffs. After a failed sale to Beijing-based Kaiwen Education Technology (formerly Jiansu Zhongtai Steel Structure Company), a for-profit enterprise with numerous financial burdens of its own—and owned solely by the Chinese government—Rider abandoned the Princeton campus and moved Westminster's programs to the University's main campus in Lawrenceville. In September 2024, the Princeton municipal council moved to purchase the campus through eminent domain for $50 million. In 1920 John Finley Williamson founded the Westminster Choir at the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Dayton, Ohio. In 1926, he established the Westminster Choir School. The school started with a faculty of ten, and sixty students. The graduates came to be known as Ministers of Music, a term coined by Williamson and still used today by many church music programs. The sound of the choir in its early days was heavily influenced by the work of F. Melius Christiansen and The St. Olaf Choir, however the choir quickly developed its own sound that more closely resembled English choirs. In 1922, the choir, then known as the Dayton Westminster Choir, began touring the United States annually, singing in Carnegie Hall (New York City), nearby Cincinnati Music Hall (Cincinnati), Symphony Hall (Boston), the Academy of Music (Philadelphia), Orchestra Hall (Chicago) and the White House for President Calvin Coolidge. The Choir made its first commercial recording with RCA Victor in 1926; recordings with other major conductors and orchestras followed. In 1928, the Choir and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski made the nation's first coast-to-coast broadcast on Cincinnati radio station WLW. By a few years later, the Choir made a total of 60 half-hour broadcasts from NBC's New York facilities. On March 9, 1929, the Choir performed at the White House for newly inaugurated President Herbert Hoover. Years later, the Choir also sang for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson. The first European tour took place in 1929 and was sponsored by Dayton philanthropist Katharine Houk Talbott and endorsed by Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra. The tour included 26 concerts in major cities of Europe. Originally a three-year program, the Choir School moved to Ithaca College in New York State in 1929 and enlarged its curriculum to a four-year program culminating in a Bachelor of Music degree. A major reason for the move involved the need to be able to reach the major cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York by rail. All three were cities that sought the choir under Williamson. In 1932, the choir school relocated to Princeton, New Jersey, which became its long-term home. Classes were held in the First Presbyterian Church and the Princeton Seminary until 1934, when the school moved to its own campus. This was made possible by a large gift from the Ohio philanthropist Sophia Strong Taylor. The dedication of the new campus was marked by a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor at the Princeton University Chapel with the Westminster Choir, soloists, and the Philadelphia Orchestra (conducted by Leopold Stokowski). The services of the soloists, orchestra, and conductor were a gift from Stokowski. In 1934, a second European choir tour took place, lasting for nine weeks and highlighted by a live radio broadcast from Russia to the United States. In the fourteen years since its founding, in 1920, the choir already had undertaken two European tours, earning international acclaim and a campus of its own. In 1939, the State of New Jersey granted the choir school accreditation, and the name Westminster Choir College was adopted. In the years following accreditation, under Williamson's leadership, the choir would begin having regular concerts with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Also in 1939, the Westminster Choir sang with the New York Philharmonic for the first time, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. Since the 1930s, the choir has performed over three hundred concerts with the Philharmonic, a record number for a single choir to perform with an orchestra. Late in 1939, the choir sang with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. That same year, the choir, directed by Williamson, sang at the dedication of the New York World's Fair, which was broadcast to 53 countries. In 1957, under the auspices of the U.S. State Department Cultural Exchange Program, the choir undertook a five-month world tour, concertizing in 22 countries and covering 40,000 miles (64,000 km), appearing before approximately a quarter-million people. In 1958, Williamson retired as President of Westminster Choir College. On July 3, 1964, shortly after his death, and in accordance with his requests, his ashes were scattered on his beloved campus. This was said to have taken place during the performance of the Verdi Requiem with the Westminster Festival Choir, soloists, and the Festival Orchestra conducted by maestro Eugene Ormandy. This performance on the Westminster campus was part of the Tercentennial Celebration of the State of New Jersey. The following day, a memorial service for Williamson was held in the College Chapel. In 1976, the choir college celebrated its 50th anniversary, highlighted by a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Robert Shaw), alumni soloists, and the Westminster Alumni Choir on the Princeton University campus. Despite a promising future at the 50th anniversary, Westminster soon began to see its prospects for continued existence threatened. Facilities on the campus fell into disrepair, and Erdman Hall was ultimately condemned as unfit for use. Recognizing that the college could not continue in this path, Westminster was faced with two options—either find a larger university to merge with, or cease operations. Several schools, including nearby Princeton University as well as Drew University, Yale University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School, all had an interest in purchasing Westminster Choir College. The desire of Westminster to remain in its historic campus resulted in an arrangement with the nearby Rider College. In 1992, following a year of affiliation, Rider College merged with Westminster Choir College and the music school became a part of the newly created Rider University. Despite promises that Rider would maintain the Westminster Choir College campus in Princeton, two years later, Rider President J. Barton Luedeke began exploring a move that would relocate WCC to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, to be with the rest of Rider University. By 1996, the choir college appeared to have a vibrant fiscal future in Princeton, operating in the black, thanks to increased enrollment and donations. One year later Erdman Hall was renovated, restored, and reopened as the Presser Music Center at Erdman Hall, featuring teaching studios, a keyboard laboratory, voice library and resource center, and new classroom space. Despite the optimistic future in the 1990s, by the early 2000s Rider University determined Westminster Choir