Sunday, Mar 8, 2015
Performing two works that approach ancient stories of loss and transcendence in different ways
The Westminster Choir, conducted by Joe Miller, will present a concert titled “Daughter” on Friday, March 13 at 8 p.m. in Princeton Meadow Church and Event Center in Princeton, N.J.
The program will feature two works that approach ancient stories of loss and transcendence in different ways. David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Little Match Girl Passion relates Hans Christian Andersen’s poignant tale about the Little Match Girl. Lang masterfully sets this story in the format of J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew's Passion using chorale texts and texts by Picander from Bach’s passion to present the Little Match Girl’s story in a unique light. This work will be paired with 17th-century composer Giacomo Carissimi’s Jephte. This early Baroque work tells the Old Testament story of the general Jephte, who vows that if God brings him victory in battle he will sacrifice the first person he sees upon arriving home. That person is his daughter.
This concert will be performed again at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C. in the Spring.
Setting the standard for choral excellence for 94 years, the Westminster Choir is composed of students at Westminster Choir College, a division of Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts. It has been the chorus-in-residence for the prestigious Spoleto Festival USA since 1977, performing both in concert and as the opera chorus.
The ensemble’s 2014-2015 season includes a concert tour of California, performances and broadcasts at its home in Princeton and its annual residency at the Spoleto Festival USA. Its performance of John Adams’ El Niño, conducted by Joe Miller, at the 2014 Festival was praised by The New York Times as “… superb. Meticulously prepared, the chorus was remarkable for its precision, unanimity and power.”
Praised by The New York Times for its “full-bodied, incisive singing,” the Westminster Choir also forms the core of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with the leading conductors and orchestras of our time. The Symphonic Choir’s 2014-2015 season includes three series of performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection,” J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, as well as Carmina Burana with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Jacques Lacombe, and Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Daniele Gatti.
Joe Miller is conductor of two of America’s most renowned choral ensembles: the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir. He is also director of choral activities at Westminster and founder and conductor of the Westminster Summer Choral Festival Chamber Choir, a program that offers professional-level choral and vocal artists the opportunity to explore challenging works for one week each summer on the Westminster campus in Princeton
In addition to his responsibilities at Westminster Choir College, Dr. Miller is artistic director for choral activities for the renowned Spoleto Festival USA. His 2014 debut performance, a staged production of John Adams’ El Niño with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Westminster Choir and an international cast, earned critical acclaim. The Financial Times praised, “the driving minimalistic iterations of Adams’ score securely projected under Joe Miller’s direction
Admission is $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased at the door, through the box office at (609) 921-2663 or online at www.rider.edu/arts.
