Monday, Apr 20, 2015
Performing Handel’s dramatic "Dixit Dominus" and works by Bach
Westminster Kantorei, conducted by Amanda Quist, will present a program titled “Dixit” on Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m. in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, N.J. The choir will be joined by soloists Zerrin Martin, Sean McCarther and Eric Rieger, as well as the Westminster Festival Chamber Orchestra.
The program will feature Handel’s dramatic Dixit Dominus, as well as Bach’s expressive Cantata 12 Weinen Klagen Sorgen Sagen and energetic Singet dem Herrn.
Founded in 2004, Westminster Kantorei is an auditioned chamber choir specializing in early and contemporary music. The ensemble, which is composed of approximately 24 graduate and undergraduate students, performs regularly with some of America’s leading specialists in early music, including collaborations with violinists Owen Dalby and Nancy Wilson, and British vocal ensemble Tenebrae.
Recent seasons have included performances of major works by Handel, Byrd and Bach, including his St. Matthew Passion at Avery Fisher Hall, with the Westminster Choir and the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Kurt Masur. The ensemble has also performed works by Monteverdi (Vespers of 1610, Sestina and Lamento della Ninfa), Buxtehude (Membra Jesu nostri), Schütz, Schein, Telemann, Zelenka, Victoria and Palestrina, as well as a concert of Latin American Baroque music. Westminster Kantorei has also premiered many works by such composers as Caleb Burhans, Daniel Elder, Doug Helvering, Blake Hensen, Philip Rice, Nathan Jones, Stefan Young and the internationally acclaimed Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström, commissioned for the ensemble by the Soli Deo Gloria Foundation and the Westminster Choir College Department of Sacred Music. Westminster Kantorei, joined by Fuma Sacra and the Institute Festival Orchestra, can be heard on the Albany recording Jon Magnussen: Music for Limon Dances.
As a member of the Westminster Choir College faculty, Amanda Quist conducts the Westminster Chapel Choir, Westminster Kantorei, and teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting. Dr. Quist is also director of the Westminster Vocal Institute, and she was previously director of choral activities at San José State University. In 2014 she was honored with the Westminster Choir College of Rider University Distinguished Teaching Award. Her other honors include the prestigious James Mulholland National Choral Fellowship and the Audrey Davidson Early Music Award. Her research focus is voice science and pedagogy in the choral setting, and she will present an interest session on that subject at the National ACDA Conference in Salt Lake City in 2015.
She is an active adjudicator and clinician, and her recent and upcoming appearances include conducting honor choirs and workshops in Pennsylvania, New York, Arkansas, Georgia, New Jersey, Delaware, Vermont, Texas, California and Connecticut. A mezzo-soprano, she has performed as a soloist with the Monmouth Civic Chorus and Orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley, Fuma Sacra, Princeton Pro Musica and Princeton University. Dr. Quist serves as the National ACDA Repertoire and Standards Chair for Youth and Student Activities and ACDA Mentorship Co-Chair.
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.
