Tuesday, Oct 2, 2012
Performing with The Philadelphia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
by Anne Sears
The Westminster Symphonic Choir will begin its 2012-2013 season with a series of performances of Verdi’s Requiem with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia October 19 through 21 and Carnegie Hall New York October 23. The choir and orchestra will also collaborate in March 2013 when they perform Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Kimmel Center March 28 through 30.
The new season also will include the choir’s first performances with three different orchestras. Monday, November 19, it will participate in a concert version of Berg’s Wozzeck with the London Philharmonia conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen at Lincoln Center. Tuesday, December 11, it will perform Villa-Lobos' Choros No. 10 and Estévez’ Cantata Criolla with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at Carnegie Hall. Sunday, February 3, the choir will return to Carnegie Hall to perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Saturday, April 27, it will perform for its hometown audience, presenting Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Westminster Festival Orchestra conducted by Joe Miller.
Composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, the Westminster Symphonic Choir has recorded and performed with major orchestras under virtually every internationally acclaimed conductor of the past 78 years. Its first major collaboration was in 1934 when Leopold Stokowski brought the Philadelphia Orchestra to Princeton to perform Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Westminster Symphonic Choir in the Princeton University Chapel to celebrate the opening of the Westminster Choir College campus. Recognized as one of the world’s leading choral ensembles, the choir has sung more than 350 performances with the New York Philharmonic alone. Recent seasons have included performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Dresden Staatskapelle conducted by Daniel Harding, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by David Robertson, San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by Pierre Boulez and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons.
Performances with the Westminster Symphonic Choir are defining milestones in the musical lives of Westminster alumni.