by Anne Sears
The merger of Westminster Choir College and Rider College in 1992 may have seemed to some an unlikely collaboration. What did a college recognized for its excellent business program and another renowned in the world’s leading concert halls have in common?
Actually, quite a bit. Both Westminster and Rider were established to prepare aspiring students for success in their chosen professions, providing them with practical tools. Both are known for their welcoming community, offering students the opportunity to learn and flourish in a supportive atmosphere.
As you might expect when a college has “Choir” as its middle name, there was a choir before there was a college. The Westminster Choir was founded in 1920 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio, by John Finley Williamson, who believed that a choir of volunteer singers could be trained to perform on a professional level. The national prominence achieved by this choir and Dr. Williamson’s conviction that churches could best be served by dedicated, professionally trained musicians led him to found the Westminster Choir School at the Dayton church in 1926.
In 1929, the college moved to Ithaca, N.Y., and became associated with what is now Ithaca College, where a four-year program leading to the Bachelor of Music was instituted. Westminster relocated to Princeton, N.J., in 1932. To celebrate the opening of the campus in Princeton, Leopold Stokowski brought The Philadelphia Orchestra to perform Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Westminster Choir at the Princeton University Chapel. This was the first of many performances and recordings with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors in the major performance venues in the East.
In the ensuing years, the College added a graduate program and programs in voice, piano and organ performance; music history and theory; musical theatre; and arts administration, as well as a community music school, Westminster Conservatory. The challenges of supporting its highly individualized program and maintaining its historic campus led Westminster to merge with what was then Rider College in 1992.
The merger offered students on both campuses the opportunity to broaden their artistic and educational experiences. In 2007, Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts (WCA) was established to integrate and extend Rider’s commitment to the fine and performing arts on both campuses. The musical theatre and arts administration programs, which were offered on both campuses, were consolidated in Lawrenceville. Some of the Choir College’s core programs, such as music education, opera and choral conducting, remained in Princeton. Through its three divisions – Westminster Choir College, the School of Fine and Performing Arts, and Westminster Conservatory – Rider’s Westminster College of the Arts offers all students, regardless of major, the opportunity to have meaningful experiences in the arts.
“Westminster College of the Arts integrates Westminster’s highly regarded music programs in Princeton with our distinguished fine arts programs in Lawrenceville in dance, music, theater and art,” President Mordechai Rozanski said in announcing the establishment of the new college. “It will strengthen Westminster’s historic mission of preparing talented music students for careers as music leaders and nurture and challenge the artist within all students, preparing them to contribute more fully to an ever-changing global society.”
In the ensuing seven years, the arts have flourished on both campuses. Enrollment in the new college has increased by 14 percent. Rider’s theatre program has a legacy of excellence dating from Theatre 59, the educational theatre program established in 1959. In recent years, the program has grown to offer six musical theatre and theatre performances in the Yvonne Theatre and the expanded Bart Luedeke Center Theater. Additionally, informal cabarets and showcases are held in various locations around campus. Students enrolled in the musical theatre and theatre programs are regularly going on to perform in regional theaters and national tours.
Rider’s dance program benefits from a partnership with American Repertory Ballet, and the Rider Dances series of spring performances celebrated its 10th anniversary in April. The new Emerging Choreographers Competition has garnered regional recognition. Visual arts students are learning how to manage an art gallery, and they’ve been accepted into prestigious graduate programs.
Student-led initiatives, such as the Rider University Arts Society and the ArtsBeast Arts Festival, have brought new energy and engagement in the arts to the Lawrenceville campus and beyond.
The Westminster Choir College campus is filled with music nearly 24 hours a day. The 2014 Westminster Symphonic Choir season continues the tradition of 15 performances with some of the world’s leading orchestras, such as The Philadelphia Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic. Through a special group sales program, music lovers from both campuses have been able to attend major performances in Philadelphia and New York. Everyone is anxiously anticipating the opportunities the new Hillman Performance Hall in the Marion Buckelew Cullen Center will offer for rehearsals, performances and broadcasts.
John Finley Williamson and Andrew J. Rider shared a dream of providing aspiring and ambitious students the opportunity to achieve successful and fulfilling careers. Judging from the enthusiasm and participation on both campuses and the success of our students and alumni, Westminster College of the Arts is indeed “fulfilling the promise.”
