Summer Music Camps
The Conservatory offers a variety of summer music camps. Students with or without previous musical experience are eligible to attend. Information outlining the 2024 summer camps will be available in January on the website at www.rider.edu/conservatorycamps. Summer camp registration begins on January 15, 2024. Potential resident high-school and adult programs are offered through Westminster Summer Arts at rider.edu/summerarts.
Summer Lessons
The Conservatory offers a flexible eight-week session for private instruction in all instruments, depending on availability of instructors. Students often enroll in summer lessons to try out a new instrument or to get extra coaching and practice. The 2024 summer session runs from June 24 to August 18, 2024. Registration will open on May 13, 2024.
Conservatory Faculty Recital Series
In addition to teaching, Westminster Conservatory faculty members enrich the musical life of the area and provide inspiring examples for their students through performance. Solo and chamber music recitals by Conservatory faculty take place on the Princeton campus of Westminster Conservatory and in the community. Admission is free to all Westminster Conservatory faculty performances. For a complete listing of performances, go to www.rider.edu/arts.
Recitals in the Westminster Conservatory Faculty Series are presented on Saturday evenings, Sunday afternoons, or Sunday evenings in Bristol Chapel or Hillman Hall, Westminster campus.
Westminster Conservatory at Nassau recitals are held on the third Thursday of the month, September to May, at 12:15 p.m. in the Niles Chapel of Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street, Princeton. These half-hour lunchtime recitals are open to the public without charge. (This program is made possible, in part, by the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission through funding from the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment of the Arts.)
Concerto Competition
This annual competition offers Conservatory students an opportunity to perform with the Westminster Community Orchestra. In the fall of 2023, Conservatory wind, string, and voice students who were registered with the Conservatory for the prior academic year (September through May) are eligible to participate with approval from their private Conservatory teacher. Competition applications and guidelines will be available in the main office in September 2023.
Ena Bronstein Barton Piano Scholarship
This scholarship was established in Spring 2011 to honor Ena Bronstein Barton, the head of the piano department at Westminster Conservatory, member of the piano faculty at Westminster Choir College, and internationally acclaimed performer. Each spring, Conservatory piano teachers will nominate students in grades 9 through 11 who have studied with them for a minimum of two years. The student must be a talented and hardworking pianist—an all-around musician who studies theory and/or a second instrument at the Conservatory and exhibits the community spirit of the Conservatory. A panel of Conservatory piano teachers will choose the recipient and the scholarship winner receives a $500 tuition remission to apply toward their piano study at the Conservatory in the following academic year.
Achievement Award Competition
Marvin Rosen, Coordinator
At the end of the fall term, faculty members may nominate outstanding students who have studied privately for the full fall term to compete for a Conservatory Achievement Award. Awards are granted for achievement in private instrumental, vocal, or composition lessons. Winners are selected through a competitive audition by a panel of judges and receive a $400 tuition remission to apply toward study at the Conservatory in their nominated field the following academic year.
Teen Voice Competition
Danielle Sinclair, Coordinator
In the spring term, Conservatory high school students who are taking private voice lessons or are in the Westminster Community Chorus or the Honors Music Program are invited, based on approval from their teacher, to participate in the annual Teen Voice Competition. The winners receive gift certificates for the University bookstore and the opportunity to perform in a recital.