Published by New Jersey Stage
originally published: 03/04/2023
Peter G. Borg/Rider University
(LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ) -- The Westminster Choir will embark on a spring tour in Ohio and Pennsylvania from March 12-18. The tour includes an appearance by the choir’s tenors and basses with the Pittsburgh Symphony as well as a concert at the choir’s founding church in Dayton, Ohio.
Setting the standard for choral excellence since 1920, the Westminster Choir is composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
“It is wonderful to return to touring,” says Dr. James Jordan, the conductor of the Westminster Choir.
This year’s spring tour program includes works by Thomas Tallis, Arvo Pärt, Felix Mendelssohn-Barthodly, Francis Poulenc and more. It will begin with a concert on March 12 at 4 p.m. at Westminster Choir’s founding church, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio. It was there that John Finley Williamson originally founded the choir in 1920. Only two years later, the choir began touring the United States, going on to sing at renowned performance venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York City and Symphony Hall in Boston.
Now in its 103rd year, the Westminster Choir was supposed to visit Dayton on its 100th anniversary, but those plans were canceled because of the pandemic. "It is only right that we sing there and perform for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the choir," Jordan says.
The spring tour will continue with a stop in Columbus, Ohio, at Otterbein University on March 14 at 7:30pm for a collaborative concert with the Otterbein Concert Choir at Church of the Messiah United Methodist Church. Otterbein University was the alma mater of Williamson and his wife, Rhea Parlette Willamson, who graduated as a part of the Otterbein’s Class of 1911. Williamson brought the Westminster Choir there many times during his lifetime.
Members of the choir will then participate in three performances of Mozart’s Requiem at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, which is led by Westminster alumnus Dr. Matthew Mehaffey ’99, on March 17 and 18 at 8:00pm and March 19 at 2:30pm.
These performances will be conducted by Manfred Honeck and include the internationally recognized soloists soprano Jeanine De Bique, mezzo soprano Catriona Morison, tenor Ben Bliss and bass Tareq Nazmi. Actor F. Murray Abraham, known for his Academy Award-winning role in Amadeus and more recently his performance in the HBO series The White Lotus, will narrate the program.
The tour will also include a concert at Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh on March 18 at 2:00pm.
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 world’s leading conductors and orchestras.
The Westminster Choir 2023 spring tour concert schedule is as follows:
Serenity of Soul: Westminster Choir at the Westminster Presbyterian Church - March 12 at 4:00pm; Westminster Presbyterian Church, 125 N. Wilkinson St., Dayton, Ohio 45402. 937-223-7285. Admission to this concert is a free will offering
Collaborative concert with the Otterbein Concert Choir - March 14 at 7:30pm; Church of the Messiah United Methodist Church, 51 N State Street, Westerville, Ohio 43081. 614-882-2167. Free admission
In Words and Music: Honeck Conducts Mozart’s Requiem Performance with The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - March 17-18 at 8:00pm, and March 19 at 2:30pm. Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222.
Westminster Choir at the Calvary Episcopal Church - March 18 at 2:00pm. Calvary Episcopal Church, 315 Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206. 412-661-0120. Free admission
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