Saturday, Dec 19, 2015
The Westminster Choir, conducted by Joe Miller, will perform in five cities in the eastern United States in January:
- Chestnut Hill, Mass - Friday, January 8
- Rockville Centre, N.Y. - Sunday, January 10
- McLean, Va. - Wednesday, January 13
- Richmond, Va. - Thursday, January 14
- Greensboro, N.C. - Saturday, January 16
The ensemble will also present workshop for choral conductors and students at Carnegie Hall and eight high schools in the areas surrounding the tour venues.
The tour program is concert titled Angel Band. From old-time gospel hymns to the exquisite setting of Poulencs Mass in G Major, each tour performance will offer a concert connecting community through words and music. The innovative program centers on Francis Poulencs monumental Mass in G Major, whose movements serve as a frame upon which a musical tapestry is woven from works by Debussy, Brahms, Dawson and Antognini. A connecting thread is the traditional American hymn O Come, Angel Band:
O, come, angel band,
Come and around me stand;
O, bear me away on your snowy wings
To my eternal home.
This music centers around our shared experiences, says Maestro Miller. The words of the Mass have been used for centuries to bring people together. Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei represent parts of worship, but they also represent the experiences that we share as humans. Centering around Poulencs great Mass in G Major, this program is grouped into music that reflects the emotions and memories of the choir, the members of the audience and our community.
Members of the audience at the tour concerts will be invited to participate in Westminsters Tapestry of Voices Project, which uses images, words and music to explore how shared experiences connect individuals to create a community, as threads are woven together to create a fabric or tapestry. Before the concert, audience members will be asked to consider their role as a single thread in the community or tapestry created through the shared experience of a concert. They will write on a sheet of paper one word that best represents themselves and be photographed with their word. All of the photographs will be uploaded to the Tapestry of Voices website, where images of all of the projects participants will be collected. All of the collected images will become part of an art installation that will be displayed at the Westminster Choirs Homecoming Concert in Princeton, N.J., on January 25 and documented online a visual record of the experiences shared by all who were touched by the choir and its music during its tour.
Setting the standard for choral excellence for 95 years, the Westminster Choir is composed of students at Westminster Choir College, a division of 91做厙s Westminster College of the Arts. It has been the chorus-in-residence for the prestigious Spoleto Festival USA since 1977, performing both in concert and as the opera chorus.
The ensembles 2015-2016 season includes a concert tour of the eastern United States, performances and broadcasts at its home in Princeton and its annual residency at the Spoleto Festival USA. Its performance of John Adams El Ni簽o, conducted by Joe Miller, at the 2014 Festival was praised by The New York Times as superb. Meticulously prepared, the chorus was remarkable for its precision, unanimity and power.
Joe Miller is conductor of two of Americas most renowned choral ensembles: the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir. He is also director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of 91做厙 and the Spoleto Festival USA.
to a podcast of Joe Miller previewing the tour program