The Westminster Choir will return to Carnegie Hall for a performance that will honor the late composer James Whitbourn, whose deep ties to Westminster Choir College lasted more than 20 years before his death in March.
The event will take place in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, one of the national historic landmark’s three venues, on April 13 at 1 p.m.
Westminster Choir will join the New England Symphonic Ensemble and other participating choirs for the premiere performance of Whitbourn’s Requiem, his final work, in its full orchestra version, as well as Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare.
The Requiem was commissioned by Rider University’s Westminster Choir College and incorporates existing material written for Dr. James Jordan, the conductor of the Westminster Choir who was Whitbourn’s longtime friend and collaborator, and the Westminster Williamson Voices. Because Whitbourn was too ill to complete the work, composer John Rutter completed the orchestration.
“Now it falls to Westminster Choir to premiere what now was his final work,” Jordan says. “Few choirs have such a privilege. James Whitbourn loved Westminster Choir College and its students. This will be our thanks and gift to our cherished friend and musical partner. We know the musical world will be listening.”
A British composer, conductor and producer, Whitbourn was internationally renowned for a catalog of works that is performed around the world. His most performed composition was the concert-length choral work Annelies, the first major choral setting of The Diary of Anne Frank. It made its U.S. premiere at Westminster Choir College in 2007 under the direction of Jordan. The piece was later recorded by the Westminster Williamson Voices — one of 10 recordings Whitbourn made with Jordan and the Westminster Williamson Voices — and nominated for the 2014 Grammy for Best Choral Performance.
Another notable work, Luminosity, was written for Westminster Choir College and the Archedream dance ensemble. Whitbourn also served as a recording engineer for many Westminster-related projects and was the co-director of the Choral Institute at Oxford, Westminster’s partnership with St. Stephen’s House in Oxford, United Kingdom.
The Westminster Choir, founded in 1920, is composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. The ensemble’s 2023-24 season has also included performances in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Washington, as well as local performances on campus and at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville in New Jersey.
Recent seasons have included performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony, concert tours in Beijing, China and Spain, participation in the World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona and groundbreaking performances of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields at the historic Roebling WireWorks as part of Westminster’s Transforming Space project. The choir’s recording Serenity of Soul celebrates the choir’s 100th year and will be released later this month on the GIA Masterworks label.
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 the leading conductors and orchestras of our time.
Tickets for Westminster Choir’s performance at Carnegie Hall on April 13, which start at $28, are being sold directly through Carnegie Hall. Student and senior discount tickets are available at the box office. Additional program information can be found on the Rider University website.
