Renowned Westminster Choir and Otterbein Choir to Perform Together
Posted Mar 13, 2023
The renowned Westminster Choir of Westminster Choir College and the Otterbein University Concert Choir will perform together at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, at Church of the Messiah, 51 N. State St., Westerville. The concert is free and open to the public.
The schools have a shared history: John Finley Williamson, founder of the Westminster Choir College and director of the Westminster Choir for many years, was a graduate of Otterbein in the Class of 1911.
The choir’s legendary and rich history ranges from performing in Fantasia, recording with Leonard Bernstein, and performing with major orchestras around the globe, including over 500 performances with the New York Philharmonic.
Led by Grammy-nominated conductor James Jordan, the Westminster Choir’s Westerville performance is part of their annual tour in 2023. Their tour will include performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, and a performance at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio. Reviewers have called the choir “The Gold Standard,” (American Record Review) and have praised them for their “full bodied, incisive singing” (The New York Times).
Director James Jordan is professor of conducting and chair of choral studies at Westminster Choir College and oversees the choral performance program and the graduate program in choral conducting. He is the author of over 60 books on the choral art that focus upon the spirituality of music making, voice science, and ensemble music learning. His 20 CDs have received five-star reviews by Gramophone and Choir and Organ calls his Grammy-nominated recording Annelies “a profound and emotionally charged experience.” James is co-director of the renowned Choral Institute at Oxford (rider.edu/oxford) and is conductor and artistic director of The Same Stream Choir.