​The Legacy of Westminster Choir College
Some of the Many Major Accomplishments of WCC

  • Westminster Choir College of Rider University (Westminster) is one of the world’s leading music schools. Located on a 23-acre residential campus in Princeton, New Jersey, Westminster offers undergraduate and graduate programs that prepare students for careers in performance and as music leaders in schools, universities, churches and professional and community organizations. All students study with Westminster's voice faculty, the largest voice faculty in the world.

  • Westminster was founded in 1926 and moved to Princeton in 1934. In 1992, Westminster merged with Rider College, located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, becoming part of Rider College but pursuant to the merger agreement, maintaining a separate identity and programs. In 1994, the merged institution became Rider University.

  • Westminster Choir was selected to commemorate the tragic events of September 11, 2001, in Public Radio International's broadcast titled "In the Shadow of the Towers," in which the choir appeared with then-President George W. Bush and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

  • Westminster was invited to perform at the dedication of the New York World's Fairs in both 1938 and 1964. The broadcast of the latter set a record for the largest television viewership as of the broadcast date.

  • Westminster Choir performed Schubert's Ave Maria on Disney's iconic film "Fantasia," which the U.S. National Film Registry has designated as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

  • Westminster Choir was invited to celebrate the opening of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts (1972).

  • The Westminster Symphonic Choir frequently performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. The Choir has performed over 300 times with the New York Philharmonic, more than any other organization.

  • The Westminster Symphonic Choir has also performed with all major American orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and San Antonio Symphony Orchestra.

  • The Westminster Symphonic Choir regularly performs with the world's greatest international orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin State Opera Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic.

  • The Westminster's Symphonic Choir has performed with most of the world's greatest orchestral conductors of the last 100 years, including Claudio Abbado, John Barbirolli, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Mariss Jansons, Erich Leinsdorf, James Levine, Neville Marriner, Zdeněk Mácal, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Eugene Ormandy, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Robert Shaw, William Steinberg, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leopold Stokowski, Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan, Bruno Walter, and Albert Wolff.

  • Westminster's Concert Bell Choir is the world's premiere ensemble of its kind. Performing on the world's largest sets of concert bells, it has released 11 solo recordings and appears on NPR's "Christmas Around The Country II" recording. The ensemble appears annually on NPR's "Performance Today" as well as on other national broadcasts that range from "The Today Show" to "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" and in venues such as Carnegie Hall. It has made a number of national tours, including one as part of "A Royal Christmas," with Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, and Charlotte Church.
    ​
  • As this sampling of remarkable accomplishments makes clear, the efforts of Rider University to thrust Westminster Choir College’s legacy into the hands of an unqualified corporation aiming to expand its business interests presents an existential threat to an irreplaceable cultural and educational institution.