ANNUAL HOMECOMING CONCERT: The Westminster Choir, conducted by Joe Miller, will present its annual homecoming concert titled “Angel Band” on Monday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus. Admission is free, but tickets are required. To reserve tickets in advance, call (609) 258-9220 or visit www.princeton.edu/utickets.

The Westminster Choir, conducted by Joe Miller, will conclude its 2016 tour of the Eastern United States with its annual homecoming concert on Monday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus. Admission is free, but tickets are required. To order tickets call (609) 258-9220 or visit www.princeton.edu/utickets.

Titled “Angel Band,” the innovative program will center on Francis Poulenc’s monumental Mass in G Major, whose movements will serve as a frame upon which a musical tapestry will be woven from works by Debussy, Brahms, Dawson, and Antognini. A connecting thread will be the traditional American hymn O Come, Angel Band.

“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 Poulenc’s 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.”

On the stage with the singers will be an art installation that is part of Westminster’s A 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 each tour concert, audience members were invited to consider their role as a single thread in the community or “tapestry” created through the shared experience of a concert. They wrote on a sheet of paper one word that best represented themselves and were photographed holding the paper. All of the photographs were uploaded to the Tapestry of Voices website. All of the collected images were used to create fabric panels that will be displayed at the January 25 concert.

The Westminster Choir is composed of students at Westminster Choir College, a division of Rider University’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.

Joe Miller is conductor of the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir. He is also director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University and the artistic director for choral activities at Spoleto Festival USA.

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