Legacy Celebrating 100 Years of Westminster Choir College
Westminster Concert Handbell Choirs
Gillian Erlenborn, conductor
Claire Fritz, graduate assistant
Tyler Miller, graduate assistant
Saturday, April 25th at 4 p.m.
Gill Memorial Chapel
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road Lawrenceville, N.J.
Please note the unauthorized use of any recording device, either audio or video is prohibited by law. Out of courtesy to the performers and everyone in the audience, please refrain from using cell phones and electronic devices.
Rider University gratefully acknowledges the generous support of: Michael T. '89 and Susana Santaguida '89 Gummel and Kasey & Billy Ziff for their support of our Rider Friend of the Arts patron program.
Program
Quarters on “Foundation”
Introduction and Allegro
Robert James Lamb
Donald E. Allured
Air in D Johann Sebastian Bach from Orchestral Suite No. 3 arr. William H. Mathis, ‘71
Claire Fritz, CymBells soloist
Come Christians, Join to Sing Spanish Hymn arr. F. Thomas Simpson, ‘89
Westminster Concert Handbell Choir II Claire Fritz, conductor
Perpetual Motion
Donald E. Allured
Veiled Revelry Jiayun Gao
Maple Leaf Rag Scott Joplin arr. Raymond Nugent, '14, ‘16
Elegy
William A. Payn,’ 68
Serve the Lord with Gladness Cathy Moklebust
Carillon Fantasy Karen L. Buckwalter, ‘74
About the Artists
WESTMINSTER CONCERT BELL CHOIR
The Westminster Concert Bell Choir is composed of undergraduate and graduate students at Rider University. The ensemble rings under the direction of Gillian Erlenborn. This year marks the 48th year of the handbell curriculum at Westminster Choir College, the first institution in the world to develop such a program.
Hailed for its virtuosity, the Westminster Concert Bell Choir uses the largest range of handbells in the world – 8 octaves, from C1 to C9. Many of the bells are made of bronze and range in weight from four ounces to eleven pounds. The Choir also uses the large “Basso Profundo” aluminum-cast bells. The Choir supplements their handbell set with a six-octave set of Malmark Choirchime® instruments from C2 to C8 – the widest range in existence.
Frequently traveling across the country for performance tours, the Westminster Concert Bell Choir has visited more than 40 States. Most recently, the ensemble traveled the southeast in January 2024.
The Westminster Concert Bell Choir has appeared on Public Television’s Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and several holiday broadcasts of the Today Show, including one in which NBC television personalities Katie Couric and Willard Scott joined the ensemble. Its holiday performances have been heard annually on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, and it is included on NPR’s Christmas Around The Country II recording.
The Choir has performed at Carnegie Hall twice during the Christmas season and was featured on New Jersey Network’s State Of The Arts program.
In December 2002, the ensemble joined Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a critically acclaimed 15city tour entitled A Royal Christmas. The Choir also joined singer, Josh Groban, appearing at NBC’s nationally televised Lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
The Choir has made eleven recordings: The Pealing Bells, Westminster Concert Bell Choir, Christmas Bells, Westminster Rings!, Praise and Adoration, Christmas at Westminster: The Westminster Concert Bell Choir, By Request, Westminster Concert Bell Choir: 30th Anniversary Collection, A Time To Dance, An English Christmas, Let Freedom Ring! and is featured on the recently released recording An Evening of Readings and Carols (The 30th Anniversary Live Recording)
WESTMINSTER CONCERT BELL CHOIR I
Gillian Erlenborn, conductor
Claire Fritz and Tyler Miller, graduate assistant conductors
Reese A. Bennett, Frederick, MD
Katie Blowitski, Southampton, PA
Xavier Desrosiers, Southampton, PA
Alexa Farah, Northvale, NJ
Claire Fritz, Elizabethtown, PA
Brendan M. Fritz, Elizabethtown, PA
Jiayun Gao, Shanghai, China
Benjamin Glick, Lancaster, PA
Jessica Koscak, Tamaqua, PA
Tyler Miller, Frederick, MD
Lena Santore, Buena, NJ
Haley Soule, Middleboro, MA
Sarah Vawdrey, Riverton, UT
WESTMINSTER CONCERT BELL CHOIR II
Gillian Erlenborn, conductor
Claire Fritz and Tyler Miller, graduate assistant conductors
Abby J. Abello, Hackettstown, NJ
Reese A. Bennett, Frederick, MD
Jeremy Burt, Winfield, NJ
Natalie Cook, Hackettstown, NJ
Brendan M. Fritz, Elizabethtown, PA
Claire Fritz, Elizabethtown, PA
Jessica Koscak, Tamaqua, PA
Amy Majewski, Glen Ridge, NJ
Franziska C. Meyer, Wilmington, DE
Tyler Miller, Frederick, MD
Mary S. Page-Hoffmann, Boca Raton, FL
Nadia Rego, Westfield, NJ
Lloyd P. Silikovitz, Randolph, NJ
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Senior Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Jason Vodicka Chair, Department of Performance Studies Margaret Cusack Director of Choir Studies Donald Nally
Associate Director of Performance Management Leandra Acosta
About Rider University & Westminster Choir College
Located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Rider University is a private co-educational, student-centered university that emphasizes purposeful connections between academic study and real-world learning experience. Rider prepares graduates to thrive professionally, to be lifelong independent learners, and to be responsible citizens who embrace diversity, support the common good, and contribute meaningfully to the changing world in which they live and work.
The College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to educating students for engaged citizenship, career success, and personal growth in a diverse and complex world. The college cultivates intellectual reflection, artistic creativity, and academic maturity by promoting both broad academic inquiry and in-depth disciplinary study, while nurturing effective and ethical applications of transferable critical skills. The College consists of four schools: the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Communication, Media, and Performing Arts, the School of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, and Westminster Choir College.
Culturally vibrant and historically rich, Westminster Choir College has a legacy of preparing students for thriving careers as well-rounded performers and musical leaders on concert stages, in schools, universities, and churches, and in professional and community organizations worldwide. Renowned for its tradition of choral excellence, the college is home to internationally recognized ensembles, including the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with virtually all of the major orchestras and conductors of our time. In addition to its choral legacy, Westminster is known as a center for excellence in musical pedagogy and performance.
Upcoming Performances
WESTMINSTER FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: SONNET
Sunday, April 26, 2 p.m.
Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER JUBILEE SINGERS: A JUBILEE 30TH ANNIVERSARY HOMECOMING
Sunday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.
Gill Chapel
GRADUATE CONDUCTING RECITAL SERIES
Westminster Choir Graduate Conductors: Claire Fritz and Lucas Heredia
Friday, May 1, 7:30 p.m.
Gill Chapel
9 TO 5
Friday, May 1, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 2, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 3, 2 p.m.
Yvonne Theater
LINDSEY CHRISTIANSEN ART SONG FESTIVAL
Sunday, May 3, 3 p.m.
Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER CHOIR: THE WESTMINSTER CHOIR LOOKS FORWARD
Thursday, May 14, 7:30 p.m.
Bristol Chapel
101 Walnut Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540
WESTMINSTER CHOIR COLLEGE CHAPEL SERVICE
Friday, May 15, 7 p.m.
Princeton University Chapel
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UPCOMING PERFORMANCES, SUBSCRIPTION AND PATRON PROGRAM OPTIONS, VISIT RIDER.EDU/ARTS.
