Westminster Choir College

I mean, it's really exciting.

And I think I told you before that I got to perform the piece with Bernstein as a student at Westminster Choir College, which was really exciting.

Yeah.

So, settings of the psalms with chorus, soloist, four soloists we'll have from the choir, and then a treble soloist sings in the second movement.

Yes, I am a singer.

I was, uh, before, [laughs] before I entered seminary, I was at Westminster Choir College where choir was literally our middle name.

And so I was an operatic baritone, and I was an opera singer, a choral conductor, and a moderate composer.

[laughs]

Lauren grew up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and went by the nickname Elle.

She studied music education at Westminster Choir College and became a high school music teacher.

However, Elle quit her teaching job in the winter of 2020.

She then joined her friend Cody Orrel on a road trip cross-country.

The entire globe.

Phyllis is Professor Emerita of Piano at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and continues to serve on the Westminster Conservatory faculty.

Her 40-year collaboration with duo piano partner Anna Bronstein Barton includes CDs featuring duets and two piano works of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, and Laurie Altman.

Recent publications include fall v- five volumes of the Great Piano Repertoire.

Isn't that something? Can you-- Do you remember the first time you met her?

I-- You know, we did-- We only s-spoke by phone, and then my husband had a sabbatical in London, and we started corresponding.

And in, uh, in that correspondence, we-- I had already started a, a job at the Westminster Choir College, a little, um, part-time, and then it became full-time.

And, um, so we started writing about the fact, why don't we see if we can have a master's program [laughs] in piano pedagogy? And so it really was born, um, with Frances and Louise and me in England.

I wanted to go to a music conservatory.

So I was one of 10,000 people from around the world that auditioned for Westminster Choir College that year.

68 of us were accepted.

68 of us were accepted.

Like I'll give you an example.

When I was in college, I went to Westminster Choir College.

Clearly from the name, the choir was a big deal.

Yeah.