Dona Nobis Pacem
Westminster Jubilee Singers
Vinroy D. Brown, Jr., conductor
Akiko Hosaki, accompanist
Max Brey graduate assistant conductor
Andrew Chojnacki, graduate assistant conductor
Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Gill Memorial Chapel
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road
Lawrenceville, N.J.
Program
We Shall Walk Through the Valley arr. Undine Smith Moore
Mass in E Minor Zanaida Stewart Robles
I. Kyrie
O Holy Savior R. Nathaniel Dett
Mass in E Minor Robles
II. Gloria
Wake Up, My Spirit Adolphus Hailstork
Mass in E Minor Robles
III. Credo
I Believe Mark A. Miller
Mass in E Minor Robles
IV. Sanctus
Non Nobis Domine Rosephanye Powell ’87
Mass in E Minor Robles
V. Agnus Dei
Our Thanks to Thee Julia Perry ’48
About the Artists
WESTMINSTER JUBILEE SINGERS
Composed of students selected by audition, the Westminster Jubilee Singers is modeled after the historically acclaimed Fisk Jubilee Singers. Its repertoire, while specialized and select, is very diverse and focuses on solo and ensemble artistic expressions from its singers. Part of Westminster Choir College’s Sacred Music Department, the ensemble performs literature that includes African-American spirituals and folk songs; classical music by African-American composers; gospel music and secular songs by musical greats such as William Dawson, Duke Ellington, Walter Hawkins, Andraé Crouch, Richard Smallwood, Kirk Franklin and Dr. Nathan Carter, as well as Westminster graduates, Rosephanye Powell, Donald Dillard and M. Roger Holland. Also explored and performed are works by non-African-American composers, including George Gershwin, Alice Parker, Robert Shaw, Robert Page, Gail Poch, Steve Pilkington and others who have composed and/or arranged music of the African-American experience.
In addition to its rich repertoire of African-American spirituals, hymn arrangements and gospel songs, the Westminster Jubilee Singers has performed classical works, such as And They Lynched Him On a Tree by William Grant Still and Shout for Joy and I Will Lift Up My Eyes by Adolphus Hailstork. Highlights of recent seasons include the performance of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts and R. Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses. The ensemble’s 2021-2022 season included concerts in Lawrenceville, participation in An Evening of Readings and Carols in Princeton, and a concert at the Bent But Not Broken Choral Festival in Wilmington, Delaware. Previous seasons have included appearances at the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) in Kansas City and Regional Conference in Baltimore; the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Eastern Regional Convention in Boston; a performance with Denyce Graves at New York’s Apollo Theater to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Children’s Defense Fund; a joint concert entitled Living the Dream with Penn State University’s Essence of Joy ensemble as a tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and its Lincoln Center debut performing in An Evening of Choral Artistry, presented by the American Choral Directors Association. The ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra, under the baton of Skitch Henderson, in a concert version of Porgy and Bess. At the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, Westminster Jubilee Singers presented joint concerts with the Fisk University Jubilee Singers and the legendary Sweet Honey in the Rock.
VINROY D. BROWN, JR., CONDUCTOR
Vinroy D. Brown, Jr. holds credits in conducting, sacred music and music education. He is a member of the choral studies, music education and sacred music faculty at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he conducts the Westminster Jubilee Singers and teaches in the Baccalaureate Honors Program. A church musician, he is director of music & worship arts at Elmwood United Presbyterian Church. He is also artistic director and conductor of Capital Singers of Trenton.
A sought-after clinician and lecturer, he has presented at numerous academic institutions and education conferences, and conducted honor choirs and headlined festivals throughout the country. This year, he will lecture at both Yale and Princeton universities, conduct the Central Jersey Region II Intermediate Treble Choir, headline the Bucks County Women’s Chorus Festival in addition to residences and guest conducting opportunities nationwide. He will also serve as Cover Conductor for the North Carolina premiere of Rihannon Gidden's Omar with Carolina Performing Arts Center.
Professor Brown holds active membership in numerous music and education-based organizations. In addition, he is Vice President of the Board of Trustees of Essence of Harmony Choral Society, a Board Member of the Open Arts Performing Center, a grant panelist for the Arts Institute of Middlesex County and sits on the board of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. for which he is Eastern Region Director and Chief Editor of EMERGENCE: Research & Performance Topics in Black Music, a scholarly publication which will be released in 2023. Brown is also a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, Inc. He holds the Master of Arts in Practical Theology degree from Regent University, and Bachelor of Music degrees in Sacred Music and Music Education from Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
AKIKO HOSAKI, PIANO
A native of Osaka, Japan, Dr. Akiko Hosaki is acclaimed for her sensitive playing, and one of the most sought-after collaborative pianist and vocal coach in the New York –New Jersey area. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor and the pianist coordinator of the University Accompanist Program at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and a staff member at the College of New Jersey and Bard College.
Dr. Hosaki was the assistant to Dalton Baldwin, legendary collaborative pianist, at Académie internationale d’été de Nice since 2013 until his passing in 2019, and at Mozarteum Sommerakademie in 2017 and 2018. She has collaborated with opera companies, such as Castleton Festival, New Jersey State Opera, Opera North, Opera New Jersey, Boheme Opera, and Princeton Festival Opera. She also enjoys collaborating with instrumentalists, and frequently performs in chamber music concerts and the keyboard/basso continuo in orchestras.
Dr. Hosaki holds degrees from Musashino Academia Musicae in Japan, Westminster Choir College, and University of Minnesota. Her future engagements include Voice Advantage Princeton Immersion during Summer 2023.
WESTMINSTER JUBILEE SINGERS
Vinroy D. Brown, Jr., conductor
Akiko Hosaki, accompanist
Max Brey, graduate assistant
Andrew Chojnacki, graduate assistant
SOPRANO
Elizabeth Berger, Hereford, MD
Maya Cooper, Fairfax, VA
Olivia Dixon, Woodbury, NJ
Jada Laws, Pine Beach, NJ
Sarah Vawdrey, Teaneck, NJ
ALTO
Cherisse R. Bonefont, Lumberton, NJ
Alessia D. Bradley, Pleasantville, NJ
Alyssa M. Lester, Monroe, NJ
Annie McCasland, Potomac, MD
Payton Tharp, Hamilton, NJ
Jasmin U. Villatoro, Holbrook, NY
TENOR
Andrew Chojnacki, Delran, NJ
Daniel J. Piver, East Hampton, NY
Michael H. Woods, Colonie, NY
BASS
Max Brey, Tallahassee, FL
Lucas Heredia, East Brunswick, NJ
Alastair Stewart, Pointe Claire, Quebec
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.
