The Princeton High School Choir has an unusually rich tradition of choral excellence that is unique among American high schools. The choir has performed extensively in North America and Europe, touring as representatives of Princeton, New Jersey, one of America’s most distinguished communities. One of four performing ensembles, the 78 members of the choir are selected after careful audition of nearly two hundred voices in the high school’s choral program.
The foundation of the Choir’s repertoire is rich in the study of Western choral music. Its curriculum includes traditional sacred and secular choral music spanning Medieval through 21st-century repertoire, contemporary music, staged opera and operetta productions, and American folk music, Spirituals, and Gospel repertoire. The Princeton High School Choir has a history of collaborating with notable composers, conductors, and guest clinicians and is featured every December with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Rossen Milanov. The choir hosts a biennial Gospel Festival, led by past guest conductors Raymond Wise, Donald Dumpson, and William Heard.
Notable performances have been with conductor Andrew Parrott on Tippett’s Dance, Clarion Air; John Harbison, performing his O Magnum Mysterium; Vincent Persichetti, singing his Mass for Mixed Voices; Peter Maxwell Davies, premiering his Veni Sancte Spiritus; Roger Sessions, premiering his Mass; and Frank Lewin, premiering and recording his Mass for the Dead in memory of Robert F. Kennedy. Maurice Duruflé conducted the choir in a performance of his Requiem in 1971. In 1963, Gian Carlo Menotti invited the choir to perform at his Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy and Zoltán Kodály conducted the choir for the International Association of Choral Directors in Budapest. Additional performances of note have been at the ACDA Regional and National Conventions, the White House, and the Washington National Cathedral.
The choir has received numerous awards and honors, including first prize at the 1994 Festival of Gold in Washington, D.C., second prize at the 1984 International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, and the “Best in Class” designation at the 1981 convention of the American Choral Directors’ Association in New Orleans.
