Westminster Choir College

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Westminster Choir College (WCC) is a historic music conservatory now operating as part of Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. It sits within Rider’s College of Arts and Sciences, which includes Westminster Choir College and three other schools.

Origins and early years
WCC began in 1920 when John Finley Williamson founded the Westminster Choir at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio. In 1926, he started the Westminster Choir School. The school moved to Ithaca, New York (1929–1932) and then to Princeton, New Jersey (1932–2020), where it grew into a full college. In 1939, after accreditation, it adopted the name Westminster Choir College.

What the choir accomplished
In its early decades, Westminster Choir became internationally acclaimed. The group toured the United States, performed at major venues like Carnegie Hall and the White House, and made early commercial recordings. In 1928 it helped make the nation’s first coast-to-coast radio broadcast. The choir worked with leading orchestras and conductors and gave hundreds of concerts, including frequent collaborations with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The campus and the choir’s work became symbols of American choral excellence.

Merger with Rider University and moves
In 1992 Westminster Choir College merged with Rider University, though for many years it remained associated with Princeton. Over time, Rider began moving Westminster’s programs. In 2020 Westminster relocated to Rider’s Lawrenceville campus. The Princeton campus saw extensive development in prior years, including the creation of the Cullen Center (completed in 2015) and various performance and educational collaborations. In 2019 Rider explored selling Westminster to Kaiwen Education Technology (a Beijing-based company); that sale was never completed, and Westminster’s programs remained with Rider, eventually consolidating on the Lawrenceville campus.

Recent changes and current status
In 2022, Westminster College of the Arts merged with Rider University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, making Westminster Choir College a school within the broader college structure. Since the move, on-ground enrollment faced challenges from the transition and the COVID-19 pandemic, but programs have gradually regained strength, with ongoing renovations and new facilities to support teaching and performance. In 2023 Rider ended Westminster’s separate commencement ceremonies and began issuing diplomas without the Westminster name, though in 2025 the university announced reissuing diplomas to restore the Westminster Choir College identity for recent graduates.

Princeton campus and ongoing work
The Princeton campus continues to host Westminster Conservatory (the community music school) and serves as a venue for rehearsals, performances, and alumni events. In 2024 Princeton’s municipal government moved to purchase the campus via eminent domain, a process that continued into 2025. That same year, four-time Grammy-winning alumnus Donald Nally was named Westminster’s Director of Choral Studies, guiding the Westminster Choir and Westminster Symphonic Choir and directing graduate conducting studies. Westminster enrolled in a new ABRSM partnership in 2025, allowing transfer of ABRSM credentials toward certain programs and providing elective credit for ABRSM exams.

Today
As of 2026, Westminster Choir College operates within Rider University’s Lawrenceville campus, while the Princeton campus remains active for conservatory activities, rehearsals, and alumni events. The college continues to pursue growth in performance opportunities, faculty leadership, and partnerships to support Westminster’s traditions of choral excellence.