Westminister Choir College visits school music groups

By Zach Horowitz
Staff Writer

The Westminster Choir College came to Mira Costa on Jan. 15 to collaborate with Costa choirs during the school’s west coast tour.

Westminster Choir College of Rider University was founded in 1926 by John Finley Williamson and is located in Princeton, New Jersey. Director of the Westminster Choir College Dr. Joe Miller contacted Costa choir director Michael Hayden several months ago to inform him that the Westminster College Choir was going on a west coast tour and would like to meet with Costa students.

“When I received the email that they wanted to include us in their tour, I knew we were among a handful of schools that they chose to visit,” Hayden said.

The Westminster Choir performed an original song called “The Invention of Love” for Costa’s music theory class, music appreciation class and all of the choirs in the auditorium.

“It was really special to hear what a professional choir sounded like live,” sophomore Kayla Elson said.

Costa Vocal Ensemble then performed a few songs for the Westminster Choir, and Miller worked with them to improve their sound.

“Dr. Joe Miller taught us new skill sets that we can apply to our music,” Elson said. “It was nice to work with a different director because he was able to hear different qualities in our sound that we weren’t able to recognize.”