Pianist Minjae Back has actively appeared as a soloist, accompanist, and teacher both in South Korea and America. Ms. Back has also collaborated with instrumentalists and vocalists performed concerts at various venues including The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and Steinway Hall in New York City as one of The New York Piano Group members.

Ms. Back completed her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where she studied with Ingrid Clarfield. While at Westminster, she had been teaching students ranging in ages and levels at Westminster Conservatory of Music. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Dong-A University, Busan, South Korea. Also, she went to study abroad at Brahms-Gesellschaft Scheleswig Holstein e.V. in Hamburg, Germany, where she received professional certification in Piano Performance. Ms. Back resides in Iowa City, Iowa with her husband, tenor Samuel Cho.

Anthony Bernarducci is an Associate Professor of Music at Clemson University and serves as the Director of Choral and Vocal Studies. Anthony conducts the Men's Choir, Cantorei, and Clemson University Singers. He also teaches courses in music theory and composition. As an author, Anthony published articles on topics ranging from music education to performance practice. Most recently, GIA Publications has released his book titled "Listening Awareness: Build Independent Creative Listeners in Choir."

Dr. Bernarducci is an active composer and has works published with GIA Publications, Gentry Publications, Hinshaw Music, and ECS Publishing Group. He has received commissions and performances from leading ensembles and organizations such as The Westminster Williamson Voices, The St. Olaf Choir, and The United States Soldiers Chorus. His compositions have been performed around the world by choral ensembles in Korea, Slovenia, Italy, and South Africa and on such notable stages as Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, Mechanics Hall, and Heinz Hall. He holds a PhD in music education from Florida State University, a Master of Music in conducting from the University of Arizona, and a Bachelor of music education from Westminster Choir College.

Ryan Brechmacher is an active composer, performer, teacher and pianist. As a solo pianist he has given recitals in Ohio and New Jersey, and has served as faculty accompanist for Princeton Day School, accompanist for the Princeton Girlchoir (Concert Choir, Quarter Notes and Ensemble), the Westminster Youth Chorale, Voices Chorale, and many singers and instrumentalists in the area. He has taught at Bowling Green State University's Summer Piano Camps, Westminster's Middle School Piano Camp with Lillian Livingston and at Westminster's High School Piano Camps with Ingrid Clarfield.

An accomplished composer, his works have been heard across the United States and Europe. He has had pieces premiered by the Westminster Schola Cantorum, Westminster Youth Chorale, Bowling Green Junior High School Bands, the Bowling Green Area Community Band, the Cincinnati Children's Choir, the Voices Chorale, the Princeton Girlchoir, and the Princeton Day School Chorus and Chorale. His piece, "The Lobster-Quadrille", won the 2010 Cincinnati Children's Choir Choral Composition Competition. His works have been published through Transcontinental Music Publications, Alfred Music Publishing, and GIA Publications.

Originally from Bowling Green, Ohio, he studied piano with Anne Tracy, Doris Anderson and Carol Steiner, and composition with Carol Steiner and Dr. Donald Wilson. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in both Piano Performance/Pedagogy and Theory/Composition, studying with Ingrid Clarfield, Stefan Young and Joel Phillips at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

Mr. Brechmacher has been teaching private piano lessons at Princeton Day School since the Fall of 2007, where he also serves as the Faculty Accompanist and AP Music Theory teacher in the Upper School. He lives in Lawrenceville, NJ, with his wife and son.

Candice Choi earned her M.M. in Piano Pedagogy and Performance in 2012, where she studied with Professor Clarfield. Since then, she has moved back to her hometown of San Francisco, CA and started her own music school called Musicians in the Making. During the pandemic, she expanded her school to have a strong online presence with teachers and students covering a national and international presence. There's even a teacher in Indonesia! Ms. Choi is passionate about building programs for the students in her school. Her school has been treated to many guests including a master class with America's Got Talent season 9 finalists Sons of Serendip and a Composer-in-Residence Adoption with internationally renowned composer Wynn-Anne Rossi. To learn more about Ms. Choi, please see her most recent interview in the San Mateo Daily Journal. Ms. Choi and her husband are excited about the anticipation of their first child (a baby boy!) in September 2022!

Robert has completed a Bachelor's degree in Piano and a Master's degree in Piano Pedagogy and Performance at Westminster Choir College, and he has taught piano at Raritan Music Center, Westerhoff School of Music and Art, World Wide Piano and Music, and Allegra School of Music and Arts, in addition to teaching piano independently. He worked as a section leader for two-and-a-half years at St. Thomas Church, Whitemarsh and now plays the piano at St. James Memorial Episcopal Church in Eatontown, NJ. He has been accompanying the Chin-Yun Chorus for the past year, and he is now starting a position as a choral accompanist at Drew University. He has played the piano and the synthesizer for musical productions and other performances for the Westminster Players, Princeton Day School, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, and the Center School. Robert received the Damien Dixon Memorial Scholarship in 2015.

Jewish composer, author, and educator, Evan Davis is a current graduate student and theory instructor at the University of Southern Mississippi. He graduated from Westminster Choir College with a Theory and composition major and Piano Pedagogy minor in 2023.

Evan started piano lessons at four years old, and quickly built up the talent of playing music on the piano by ear. His exposure to video game music as far back as elementary school led him to study harmony in middle and high school which culminated in him attending the Berklee School of Music 5-week intensive where he learned jazz theory.

Starting in college, Evan spent 4 years composing and building theoretical models to explain complicated harmonic sonorities found in Japanese video game music - a practice that would shape him into the theorist he is today.

In his last two years of undergraduate, he began teaching private theory lessons with his models and writing papers that would eventually crystallize into the beginning of a book on the music of Touhou Project which is expected to be completed sometime in 2024.

Evan attributes his success to his supportive mother and his musical role models including his old piano teacher, Elenora; his undergraduate piano teacher, Professor Ingrid Clarfield; his composition teachers Professors Jay Kawarsky and Joel Phillips; and the formative composers from his childhood, Nobuo Uematsu, Koji Kondo, Hajime Wakai, Mahito Yakota, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

"I am teaching at Vivaldi Music Academy as one of their core piano faculty, holding a full time teaching schedule of 50-60 students per week. I also am auditioning for local young artist programs for the 2015-16 season that specializes in solo and chamber repertoire, so I'll keep you posted about those details as they come up. Starting in September, I'll accompany vocalists and instrumentalists from Rice University as needed.

Hope this helps!! Wishing you all of my best as the new school year begins!! I'll text everyone to make sure your candy dish is stocked and loaded at all times."

" Dr. Shannon Hesse, pianist, has performed both nationally and internationally as a collaborative and solo pianist including a concerto premiere at the Curtis Institute of Music, a solo appearance at Weill Recital Hall, and as a choral accompanist at Carnegie Hall. Formerly on the faculty of Valdosta State University, she currently teaches piano, theory, song literature and opera workshop at Texas Southern University and is a vocal coach at Houston Baptist University. 

" Shannon completed her doctoral studies in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Dr. Jean Barr. She also holds degrees from Westminster Choir College (B.M) and The Catholic University of America (M.M.) where she studied with Ingrid Clarfield and Marilyn Neeley respectively. Additionally, she spent two summers in the collaborative artists program at the Aspen Music Festival. Shannon lives in Houston with her husband, Houston Symphony cellist Anthony Kitai, and their two adorable cats.

Ben Houghton recently completed 18 months working as a company pianist for American Ballet Theater, traveling and performing in venues around the world including the Metropolitan Opera House and the Emitates Palace Abu Dhabi. He is currently volunteering in India, teaching music at The Shanti Bhavan Children's Project.

Leigh Huber has been serving as the choral director at Lakewood High School since 2022. There, they created an advanced choral ensemble, music direct the drama department, serve as the head of the GSA, and created a Color Guard program. Leigh Huber also serves as the head of show design and the color guard director for Manville High School, which received Best Visual Design at the 2022 State Championship as well as placing second overall in 2023. Huber is the co-founder of the Ninety-Nine Cent Players, which is a non-profit theatre organization in the Central Jersey area. Leigh Huber is a large advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, and in 2023, they served the Philadelphia Voices of Pride as their conducting intern.

Pianist HYOJUNG HUH was hailed as having “crystalline perfection”, “the tonal beauty of individual notes” and described as showing “new interpretation on old music” by the New York Concert Review on her Carnegie Debut recital in 2013. One year later Ms. Huh returned to Carnegie hall, and Frank Daykin from the New York Concert Review described her performance as “a display of superior pianistic skill, with thundering climaxes, ethereal pianissimi, lyricism, beautiful tone, and totally committed playing”.

Ms. Huh has actively performed as a soloist and recitalist in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Darton Center in Michigan, Musikverein Hall in Vienna, Austria, Seoul Arts Center and Sejong Arts Center in Seoul, Korea, Palazzo Fava, Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Bologna, and Falcone Borsellino Hall in Sicily, Italy. She made appearances in several summer festivals, including the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York, the Piano Summer in New Paltz, the Wiener Musikseminar International Summer Course in Vienna, Austria, and most recently the Gilmore Keyboard Festival.

Recipient of several prestigious scholarship awards, Ms. Huh is one of select few to receive scholarship in the Arts by the Kwanjeong Educational Foundation. For over eight years, her living expenses and tuition during her stay in the USA was fully supported by the Kwanjeong Educational Foundation. Ms. Huh is a prizewinner of numerous competitions including the Korean Teenagers National Competition, the Hankuk Ilbo (Korean Newspaper) National Competition, the Korean Piano Society Competition, the Duo Society Competition, the Irving Shain Beethoven Competition, and the latest at the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition in New York as well as the IBLA Grand Prize International Music Competition in Italy.

She has pursued various art-related fields and has sought profound depth in her musical interpretations. In addition to her piano performance study at Seoul National University (B.M. summa cum laude & M.M., studying with Hie-yon Choi), Westminster Choir College (M.M. with high distinction, Ingrid Clarfield), Indiana University-Bloomington (P.D., Shigeo Neriki) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (D.M.A., Christopher Taylor), she has also majored in aesthetics (B.A. summa cum laude, College of Humanities, Seoul National University), sacred music (M.M. with high distinction, Westminster Choir College) and choral conducting (M.M. University of Wisconsin). Such additional studies have granted her unique insight into her piano repertories. In her undergraduate thesis at Seoul National University, Ms. Huh interpreted the development of musical forms as a realization of Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times. For her master’s thesis at Seoul National University, Ms. Huh traced Messiaen’s outlook based on Catholic ontology, Catholic liturgy and biblical language, which led her to identify how his outlook was revealed in his piano compositions. Her D.M.A. final project at University of Wisconsin-Madison involved examining the metaphysical and theological depth of Shinuh Lee’s Chorale Fantasy for Piano No. 1 “Comfort, Comfort My People”.

As a dedicated advocate for Shinuh Lee’s works, Ms. Huh gave the US premier of Chorale Fantasy No.1 at Rutgers University in 2012, the World Premier of Chorale Fantasy No.2 at Seoul Arts Center in 2013, the EU Premier of Chorale Fantasy No.1 at Musikverein Hall in Vienna, and the German Premier of Chorale Fantasy No.1 and No.3 at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München in 2014. Ms. Huh’s recording of the complete cycle of Chorale Fantasy by Shinuh Lee was released in Dux label record in 2014.

Lauren Kooistra is Associate Director and Research Associate of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at The Pennsylvania State University. She holds degrees in Piano Performance (B.M.), Piano Performance and Pedagogy (M.M.), and Music Education (Ph.D.), and has continuously kept a piano teaching studio for students of many ages. Her research focuses on the nature of young children’s learning and musical development, particularly within individualized settings involving the piano. She is interested in the ways that children enact their personal musicianship, and her scholarship has been internationally published and presented. At Penn State she has been an instructor in the Music department, and has continued her piano learning by collaborating on many Voice and Choral department projects.

Dr. David Leifer joined the faculty of Westminster Choir College in the fall of 2011 as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Piano. He has experience teaching each of the various sections of the piano secondary sequence at Westminster. Dr. Leifer earned a Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, in Piano (2006) and a Master of Music degree, with distinction, in Piano Pedagogy and Performance (2008) from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he studied with Professor Lillian Livingston and Professor Ingrid Clarfield, respectively.

While at Westminster, he won the 2004 annual Westminster Piano Awards competition, and had the honor of performing in the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall in 2007. Dr. Leifer completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Pedagogy and Performance in 2011 from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where he studied piano and pedagogy with Dr. John Ellis. His dissertation work culminated in a lecture recital on ragtime piano music, a solo recital of works by Beethoven and Schumann, and a research paper on performance anxiety and the developing pianist.

Dr. Leifer is a Permanent Professional Certified Teacher of Music by the Music Teachers National Association. He successfully maintains a large private piano studio of over thirty students of varying ages and levels. His students have performed in Carnegie Hall, and have been successful in music festivals and graded piano exams by the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to all of his teaching assignments, Dr. Leifer serves as the music director of the Allentown United Methodist Church in Allentown, NJ.

Rebecca Leshures is a Canadian pianist based in New York City. She completed her B.M. in Piano with Ingrid Clarfield at Westminster Choir College, then continued her education at Manhattan School of Music, completing her M.M. in Piano Performance in 2012 with Philip Kawin. She is currently a faculty member of Bergen Academy of Music and teaches privately in Manhattan. She has also been successful as a collaborative pianist, and has been a Staff Accompanist at both Mannes and Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division. Her Masters Recital can be viewed on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/rebeccaleshures

With the "energy, creativity and charisma not seen since Leonard Bernstein" and "mind-blowing" and "spectacular" conducting, Ming Luke is a versatile conductor that has excited audiences around the world. Highlights include conducting the Bolshoi Orchestra in Moscow, performances of Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella at the Kennedy Center, his English debut at Sadler's Wells with Birmingham Royal, conducting Dvorak's Requiem in Dvorak Hall in Prague, recording scores for a Coppola film, and over a hundred performances at the San Francisco War Memorial with San Francisco Ballet. He has been recognized nationally for his work with music education and has designed and conducted education concerts and programs with organizations such as the Berkeley Symphony, Houston Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, San Francisco Opera and others. Luke has soloed as a pianist with Pittsburgh Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, and San Francisco Ballet, and currently serves as Music Director for the Merced Symphony and Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra; Associate Conductor for the Berkeley Symphony; and Principal Guest Conductor for the San Francisco Ballet. Long time critic Allan Ulrich of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "Ming Luke delivered the best live theater performance I've ever heard of [Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet]"and in 2016 Luke's War Requiem was named best choral performance of 2016 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For the 18-19 season, Luke serves as an Assistant Conductor for the San Francisco Symphony, opens the Berkeley Symphony's season, works with the ARIA program with San Francisco Opera, and will return to the Kennedy Center and Sadler's Wells in London with San Francisco Ballet. Guesting at the San Bernardino Symphony, Billings Symphony, and Opera San Jose, Luke will also embark on a Baltics tour with the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, a well regarded chorus for whom he is only the third Music Director in over fifty years.

Passionate about collaborate with dance companies and deepen the impact of movement to live music, he has guested with Boston Ballet, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Nashville Symphony/Ballet, San Diego Ballet and others and conducted l'Orchestre Promethee in Paris as part of San Francisco Ballet's residency with Les Etes de la Danse. Noted for is work with Ballet. Famed dancer Natalia Makarova stated, "Ming has a mixture of pure musicality and a sensitivity to needs of the dancers, which are such rare qualities."

Luke has written, arranged, and performed over 150 education concerts with the Berkeley Symphony and has served on grant panels for the National Endowment of the Arts and the Grants and Cultural Committee of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. An exciting pops conductor, Luke has created and conducted a variety of pops concerts in many venues, from baseball stadiums, to picnics in the park with over 4,000 people in attendance, traditional concert halls and recording for Major League Baseball.

Ming Luke holds a Master of Fine Arts in Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Piano Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

Nikita Mamedov received his Ph.D. in Music with concentration in Music Theory and minor in Musicology from Louisiana State University. He also holds a Master of Music degree in Piano Pedagogy & Performance and Bachelor of Music degree in Piano and Music Theory & Composition from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he studied with Professor Ingrid Clarfield between 2009 and 2014. In 2011, Dr. Mamedov was a winner in the Westminster Piano Scholarship Competition and was a finalist at Princeton Piano Competition. He also performed with the Westminster Community Orchestra and at the annual Rangeley Friends of the Arts concert series at Rangeley, Maine between 2009 and 2018. In addition, he has conducted research and published articles on music theory pedagogy, Neo-Riemannian and Schenkerian theories, interval relations, and harmonic dissonance. His works appeared in International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Musicology and Cultural Science, and International Journal of Music Science, Technology and Art. He has presented papers at the following conferences:

• Orfeo Festival: Symbols, Signs, and Meanings in Russian Music (Italy, 2019)
• Conference on Education Research and Policy (China, 2019)
• Tbilisi International Musicological Conference (Georgia, 2019)
• International Conference on New Music Theory Concepts (Italy, 2019)
• Bridges Conference on Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture (Sweden, 2018)
• Orfeo Festival: Russian – Italian Musical Connections (Italy, 2018)
• International Conference on New Music Theory Concepts (Italy, 2018)
• Modus-Modi-Modality International Musicological Conference (Cyprus, 2017)
• Bridges Conference on Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture (Canada, 2017)
• International Chopinological Conference (Poland, 2016)
• Bridges Conference on Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture (Finland, 2016)

"I have presented solo recitals, chamber music concerts in North and South America, Europe and Asia. This year I also played several concertos with orchestras throughout Latin America (Mozart´s D minor concerto K.466, Beethoven´s Coral Fantasy op. 80 and Paderewski´s A minor concerto). I have recorded 2 recitals for television and the Mexican Radio institute. Currently I am a full-time tenured Profesor of Piano at the School of Music of the National Fine Arts Institute in Mexico City where I work with highly gifted young pianists. My students have been prizewinners and finalists of several national and international piano competitions in Mexico, Spain and Costa Rica. This summer, I was invited to present piano masterclasses and pedagogy sessions for teachers at the John Perry Academy of Music´s Summer Festival in Los Angeles."               

Jonathan and I are living in Hawai'i on research leave until January 2018, through a special grant that allows us to have time away from the classroom. He's now a full Professor at CCNY, I'm continuing as Adjunct Associate Professor, and helping high school students with their college applications, essays, SAT prep, etc., through my business, www.selecteducationalconsulting.com.

We're also surfing, watching dolphins, and our big news -- we're getting ready to adopt twin baby boys from South Korea! We're excited and look forward to meeting them and bringing them home soon, hopefully this coming spring.

-- Sabina Pauta Pieslak

Seth Slaymaker holds a Bachelors '07 and Masters of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy '09 from Westminster Choir College. Upon graduation Seth went on to audition, enlist and become an Army Bandsman graduating Bootcamp from Fort Benning, GA. and the Army school of Music in Norfolk, VA. 2010. From there Seth moved to Los Angeles to become a part of the 300'th Army Reserve Band playing in various jazz, rock, orchestral and marching ensembles providing musical support for various Army related events, duties, and community outreach programs throughout California and the west coast (he is still actively serving). In November of 2011 Seth married his wife Jessyca and then opened Slaymaker Music Studios where he teaches a variety of instruments to children and adults as well as CardioBody Fitness, a gym where Seth and his wife teach kickboxing and various weightlifting classes daily. Both studios are located in Sherman Oaks, CA. Outside of teaching music and fitness, Seth is also a very active performer playing bass guitar and many other instruments with a variety of country rock artists (Aaron Pax Taylor, Chris Lozano, Nate Moran) and rock (Jason Blair). He can be seen performing weekly throughout Southern California, the west coast and occasionally the east coast. Seth is also a father of two boys, Avery (born March 19, 2013) and Riley (born February 10, 2017). Follow him on Instagram: @SethSlaymaker and on Facebook: Seth Slaymaker Music to see where he is playing next and what other upcoming projects are in the works.

Heather Atagan Thorarinson '04 & '06 is currently living in the North suburbs of Chicago Illinois. Aside from maintaining her private studio in the north shore, Heather is busy being a mom to her two children Ariana and Roman and hanging out with her husband Joel.

Kristen Todd completed her Master of Music degree in May, 2014 at Westminster Choir College, where she studied with Ingrid Clarfield. In 2012, she graduated summa cum laude from Capital University with her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Keyboard Pedagogy. Among her accomplishments and honors include her being selected to present at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research 2011 and 2012; induction into the National College Honor Society, and the National Music Honor Society.

While at Westminster, she completed internships with Betty Stoloff working with college class piano, and Dr. Jim Goldsworthy working with adult and younger private students. She has been teaching since arriving in Princeton in 2012 and currently teaches 30 students ranging in ages and levels. She is an active member of NJMTA and MTNA, and also serves as pianist/organist at the Martinsville United Methodist Church.

Erica Tran, after completing her Masters in Piano Pedagogy and Performance in 2016, has been actively teaching in New York City and in Toronto Canada. Teaching previously in group and private settings to students, she has been focusing her teaching presence in the Staten Island where she is currently located.

She is working towards completing her Teachers Associate Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada, and establishing a permanent private studio in Toronto.

She recently has gotten married, and has a cat named Pizza.

Hi Everyone!  After graduating from WCC in ‘06, I moved back to the Boston area.  Since then, I’ve been happily dividing my time between teaching and accompanying.  I currently have around 40 students (ages 4 – 17), so that keeps me quite busy.  I’m enjoying both the freedom of running an independent studio out of my house and also the camaraderie of teaching at a couple community music schools.  As far as accompanying, I work with the Treble Chorus of New England, a great youth choir in my area.  I’ve also done some free-lance work with a couple singers; performing Dichterliebe last year was a highlight for me.  I’m currently collaborating with a wonderful soprano (Alison Trick), and we’re hoping to make a CD in the near future.  Long term, I’m hoping to return to school in the fall of 2009 (to study church history).  In other news, my first niece was born on August 24, 2008!  I’m loving being an aunt!

Praised for his adroit collaborative piano playing, Tyler Weakland works as a staff accompanist and coach at Westminster Choir College accompanying classical voice students in operatic and art song repertoire and at Rider University accompanying musical theatre students. Mr. Weakland received a Bachelor of Music in Sacred Music with concentrations in piano and voice from Westminster Choir College, where he studied with Ingrid Clarfield, J.J. Penna, and Kathy Price. Mr. Weakland has performed with noted singers such as Laquita Mitchell, Elizabeth Sutton, and Rochelle Ellis, and has worked with Dalton Baldwin, Sharon Sweet, Laura Brooks Rice, and Harold Evans. An experienced choral accompanist, Mr. Weakland has worked extensively with the choirs at Westminster Choir College and has spent summers accompanying for Weston Noble, Charles Bruffy, Vance George, and Bruce Chamberlain. Mr. Weakland was a member of and accompanist for the world-renowned Westminster Choir, enjoying tours across the country and residencies at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, where he was also a member of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra as portative organist.

Tyler Weakland is also an accomplished conductor, who made his international conducting debut at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria. In the summer of 2014, Mr. Weakland was a conducting fellow at the Choral Music Institute at Oxford where he conducted the Westminster Williamson Voices and studied conducting with James Jordan and James Whitbourn. Other conducting teachers include: Joe Miller, Amanda Quist, Steve Pilkington, Tom Shelton, and Lynn Drafall. Mr. Weakland is the Minister of Music at St. Paul Lutheran Church in East Windsor, New Jersey, where he directs the senior choir and bell choir.

"Hello all, I am happy to have moved over to the "Alumni" side of this page! I graduated with an MM in May 2010 in Piano Pedagogy/Performance and Music Education. I am now teaching a full load of students at Westminster Conservatory in Princeton. I have also continued to work with Mrs. C's High School Piano Camp in the summers. So even after having graduated, I will always have Mrs. C close to my heart!"

"After graduating from Westminster Choir College of Rider University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree, Joseph Woodhull worked for 2 years as the Coordinator of Internet Projects for Rider University where he was instrumental in the design and maintenance of the Rider and Westminster website. He recently moved to the New York City area and took a position at Carnegie Hall as Associate Web Producer in the Marketing Department. Music will always be his true love and in his free time he composes music and performs in a band.

Grace Yang is a second year graduate student in the Piano Pedagogy and Performance major of Westminster Choir College. She holds a Master Degree of Music in Organ Performance from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.

Prior to joining Westminster Choir College, Grace had 14 years experience working as Church Pianist and Organist in many churches including the largest Methodist church in the world. Grace also won the 1st Prize in Organ Performance Competition in Westminster Choir College in 1998. In summer 1995, Grace was selected as Concert Finalist Solo Performance in two international musical festivals in Geneva, Swiss and Stuttgart, Germany.

Grace currently actively involves in teaching piano in Westminster Conservatory and maintains an independent studio in Princeton, New Jersey. She is also working as part-time Church Pianist and Organist in two local churches.

Conductor, composer, pianist, and soprano Yiran Zhao is a postgraduate teaching fellow at Yale Music in Schools Initiative where she conducts the All-City Choir. She is the assistant conductor of Civic Orchestra of New Haven and Greater New Haven Community Chorus, organist at First Baptist Church in New Haven, and soprano at Episcopal Church at Yale. She teaches choir, piano, and music theory at Educational Center for the Arts (ACES, magnet high school). Yiran was the director of Yale Divinity School (Marquand) Chapel Choir, Xiaofeng Arts Choir, and music director and organist at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Kendall Park, NJ. As a professional soprano, her singing collaborations include Julliard 415, Apollo's Fire, Yale Schola Cantorum, VAE Cincinnati, VOCES8 US Scholars and Yale Choral Artists. She actively receives commissions and her compositions have been performed in public in the US, Europe, and Asia. Yiran holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Yale School of Music (Robert Shaw Prize), and Bachelor of Music dual degrees in Piano and Theory & Composition from Westminster Choir College, summa cum laude.

Zijun Zhu was born in Taizhou, China. When she was a little girl, she always dreamed of being a piano teacher. After over two decades of trying and hard-working, she is going to join the piano faculty in the School of Music at Taizhou University in 2021 fall.

Zijun graduated from Soochow University with honors for her bachelor's degree in music education and psychology, and went to Westminster Choir College for a master's degree in piano performance and pedagogy. She had spent two years learning from Professor Clarfield and gained lifelong knowledge and teaching skills.

She won the 4th Hong Kong International Young Performance Arts Festival in Jiangsu Area and performed in Soochow University’s graduation commencement in 2016.She has been teaching, performing, accompanying and conducting after she graduated from school.