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Westminster Choir College releases Lumina, a new recording by Westminster Kantorei, conducted by Amanda Quist, on September 15. 

“The Latin word Lumina means to illuminate, shine, brighten, or reveal,” says Dr. Quist. “Each of the works on this recording speaks to the presence of light throughout our life journey: from birth to death, through love, disappointment, forgiveness, and transcendence. These pieces are drawn primarily from Renaissance and Baroque composers of England and Germany, with the inclusion of two special 19th-century works by composers who were deeply inspired by the ideas and musical styles of these earlier time periods.”

Lumina’s repertoire spans the mystical 12th-century chant of Hildegard von Bingen through works by J.S. Bach, Henry Purcell and Thomas Tallis through Felix Mendelssohn and Josef Rheinberger.

Lumina is the debut solo recording by Westminster Kantorei, an ensemble dedicated to the study and performance of early music at Westminster Choir College.  It been honored as a national finalist for The American Prize, whose judges praised the ensemble’s “finely-measured and delicate balance of voices, and a mastery of stylistic performance practice.” The ensemble has performed at the Boston Early Music Festival, the American Handel Festival and the Reformation 500 Anniversary Concert, as well as in England and France, where it performed at the Festival Musique en L’ile in Paris. Westminster Kantorei has also collaborated with the Westminster Choir to perform Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Kurt Masur.

Conductor Amanda Quist is chair of the Conducting, Organ and Sacred Music department at Westminster Choir College. She served as chorus master for the premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s opera Matsukaze at the Spoleto Festival USA and the Lincoln Center Festival. The New York Times and Charleston City Paper praised the chorus’ performance as “beautifully prepared, gripping,” a “gossamer web of voices” and “bridging the vocal and instrumental textures with perfect intonation.”  Dr. Quist has also worked with the Westminster Symphonic Choir and collaborated with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle and composers Ola Gjeilo and Tarik O’Regan. 

Distributed by Naxos, North America's leading distributor of classical recordings, Lumina is available on ,  , AppleMusic and Spotify. 

Lumina Repertoire
Josef Rheinberger: Abendlied
Henry Purcell: Miserere (Edited by Amanda Quist)
Henry Purcell: Remember Not, Lord, Our Offences
Henry Purcell: Jehova, Quam Multi Sunt Hostes Mei
Felix Mendelssohn: Heilig
Johann Sebastian Bach: Komm, Jesu, Komm
Heinrich Schütz: Selig sind die Toten
John Dunstable: Ave Maris Stella (Edited by Amanda Quist)
Hildegard von Bingen: “O Vivens Fons” from Ordo Virtutum
William Byrd: Vigilate
Thomas Tallis: If Ye Love Me
Richard Farrant: Lord, For Thy Tender Mercy's Sake