Joseph Flummerfelt
As an orchestral conductor, Flummerfelt made his debut with the New York Philharmonic, conducting Haydn’s “Creation” in 1988. In 2001, he conducted the world premier of Stephen Paulus’ Voices of Light with the Philharmonic and the Westminster Choir. He has also appeared as guest conductor with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, and the San Antonio and Phoenix Symphonies. He has also conducted over 60 choral/orchestral performances with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in the United States and Italy.
For over four decades Flummerfelt has collaborated in the preparation of hundreds of choral/orchestral performances and recordings with such conductors as Abbado, Bernstein, Barenboim, Boulez, Chailly, Colin Davis, Gilbert, Giulini, Maazel, Masur, Mehta, Muti, Ozawa, Sawallisch, Shaw, Steinberg. In addition to the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Flummerfelt’s choirs have performed with numerous other American orchestras, as well as European orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Joseph Flummerfelt’s Westminster Symphonic Choir and New York Choral artists have been featured in 45 recordings, including Britten’s War Requiem and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Schicksalslied with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and a Grammy Award-winning Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Leonard Bernstein; Puccini’s Tosca and Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra; Messiaen’s Le Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ with the National Symphony. His collaboration with Samuel Barber includes the Grammy Award-winning recording of the composer’s opera, Anthony and Cleopatra. In 2004 he was awarded a Grammy for the New York Choral Artists recording of John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls. Earlier he was nominated for the Westminster Choir’s recording of the Haydn Lord Nelson Mass with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, and Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Among the many recordings he has made with the Westminster Choir, his Delos recording of Brahms’ choral works (Singing for Pleasure) was chosen by The New York Times as a favorite among all existing Brahms recordings. His 2004 recording with the choir, Heaven to Earth, has received high critical acclaim. His latest CD, Legacy, was a recording of his final home concert with the Westminster Choir in April 2004.
For 33 years Joseph Flummerfelt served as artistic director and principal conductor of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey – a position from which he retired in 2004. He began his academic career as director of choral activities at his alma mater, DePauw University, from 1964 to 1968. He served in the same capacity at Florida State University from 1968 to 1971, when he began his tenure at Westminster. Since retiring from Westminster, Flummerfelt has held many visiting professorships and conducted many performances at a number of universities, including, among others, Eastman School of Music, University of Texas, New England Conservatory, University of Illinois, Kansas City Conservatory of Music and DePauw University. For 37 years he served as director of choral activities for the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. in Charleston, South Carolina, from which he retired in 2013, and for 23 years was the maestro del coro for the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy.
A master teacher, Flummerfelt’s many former students occupy a number of major choral positions throughout the United States. Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who, as a teenager, studied with Flummerfelt in two advanced conducting summer workshops, cites him as one of the two major influences in his life as a conductor. A 2009 New York Times article said, “Mr. Nezet-Seguin called those sessions with Mr. Flummerfelt the only significant conducting lessons he ever had.”
Dr. Donald Nally, another former student, who is now Director of Choral Activities at Northwestern University as the founder and artistic director of The Crossings, collaborated on a book with Dr. Flummerfelt entitled “Conversations with Joseph Flummerfelt”.
In addition to his Grammy awards and nominations, Flummerfelt’s many honors include Le Prix du President de la Republique from L’Academie du Disque Francais. He holds honorary doctorates from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Purdue University, Vincennes University, Ursinus College, and DePauw University. He has received DePauw’s two highest alumni awards. The Old Gold Goblet in 1988 and the DePauw Gold Medal in 2005.