Develop your musical skills and knowledge with Christian professors who encourage your creativity and relate faith to the art and craft of music.
Engage in the serious study, composition and performance of great music at an advanced level. Discover the vital role music plays in the liberal arts and the Westmont community. Choose from the B.A. degree in music on the general, music performance, and music composition tracks or earn the professional Pre-Teaching Credential (B.M.) degree that leads to a public school teaching credential. You may also choose the Bachelor of Music (B.M.) degree in performance with a concentration in voice, orchestral instruments and piano. Study at a school accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM).
National Association of Schools of Music
11250 Roger Bacon Drive, Suite 21
Reston, VA 20190-5248
(703) 437-0700 Phone
info@arts-accredit.org
MUSIC AT WESTMONT
Offering Music as an Offering To God
Fall Choral Festival
The Westmont Department of Music is delighted to invite high school choirs from across the Southern California region to apply for our annual Fall Choral Festival. Participating choirs will receive coaching from Westmont's music faculty, will be provided dinner, and will perform for one another at Santa Barbara’s majestic First Presbyterian Church. The focus of the festival is pedagogical and performance oriented, NOT competition.
Aspiring to become a professional musician?
The versatility of a music degree leads our graduates to find fulfilling careers across a range of fields such as performing musician, music teacher, church music, music publishing, music management, music business, recording, broadcasting, and more.
Looking for Tour Stops from February 15-18th, 2025: The 60 member Westmont College Choir is looking for performance venues for President's day weekend. Would you like to host them at your church, community, retirement center or school? Contact the Westmont College Music Department today via email at music@westmont.edu.
Give today to sustain the excellence of Westmont Music
Consider supporting the future of Westmont Music by making a gift today. By giving to Westmont Music, you are investing in the continual growth and success of our talented students.
Meet the Faculty
This talented and dedicated group of educators and musicians brings a wealth of expertise in performance, composition, music theory, and music history. They inspire and guide students in a nurturing and dynamic environment, fostering a deep appreciation for the art of music. Their commitment to excellence enriches our vibrant musical community.
Westmont Ensembles
The College Choir
Westmont’s principal choral ensemble and touring concert choir, is now under the direction of Dr. Daniel Gee. The choir performs the classic repertoire of the past five centuries, along with spirituals, folk song arrangements, and music of other cultures. The ensemble presents local concerts including, each year, a major work with orchestra. The College Choir also appears at Westmont events, performs in chapel, ministers in local church services, and participates in regional choral festivals. Highlights of the year include the Christmas concert and the spring tour. To learn more about the College Choir, please see this link.
Chamber Singers
This select ensemble, now under the direction of Dr. Daniel Gee, specializes in a cappella literature, including madrigals and motets of the Renaissance, contemporary sacred and secular music, folk song arrangements, spirituals, and vocal jazz. Community outreach is central to the ensemble. In addition to performing alongside the College Choir, the Chamber Singers performs on its own locally and across Southern California and the Central Coast. Performance highlights include the Fall Choral Festival, the Christmas Concert, the Spring Choral Masterworks Concert, the fall and spring Vocal Chamber Concerts, and the spring tour. Membership in the Chamber Singers is contingent upon membership in the College Choir.
The Westmont Orchestra
The Westmont College Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Ruth Lin, performs original literature, transcriptions, and arrangements. Included in this are works for full orchestra, string orchestra, and small ensembles. The study and practice includes various style periods and composers from the Renaissance through the Twenty First Century. The orchestra performs two major independent concerts each semester, as well as a combined Christmas concert with the choral ensembles and a major works program in the spring with the College Choir and plays for the annual opera production. Typically, the orchestra is made up of circa 60 students. Faculty specialists coach each section of the orchestra, including Dr. Han Soo Kim (violin), and Dr. Paul Mori (wind, brass and percussion).
Wind Chamber Music
Various Wind Chamber Ensembles, directed and coached by Dr. Paul Mori and Andrea Di Maggio, are organized for brass, woodwind, and percussion players. The various chamber ensembles perform throughout the semester. Typical groups include a woodwind quintet, 5 brass sextet, brass choir, and flute ensemble. Other ensemble forms to meet student interest and abilities.
Jazz Ensemble
The Jazz Ensemble performs and studies classic and contemporary literature, including the art of improvisation, and perform both on and off campus.
Brass Ensemble
A wide range of music from contemporary jazz to hymn arrangements mixed with classical pieces.
String Chamber Music
Offering traditional string quartets, trios and other ensembles. These groups have an active presence on campus and throughout the Santa Barbara community.
Music Alumni
Aaron Wilk ’16 majored in biology, chemistry, and music with an emphasis in piano performance. He is currently an MD/PhD student at Stanford University where he studies how the immune system can protect from and contribute to viral diseases, including Covid-19. He continues to study piano at Stanford, staying active in solo performance and chamber music. “In high school, I was worried about finding ways to balance my two academic passions: science and music. Westmont provided me with the flexibility and resources to pursue both passions well. The interdisciplinary approach of the Westmont liberal arts education, combined with the vibrant community of the Music Department, presents a one-of-a-kind opportunity to holistically develop your musical craft.”
Sarah Pfister ’12: Sarah majored in violin and viola performance and earned a master’s degree in viola performance with an emphasis in violin Suzuki pedagogy at the University of Hartford Hartt School of Music. She taught violin and viola at the Greenwich Suzuki Academy in Connecticut and is now a violinist with the ruse Opera Orchestra in Ruse, Bulgaria. “Growing up I enjoyed taking private music lessons and found fulfillment in teaching. At Westmont I felt called to bring together my love for music and teaching to pursue a career in Suzuki education. My professors encouraged me and provided the tools I needed to pursue my passions. My well-rounded Christian liberal arts education has helped me both professionally and personally.”
Megan Silberstein Billings ’14: She majored in music and is working on a Master of Music in opera performance at Oklahoma City University. She is a professional opera and musical theatre singer and teaches voice and piano at Southern Hills Baptist Church Fine Arts Academy.“My Westmont professors prepared me academically for graduate school and even more for the challenges of the real music world. They equipped me mentally, emotionally and spiritually for the battle facing modern musicians. They demonstrated the true foundation of their confidence—Jesus Christ—and lived out the difficult conviction to make music for God. Westmont pushes students to excel in music for the right reasons: Christ and His kingdom.”
Luke Mizuki ‘15 and Emily Rutherford Mizuki ‘15 met as first-year Music Majors in Westmont’s Music Department, fell in love on choir tour in Russia and Lithuania, and got married two years after graduating from Westmont. They both went on to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching from the Longy School of Music in Los Angeles and currently teach general music, band, and choir at public and private schools in Orange County. “At Westmont, we were encouraged to explore all the facets of music: composing and conducting, collaborating and accompanying, and of course teaching - before Music Education was even available as a major! Having such a well-rounded education in both the liberal arts and music has proven invaluable for us as musicians and educators.”
Isaac Kay ’16 graduated from Westmont with a degree in music, focusing on violin performance, studying at the Heidelberg Opera House, touring Italy with the orchestra, and performing as a concerto soloist. He did graduate work at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is completing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Colorado Boulder. A member of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, he has performed with the Omaha Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Boulder Philharmonic and New World Symphony and has received fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival and School, among others. His violin students at Westmont won the concerto competition and attended music festivals. Isaac has created and hosts a new docuseries, Travel Notes, that seeks unity and connection through music.
Sibo Msibi ‘23 was an active member in the College Choir and Chamber Singers group, and performed in various operas, despite not having had any background in professional singing training before coming to Westmont. He says that his professors, which included, Michael Shasberger, Steve Butler and Sara Rockabrand, filled "the void of not having family close" and helped motivate him to continue to progress in his singing abilities. With the encouragement of his voice instructor, Nichole Dechaine, Sibo applied to the Vocal Institute at the Music Academy of the West, and became the first Westmont student to join the elite 20 Fellows group, made up of renowned artists, coaches and conductors. His takeaway from his time at Westmont is this: “I enjoy singing much more because it has more meaning to me now, and it always brings me joy and comfort to think I can touch a lot of souls through my singing every time I’m on stage.”
Carissa Corrigan ‘23 double majored in Music Education and History and is featured on Westmont’s 2023 Outstanding Graduates list. A fun fact about Carissa is that she studied music in an abroad program in Vienna, Austria in 2022. She documented her travel experiences in very clever and witty blog posts, one of which was dedicated to synopsizing her very own opera. While pursuing her Single Subject Teaching Credential in Music through Westmont's Teaching Credential Program, Carissa was a student music teacher at Adams Elementary School. She “worked hard to incorporate material that would be relevant and interesting to [her] students while still providing them with the nutrients to build musical literacy,” and of course, share the joy of music. Carissa is now the Music Teacher at Harding University Partnership School here in Santa Barbara and is the Coordinator for the Camerata Ensemble and Philharmonia Orchestra through Santa Barbara Symphony's Youth Ensembles Program.
Elizabeth Callahan ‘23 was a member of the orchestra at Westmont, where she played violin, and was also a student teacher of music at San Marcos High School and La Colina Junior High. She described her student teaching experience as being full of dynamic learning opportunities, much like how dynamics in music can transform a piece into something greater. Elizabeth says that she’s had to “work hard to adapt to the unique dynamics that come with teaching and assisting classes” and “will continue to learn and grow in [her] knowledge of classroom management, lesson planning and overall music instruction.” Elizabeth is the new music teacher for Rancho Rosal Elementary School and La Mariposa Elementary School in Camarillo, CA. She also teaches private violin lessons in Ventura County while simultaneously pursuing a Master's in Music Education from Boston University online.