Janet Perkins to retire as director of girls singing group
By Susan Van Dongen, Special Writer
Although she is the real mom of a former member of the Princeton Girlchoir, Janet Perkins has been very much like a mom to legions of young ladies in the choir, and has been for some 20 years, 17 of which she’s served as the choir’s executive director.
Just recently, the choir’s board announced that Ms. Perkins will retire from her position. Surely she will not leave “her girls” behind, though, because, of course, a mom can’t retire.
”In some respects, I was the mom of the choir,” Ms. Perkins says. “In fact, when my daughter Morgan was about to leave for college, she said, ‘you have all these other girls to look after, so I know you won’t be lonely.’”
The choir began 23 years ago with 27 girls in one choir, and now there are 250 girls in six choirs, she reflects.
”I’d like to think I was part of that growth, but really throughout it all, I was just doing my job. Jan (Westrick, founder and artistic director emerita) is a wonderful person, and we became good friends. But we also had this partnership — we worked on the choir together. As we expanded, I took care of the business side, those kinds of details, planning the tours and getting to know the families. She was the musical face of the choir.”
Ms. Perkins’ time with the choir began in 1989 when Morgan was selected as a member, soon after the choir’s founding, and they became a chorister family. After three years as an active volunteer, she was tapped as the organization’s first administrative staff member, and has served as executive director since that time.
”What happened was, I observed Jan bringing in refreshments, cake and drinks and whatnot for the receptions after concerts, and I thought to myself, ‘this woman needs some help with all this,’” Ms. Perkins says. “My fate was sealed with that thought. Then I was asked by the board to be the assistant choir manager, and things progressed from there. I was basically (taking care of) the uniforms. But then came the year that we went on our first tour, and in one fell swoop I went from uniforms to planning a tour, and that started everything going.”
This turning point in Ms. Perkins’ life was also pivotal for the choir, because this first trip abroad — in 1995, to the Tuscany International Children’s Festival in Italy — led to the choir’s participation in music festivals across the United States and in nine countries. Some of these musical galas include the Festival Internacional de Musica de Cantonigros in Spain, the Pacific Rim International Children’s Choir in Hawaii, and last summer, the Rhapsody! Children’s Music Festival in Vienna, Salzburg and Prague.
”When were in Prague last summer, we sang at the American ambassador’s residence for Fourth of July — Madeleine Albright was there, and so was Robert Redford,” Ms. Perkins says. “But although the European trips seem glamorous, in a lower key, we’ve gone to many places locally and have had wonderful experiences. Touring is one of the things that is very dear to my heart, to allow the girls to have these opportunities. You see so much growth in the child, and often after a trip, a parent will say, ‘she came back a different person.’ My background is in education, so the teacher part of me is excited to see this happen.”
The trips are, indeed, highlights in Ms. Perkins’ tenure with the choir. But so was the group’s 1997 performance at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, with composer/conductor Tan Dun, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and the American Boychoir. They performed the North American premiere of Mr. Dun’s “Symphony 1997: Heaven Earth Mankind.” (Mr. Dun also composed the Academy Award-winning soundtrack to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”)
”That was especially interesting because we had to learn Chinese,” Ms. Perkins says. “Then, when the movie came out (in 2000), the girls were so excited because they had worked with Tan Dun.”
Originally from Memphis, Tenn., Ms. Perkins holds a bachelor’s degree in education with a minor in sociology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She’s developed a private sector career with a diverse group of companies including Minsuk, Macklin, Stein, the Lawrenceville School, Princeton Day School, and Krog & Partners. Her local volunteer activities have included the University Medical Center at Princeton’s June Fete and Princeton Community Works. In addition to Morgan, who now lives in Atlanta, Ms. Perkins has a son, Matthew, who lives in Richmond, Va.
The choir that Ms. Westrick started in 1989 as an after-school activity for a small number of girls interested in choral music has grown into the area’s premier training and performance choir for more than 200 girls ages 8 through 18. To date, Princeton Girlchoir’s alumnae number more than 400 young women, many of whom continue to sing in their churches, schools, communities and on professional stages around the world. Since Ms. Westrick’s retirement, Lynnel Joy Jenkins has been artistic director for the organization.
Still, with all the concerts, collaborations, and traveling to reflect on, Ms. Perkins says the very first trip abroad, to Tuscany, is her fondest memory of her years with the Princeton Girlchoir.
”That’s because it was so new,” she says. “We were a young organization, and we went from crawling to a full-fledged gallop. A lot of good things came out of that trip.
”Traveling with a group like this is different than traveling with your own family,” Ms. Perkins adds. “We do different, fun things that I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own, for example we were invited for tea with the mayor of a small town in England (when we toured there). Touring is exciting and a little scary, and it’s a real vote of confidence for the parents to entrust us with their children. I’m happy to say we’ve never lost one, we’ve always brought everyone home.”