Princeton NJ Family Feature Press Releases

Princeton Girlchoir Executive Director Janet Perkins to Retire

The Board of Directors of the Princeton Girlchoir announced today that Janet Perkins will step down from the position of Executive Director that she has held for the past seventeen years.  

Ms. Perkins and her daughter joined the Princeton Girlchoir as a chorister family soon after the choir‘s founding in 1989.  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.

Under her executive leadership the Princeton Girlchoir has grown from one choir of approximately twenty, to six choirs with nearly 250 girls.  During that time it has traveled internationally to participate in music festivals in nine countries, including the Festival Internacional de Música de Cantonigròs, the Tuscany Children’s Festival, the Pacific Rim International Children’s Choir Festival, and last summer, the Rhapsody! Children’s Music Festival in Vienna, Salzburg and Prague.  The choirs have collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, the Kinderchor der Singakademie (Dresden), the Keystone State Boychoir and Pennsylvania Girlchoir, the Adolf Fredriks Musikklasse (Stockholm), the Petits Chanteurs de St. André de Colmar, Princeton’s Sister City, and many other notable youth and professional musicians.  She has also guided the Princeton Girlchoir through the retirement of its Founder and Artistic Director Emerita, Jan Westrick and the first three seasons with its present Artistic Director, Lynnel Joy Jenkins.

“I join the Board in feeling tremendous gratitude for all that Janet has brought to Princeton Girlchoir in her twenty years here,” comments Ms. Jenkins.  “Janet’s warmth and dedication, not to mention her ability to play a multitude of roles, have sustained the choir through its travels, its work and its music-making.  She leaves us a strong organization, and some very special footprints to follow.”

Jan Westrick, the Founder and Artistic Director Emerita, concurs.  “I'll always be indebted to Janet for her invaluable dedication, service, and just plain hard work!  I couldn't have had a better partner in this venture called The Princeton Girlchoir, and hundreds of girls and families have been touched by her kindness over the years. I wish her the very best in HER next chapter.”

The search for Ms. Perkins’ successor has begun, and the Board hopes to announce the selection of its new Executive Director by summer. She will finish the current season with the choirs, and will assist the Board with executive transition.  The Board will hold special receptions following the Girlchoir’s concerts on May 19 and 20, and will open a special fund in her honor to support the family costs of touring.