Coordinates: 51°29′58″N 0°08′00″W / 51.4995°N 0.1333°W / 51.4995; -0.1333

Westminster
The Palace of Westminster
Westminster  Westminster shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ295795
- Charing Cross	0.5 mi (0.8 km)  NE
London borough	Westminster
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	SW1
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Cities of London and Westminster
London Assembly	West Central
List of places: UK • England • London

Westminster /ˈwɛsᵗmɪnstə/ is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and 0.5 miles (0.8 km) southwest of Charing Cross. It has a large concentration of London's historic and prestigious landmarks and visitor attractions, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Westminster Cathedral.

Historically a part of Middlesex, the name Westminster was the ancient description for the area around Westminster Abbey – the West Minster, or monastery church, that gave the area its name – which has been the seat of the government of England (and later the British government) for almost a thousand years. Westminster is the location of the Palace of Westminster, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which houses the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Toponomy[link]

The Abbey's western facade

The name Westminster describes the area around Westminster Abbey and Palace of Westminster.^[1] Its name derives from the West Minster, or monastery church, west of the City of London's St Paul's. The area has been the seat of the government of England for almost a thousand years. The name is also used for the larger City of Westminster which covers a wider geographical area; and, since 1965, has included the former boroughs of Marylebone and Paddington.

"Westminster" is thus often used as a metonym for Parliament and the political community of the United Kingdom generally. The civil service is similarly referred to by the area it inhabits, "Whitehall", and "Westminster" is consequently also used in reference to the Westminster System, the parliamentary model of democratic government that has evolved in the United Kingdom. The Westminster System is used with some adaptation in many other nations, particularly in the Commonwealth of Nations and other parts of the former British Empire.

The term Westminster Village, sometimes used in the context of British politics, does not refer to a geographical area at all; employed especially in the phrase Westminster Village gossip, it denotes a supposedly close social circle of Members of Parliament, political journalists, so-called spin doctors and others connected to events in the Palace of Westminster.

History[link]

Westminster in 1593

Bird's Eye Picture of Westminster in 1909

The historic core of Westminster is the former Thorney Island on which Westminster Abbey was built. The Abbey became the traditional venue of the coronation of the kings and queens of England. The nearby Palace of Westminster came to be the principal royal residence after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, and later housed the developing Parliament and law courts of England. It can be said that London thus has developed two distinct focal points: an economic one in the City of London; and a political and cultural one in Westminster, where the Royal Court had its home. This division is still very apparent today.

The monarchy later moved to the Palace of Whitehall a little towards the north-east. The law courts have since moved to the Royal Courts of Justice, close to the border of the City of London. The area is still the centre of government, with Parliament now located in the Palace of Westminster and most of the major Government ministries situated in Westminster, centred on Whitehall. Close to the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey is Westminster School, one of the English public schools. Three of the four campuses of the University of Westminster are within the greater London borough of the City of Westminster, although none in the ancient area of Westminster.

The area has a substantial residential population, a surprisingly large proportion of which is a traditional London working class community living in council and Peabody Trust estates at the back of Westminster Abbey and off Millbank.

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

External links[link]

• London/Westminster travel guide from Wikitravel
• Westminster Borough Council
• Westminster Walks - from Findlay Muirhead's 1927 guidebook to London and its Environs
• Westminster, by Sir Walter Besant and Geraldine Edith Mitton and A. Murray Smith, 1902, from Project Gutenberg
• Palmer's Village, a deserted village in Westminster

v t e City of Westminster Districts Aldwych Bayswater Belgravia Covent Garden (including Seven Dials) Fitzrovia Holborn Hyde Park Knightsbridge Lisson Grove Maida Vale (including Little Venice) Mayfair Marylebone Millbank Paddington Pimlico Queen's Park St James's St John's Wood Soho (including Chinatown) Victoria Westbourne Green Westminster Attractions West End theatre Westminster Abbey Buckingham Palace National Gallery Tate Britain Trafalgar Square Horse Guards more Parks and open spaces Green Park Hyde Park Kensington Gardens Regent's Park St James's Park Constituencies Westminster North Cities of London and Westminster Bridges Chelsea Bridge Grosvenor Bridge Hungerford Bridge Lambeth Bridge Vauxhall Bridge Waterloo Bridge Westminster Bridge Tube and railway stations Baker Street Bayswater Bond Street Charing Cross Charing Cross railway station Covent Garden Edgware Road(Bakerloo line) Edgware Road (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City Lines) Embankment Great Portland Street Green Park Hyde Park Corner Lancaster Gate Leicester Square London Victoria station London Paddington station Maida Vale Marble Arch Marylebone station Oxford Circus Piccadilly Circus Pimlico Queensway Regent's Park Royal Oak St James's Park St John's Wood Temple Tottenham Court Road Warwick Avenue Westbourne Park Westminster Other topics People from Westminster (district) Public art (architectural sculpture) Schools Category Commons

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since April 2011. It relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Tagged since April 2011. The notability of this article's subject is in question. If notability cannot be established, it may be listed for deletion or removed. Tagged since April 2011.

The Westminster Chorus (formerly known as the Harmony Showcase Chorus) is a men's a cappella chorus based in Westminster, California. International Chorus Champions of the Barbershop Harmony Society in 2007 and 2010, they are composed almost entirely of men under the age of 30.

History[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The town of Westminster, in Orange County, CA has supported a barbershop chapter for almost half a century; but by the 1990s, it had an aging membership and no active performing chorus. In 2002 a small group of younger men from the Masters of Harmony chorus in nearby Santa Fe Springs, CA decided they would like to try to start a barbershop chorus with the mission of bringing younger men together to make music with others their own age. Founding member Terry Ghiselli approached the men of the Westminster chapter, which at the time only boasted 8 members, and they were glad to allow the young men to pick up and use the chapter charter in order to produce their vision of a youth-oriented chorus.

With 15 members and only a half dozen rehearsals under their belt, they competed at the SoCal West divisional contest in April 2002. The oldest member on stage was 27, the youngest 16. The average age was 20, and 6 of the singers were brand new barbershoppers. Directed by Ghiselli, they surprised the crowd by walking away with the championship trophy that day, and advancing to the Far Western District contest the following fall.

In October 2002, they traveled to Bakersfield, CA to compete in their first district contest, with 19 men. They shocked the crowd by outscoring all other competitors, but were unfortunately disqualified from the championship because of a member eligibility issue. The San Jose, CA Garden City Chorus was given the crown and advanced to the 2003 International contest in Montreal, Canada.

In the fall of 2003 they once again competed at the Far Western District contest in Bakersfield and once again won the contest, this time legally, and by quite a margin, outscoring the second place Pacific Coast Harmony from La Jolla, CA by 53 points. This gave them the right to represent FWD at the 2004 International contest in Louisville, Kentucky the following July, where they surprised the crowd by placing 9th the first time out!

The chorus voted to lay out of the 2004 fall district contest to pay homage to the 5-time International Champion Masters of Harmony, who were again eligible to win the right to defend their title in the summer of 2005 in Salt Lake City, where they won their 6th gold medal in a row. Many of the men of Westminster were on stage as members of the Masters as well, including most of the original handful of Masters teens who had founded Westminster.

The fall of 2005 brought the Westminster Chorus back to the district contest, defending their title against a stronger field, which included the newly-minted Spirit of Phoenix chorus (a merger of the Phoenix-Saguaro Phoenicians Chorus and the Greater Phoenix chapter) that boasted over 100 members. But once again, quality won out over numbers, and the Westminster Chorus emerged victorious with less than 50 men singing. Their outstanding score average of 87.7% gave them the third highest preliminary ranking internationally.

Under the direction of Royce Ferguson, they represented the FWD again in contest in July 2006 in Indianapolis, IN, where they placed second and won their first chorus medal, silver. The Vocal Majority chorus from Dallas, won gold, continuing their streak of international championships.

In 2007 they auditioned on the second season of the TV show America's Got Talent in Chicago, aired June 19, and were passed to go to the second round by all three judges, but were eliminated at the first cut of the second round.

In July 2007 the chorus competed again in the international contest, again under the direction of Royce Ferguson, winning a gold medal. They tied with the Ambassadors of Harmony in overall score, and won on the singing category tiebreaker. They became the youngest chorus ever to win a gold medal.

In 2009, under the new direction of Justin Miller, 35 members of Westminster Chorus took on a bunch of much older directors with much longer resumes and were the overall winners of prestigious Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod 2009, where about 4,000 singers and dancers from 50 nations competed.^[1]

A huge feather in the hat of our 2007 international champion, and a grand slam for barbershop harmony worldwide. They were consistently introduced as a barbershop chorus (and the winners of the festival’s ”Barbershop Choruses” competition, but they performed impressive classical pieces as well. After winning the “barbershop chorus” and “folk song choirs” competitions earlier in the week, Westminster took a close second place in the “male choir” competition. Then in the final competition, they performed two the same numbers that had gotten them second place and this time beat all others to win the Pavarotti trophy.

Vision[link]

The format of the Westminster Chorus differs greatly from that of many barbershop chapters. Rehearsals are Tuesday evenings and there is always an "afterglow" that takes place at a local bar and grill, where the members socialize and casually sing. The audition process is simple and accurate at identifying a singer's potential to benefit the chorus.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Website

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (October 2007)

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (February 2009)

For the 1982-film starring Bud Spencer, see Banana Joe (film)

Joseph Montione, commonly referred to as Banana Joe, (born in Pittston, PA, January 21, 1954) is a radio personality who currently resides in Los Angeles. He started radio when he was 13, when he set up his own radio station in his basement. Kicking off the first FM station to play Top40 Hits, and become #1 WHYI-FM Y-100/MIAMI, Joe was contacted by his long-time mentor, Jay Cook, who was then Program Director at WFIL/Philadelphia, and went on to help form and become President of Gannett Radio. After Jay called Joe in Miami, seeing a 25 share of listeners during Joe's show on an FM station. Joe then went on to WFIL to replace George Michael at age 19, when George left to go WABC in New York. Banana Joe became Air Personality of the Year in 1980 at KHJ/Los Angeles, and was the co-Owner of WTLQ/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and WHTF/Harrisburg/York, leading them from the bottom of the ratings to the top. After returning to WILK/Wilkes=Barre, Joe formed an investment group to buy WTLQ-Fm, And WHTF/Harrisburg/Lancaster/York, PA, and employed the legendary Michael Sarzynski (WNNNNNNBC/New York) who was Joe's inspiration at King's College/Wilkes-Barre. Joe was also instrumental in the late 70's early 80's comeback of the legendary 93/KHJ/Los Angeles, beating all of the FM Stereo competition as PM Drive and PD.

After moving back to L.A. in 1988 in 1991, he primered the Banana Joe Flashback show on KIIS-FM, which, for over five years was a huge success as the first retro 70's 80's based music show on Top 40, also Joe became National Programming/Marketing Director for Premiere Radio Networks, helping them to grow into one the largest Radio Network in the USA. He acted in films such as Mulholland Falls and An Oasis In Manhattan. He then moved to Denver on BIG DOG 92.5, KZDG where he launched the country station owned by Premiere. After that, Joe rejoined his mentor Jay Cook former President of Gannett Radio as VP/Programming at Gannett's Tampa stations. He later moved to Dallas to host a top-rated morning show on KTXQ/MAGIC 102-FM which specialized in Jammin' Oldies. From Dallas, Banana Joe also did mornings via satellite for sister stations WOCL/Orlando, and KHYL/Sacramento. Finally he moved to another Oldies station K-EARTH 101 in Los Angeles. and later created a talk show "The Joe Zone"Banana Joe is currently the owner operator of www.flashback40.com, an on-line radio station, that doesn't work.

Sources[link]

• Banana Joe Radio This website is down since October 2008!

Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French organist and composer.

Life[link]

Louis Vierne was born in Poitiers, Vienne, nearly blind due to congenital cataracts, but at an early age was discovered to have an unusual gift for music. (At age two he heard the piano for the first time. The pianist played him a Schubert lullaby and he promptly began to pick out the notes of the lullaby on the piano.)

After completing school in the provinces, Louis Vierne entered the Paris Conservatory. From 1892, Vierne served as an assistant to the organist Charles-Marie Widor at the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. Vierne subsequently became principal organist at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, a post he held from 1900 until his death in 1937.

Vierne had a life that was physically and emotionally very difficult, with severe spiritual trials that are reflected in much of his music. His congenital cataracts did not make him completely blind, but he was what would be called today "legally blind." Early in his career, he composed on outsized manuscript paper, using "a large pencil" as his friend Marcel Dupré described. Later in life, as his limited sight continued to diminish, he resorted to Braille to do most of his work.

He was deeply affected by a separation and subsequent divorce from his wife, and he lost both his brother René and his son Jacques to the battlefields of World War I. Though he held one of the most prestigious organ posts in France, the Notre-Dame organ was in a state of disrepair throughout much of his tenure at the instrument. He eventually undertook a concert tour of North America to raise money for its restoration. The tour, which included major recitals on the famous Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia and its smaller sister instrument, the Wanamaker Auditorium Organ in New York City,^[1] was very successful, although the trip physically drained him.

A street accident in Paris caused him to badly fracture his leg, and it was briefly thought his leg would need to be amputated. The leg was saved, but his recovery, and the task of completely re-learning his pedal technique, took a full year during one of the busiest times of his life. Despite his difficulties, however, his students uniformly described him as a kind, patient and encouraging teacher. Among his pupils were Augustin Barié, Edward Shippen Barnes, Lili Boulanger, Nadia Boulanger, Marcel Dupré, André Fleury, Isadore Freed, Henri Gagnebin, Gaston Litaize, Édouard Mignan, Alexander Schreiner, and Georges-Émile Tanguay.

Vierne suffered either a stroke or a heart attack (eyewitness reports differ) while giving his 1750th organ recital at Notre-Dame de Paris on the evening of 2 June 1937. He had completed the main concert, which members of the audience said showed him at his full powers - "as well as he has ever played." Directly after he had finished playing his "Stele pour un enfant defunt" from his 'Triptyque' Op 58, the closing section was to be two improvisations on submitted themes. He read the first theme in Braille, then selected the stops he would use for the improvisation. He suddenly pitched forward, and fell off the bench as his foot hit the low "E" pedal of the organ. He lost consciousness as the single note echoed throughout the church. He had thus fulfilled his oft-stated lifelong dream - to die at the console of the great organ of Notre-Dame. Maurice Duruflé, another major French organist and composer of the time was at his side at the time of his death.

Music[link]

Symphonie No. 1: Finale

Vierne was considered one of the greatest musical improvisers of his generation. His few improvisations that were preserved on early phonograph recordings sound like finished, polished compositions.

He had an elegant, clean style of writing that respected form above all else. His harmonic language was romantically rich, but not as sentimental or theatrical as that of his early mentor César Franck. Of all the great fin de siècle French organists, Vierne's music was perhaps the most idiomatic for his chosen instrument and has inspired most of the great Parisian organist-composers who followed him.

Carillon de Westminster.

His output for organ includes six symphonies, 24 Fantasy Pieces (which includes his famous Carillon de Westminster), and 24 Pieces in Free Style, among other works. There are also several chamber works (sonatas for violin and cello, a piano quintet and a string quartet for example), vocal and choral music, and a Symphony in A minor for orchestra.

Works[link]

See List of compositions by Louis Vierne.

See also: Category:Compositions by Louis Vierne

Media[link]

	Final Movement of Organ Symphony No. 1 in D minor, op. 14 Performed by Marc Giacone Carillon de Westminster, op. 54 Matthias Flierl plays the organ of St. Jakob, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany ( Rieger/Austria, IV/69) Prelude, Op 36 No. 10 (Sur une tombe) Performed on an organ by Ulrich Metzner
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Bibliography[link]

• Rollin Smith. Louis Vierne: Organist of Notre Dame Cathedral. Pendragon Press, 1999. ISBN 1-57647-004-0.

Discography[link]

Organ

• Louis Vierne: Complete Organ Works: Pierre Cochereau & George C. Baker, organ; Solstice; 7 CDs
• Louis Vierne: Complete Organ Works: Christine Kamp, organ; Festivo; 8 CDs completed of 10
• Louis Vierne: Complete Organ Works: Ben van Oosten, organ; MDG; 9 CDs
• Louis Vierne: Complete Organ Works: Wolfgang Rübsam, organ; IFO Records, 2008); 8 CDs (in preparation)
• Louis Vierne: Complete Choral Works: Truro Cathedral Choir; Robert Sharpe & Christopher Gray; Regent Records (2008)
• Organ Symphonies Nos. 1-6: Martin Jean, organ; Loft Recordings
• Organ Symphonies Nos. 1-6: David Sanger, organ; Meridian Recordings
• Organ Symphonies Nos. 1-6: Günther Kaunzinger, organ; Koch-Schwann
• Organ Symphonies Nos. 1-6: Jeremy Filsell, organ; Signum Classics
• Second Symphony for Organ: Christopher Houlihan, organ; Towerhill Recordings
• 24 Pièces de fantaisie: Günther Kaunzinger, organ; Novalis; 2 CDs
• 24 Pièces en style libre op. 31: Günther Kaunzinger, organ; Koch-Schwann; 2 CDs

Other

• Louis Vierne: Symphonie en la mineur, Poème pour piano et orchestre – François Kerdoncuff, piano; Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège; Pierre Bartholomée, conductor; Timpani (2007)
• Louis Vierne: La Musique de chambre intégrale (The Complete Chamber Music) – François Kerdoncuff, piano; Olivier Gardon, piano; Alexis Galpérine, violin; Odile Carracilly, viola; Yvan Chiffoleau, cello; Christian Moreaux, oboe; Pascale Zanlonghi, harp; Quartour Phillips; 2 CDs; Timpani (2005)
• Louis Vierne: Piano Quintet op. 42: Stephen Coombs, piano; Chilingirian Quartet; Hyperion
• Louis Vierne: L'œuvre pour piano (Works for Piano) – Olivier Gardon, piano; 2 CDs; Timpani (1995)
• Louis Vierne: Mélodies, [Volume I] – Mireille Delunsch, soprano; François Kerdoncuff, piano; Christine Icart, harp; Timpani (1997)
• Louis Vierne: Mélodies, Volume II – Mireille Delunsch, soprano; François Kerdoncuff, piano; Timpani (2005)
• Louis Vierne: Songs: Rachel Santesso, soprano; Roger Vignoles, piano; Andrew Reid, organ; Hugh Webb, harp; Deux-Elles

Notes[link]

1. ^ The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ. The Official Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Guide to Philadelphia's Historic Wanamaker Grand Organ. The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Press: 1996.

External links[link]

• Louis Vierne 1870-1937 French composer, organist, teacher
• Louis Vierne, the Man and his Music
• Short film of Louis Vierne performing at Notre Dame de Paris
• Performances of organ works by Louis Vierne in MP3 and MIDI formats at Logos Virtual Library
• Vierne organ music videos from Tihany
• Audio of "24 Pièces en style libre pour orgue ou harmonium", book 1 book 2, played on a virtual organ
• Free scores by Louis Vierne in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Louis Vierne at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Louis Vierne in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)