Director of Music:
Bell Choirs
Carol Houghton, born and raised in St. Louis, holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. There she studied organ with Robert Carwithen, sang with the Westminster Symphonic Choir under the direction of Joseph Flummerfelt, and rang with the Westminster Concert Bell Choir with its founding conductor, Donald E. Allured. Carol has been in music ministry positions in Rockaway, New Jersey and Hightstown, New Jersey and before coming to MPC in the fall of 2005, was the Organist and Director of Music at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Trenton. She began her 14 years at Covenant as the Director of Children’s and Bell Choirs, then in 1995 added the adult choir leadership to her duties and finally for the last 4 years, also served as the church’s organist.
Carol also has worked at Firestone Library at Princeton University in the Social Science Reference Center since 1992. She has been an assistant librarian for the Economics, the U.S. Government Documents, and the United Nations Documents collections. In 2005, she accepted a full-time position at the Reference Center, managing the Politics, Law and International Documents Collection.
Carol has had a long love affair with handbells. She played for many years growing up in her church in St. Louis. When she arrived at Westminster Choir College to study organ and church music, she heard about a bell choir that was having auditions. Little did she know that this was the Westminster Concert Bell Choir, a world-class ensemble ringing one of the largest sets of bells available, and the director was the “grandfather” of handbells in the United States, Donald Allured! Had she known, she may have been a little more shy about auditioning! Working with Don Allured, she gained invaluable experience and knowledge and deepened her dedication to the art of bell-ringing. In her professional career, it has been her mission to share the love she has for handbells with her choirs. Carol has even appeared twice on NBC’s Today Show, playing handbells for Christmas programs.
Carol’s husband, Eric, a Westminster grad in piano performance, is on the Master Faculty at Westminster Conservatory of Music, and is the Organist and Cantor at Sts. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Elizabeth. A talented composer, he has written many anthems for Carol’s choral and bell choirs over the years. Carol and Eric have three children, Katie, Matt, and Natalie who keep them very busy and happy.
To read more about the bell choirs Carol directs, click here on Bell Choirs or use our menu and navigate to Bell Choirs.