Areas of Instruction
Performance
The members of the performance faculty of the Yale School of Music are internationally recognized artists and teachers. At Yale they work with students from many countries in programs that are broadly based and intensely professional. Work in both solo and ensemble performance is supplemented by a comprehensive program of study in musical analysis and history. Students participate in the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale, New Music New Haven, Yale Opera, and the extensive chamber music program. Master classes, special seminars, and residencies of distinguished guest artists are sponsored each year by the School. Students are urged to explore courses in music literature, analysis, and bibliography as an important component of their course of study, and to take advantage of courses and activities in other areas of the University. In this extraordinarily rich musical environment Yale provides a unique opportunity for the cultivation of each individual student’s potential for artistic growth.
Strings
Syoko Aki, Hyo Kang, Ani Kavafian, Peter Oundjian, Wendy Sharp, Kyung Hak
Yu, violin; Jesse Levine, viola; Ole Akahoshi, Aldo Parisot, violoncello; Donald Palma, double bass
The violin faculty encourages each student to become his or her own best teacher, first through explanation and demonstration, and eventually through critical self-awareness. No single method is stressed; rather, an approach is designed for each individual student. Rhythmic control is paramount; it is inextricably bound, both physically and emotionally, to beautiful violin playing.
The approach to viola instruction stresses the overriding importance of musical language as well as technical mastery of the instrument. The search for beauty in performance is the ultimate goal; the production of an expressive sound and an acute awareness of phrasing in interpretation are also constantly kept in mind. Independent and broad exploration of viola literature is encouraged, as are new compositions to be written for the instrument.
The method of cello instruction is based upon the belief that even the most imaginative musician is prevented from achieving the highest potential if he or she is limited by technical deficiencies. The student, therefore, concentrates first on the removal of tension, then learns to involve the entire body in cello playing and to experience the physical sensations associated with facility on the instrument. When the player and the instrument function as an efficient unit, the student begins to explore the vast subtleties of sound, phrasing, and interpretation available to those who have thoroughly mastered the cello.
The Yale School of Music offers the double bassist an opportunity to refine his or her technique and musicianship while gaining a truer understanding of the physical aspects of playing the double bass. Preparation for orchestra auditions, solo performances, and all aspects of twentieth-century writing for the double bass is emphasized in degrees corresponding to the students’ goals.
Wind Instruments
Ransom Wilson, flute; Stephen Taylor, oboe; David Shifrin, clarinet; Frank Morelli, bassoon; William Purvis, horn; Allan Dean, trumpet; Scott Hartman, trombone; Michael Roylance, tuba
Wind players receive private lessons and participate in weekly seminars. They are encouraged to acquaint themselves with as broad a repertoire as possible in all fields, including performance of baroque and contemporary music. In addition to solo playing, students are required to play in chamber groups, New Music New Haven, and in the Philharmonia.
Percussion
Robert van Sice
The percussion department offers a program with three primary areas of study: solo marimba/percussion, orchestral percussion, and contemporary chamber music. Students receive a weekly private lesson and attend an orchestral repertoire seminar. Required ensembles include the Philharmonia, New Music New Haven, and the Yale Percussion Group.
Guitar and Harp
Benjamin Verdery, guitar; June Han, harp
The weekly guitar seminar includes performances of newly learned repertoire, chamber music coaching, ensembles, and lectures. Guest master classes are also part of the program; among recent artists are Eliot Fisk, David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, and Anthony Newman. In the two-year guitar program each student is strongly encouraged to prepare two solo recital programs, a concerto, and three or four chamber works. The final degree recital should be performed from memory.
Harpists have the opportunity to perform with a wide range of ensembles including chamber groups, the Philharmonia, and New Music New Haven.
Piano
Boris Berman, Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Elizabeth Sawyer Parisot, Wei-Yi Yang, and guests
The close collaboration of piano faculty members working with one another is the unique feature of the piano department. Students have regular opportunities to play in master classes for faculty other than their major teacher, as well as to receive additional individual lessons and chamber music coachings with them. Piano faculty take turns in conducting piano seminars and master classes.
The main emphasis of the piano program is on solo performance; however, ensemble playing, accompanying, and teaching play an important role in the major’s pianistic career at Yale. This all-encompassing training is given so that the graduates are superbly equipped to make their way in the highly competitive world of music today. Piano faculty supervise multifaceted activities in which students are engaged.
During each year a piano student is expected to give one or more solo recitals, to perform with instrumentalists and/or singers, and to play chamber and contemporary music. Piano students can apply for salaried positions to teach Yale College undergraduates or piano as a secondary instrument in the School of Music.
Chamber Music
The Tokyo String Quartet and members of the performance faculty
Developing musicianship is the goal of every young and aspiring musician. The surest path to this goal is the study and performance of the masterworks of chamber music literature. Under the guidance of the Tokyo String Quartet (the quartet in residence) and other members of the faculty, chamber music is studied in depth, and traditions and stylistic differences are explored. Concerts of the Tokyo String Quartet and visiting ensembles are open to students.
Chamber music holds a place of great importance in the curriculum at Yale. An effort is made to provide each student with an opportunity to play in various ensembles. Students also have the opportunity to rehearse and perform in chamber music concerts with their faculty coaches.
Student chamber music performances take place not only at the School of Music but in various colleges on the Yale campus and in surrounding communities.
Harpsichord
A performance major is offered at the graduate level. Students in the School of Music may elect to study harpsichord as a secondary instrument; an audition and permission of the instructor are required.
Candidates for the major in harpsichord should be generally qualified as musicians and give promise as solo performers. In addition to the acquisition of a knowledge of the literature of the instrument, students must concern themselves with related vocal and instrumental music, with source materials concerning performance practices, with continuo playing, with the history of instruments, and with general problems of tuning and maintenance. The Yale Collection of Musical Instruments offers a unique resource for students interested in the study of historical instruments. Courses in the history of musical instruments are offered on a regular basis and are taught in the collection.
Organ
Martin Jean, Walden Moore, Thomas Murray, and Jeffrey Brillhart (improvisation)
The major in organ prepares students for careers as soloists, informed teachers, and church musicians, and for doctoral-level studies. The departmental seminar is devoted to a comprehensive survey of organ literature from all musical periods. In addition to individual coaching from the resident faculty, majors receive individual lessons from renowned visiting artists who come to Yale for one week each year. In recent years the visiting artists have included Daniel Roth, Marie-Claire Alain, Martin Haselböck, Peter Planyavsky, Dame Gillian Weir, Naji Hakim, David Craighead, Olivier Latry, Susan Landale, Ludger Lohmann, Jon Gillock, Michael Gaillit, Karel Paukert, Thomas Trotter, Hans-Ola Ericsson, and Jon Laukvik. Dame Gillian Weir will return as guest artist in 2008–2009.
Students have the opportunity for practice and performance on an extensive collection of fine instruments at the University: the H. Frank Bozyan Memorial Organ in Dwight Memorial Chapel (von Beckerath, three manuals, 1971); the organ in Battell Chapel (Walter Holtkamp, Sr., three manuals, 1951); Marquand Chapel at the Divinity School (E. M. Skinner, three manuals, 1931); and the Newberry Memorial Organ in Woolsey Hall (E. M. Skinner, four manuals, 1928), one of the most renowned Romantic organs in the world. In the fall of 2007 the Krigbaum Organ, a meantone instrument in the Baroque style, was inaugurated in Marquand Chapel (Taylor & Boody, three manuals, 2007). Two-manual practice instruments by Flentrop, Holtkamp, Casavant, and other builders are located both in Woolsey Hall and at the Institute of Sacred Music, which also houses five Steinway grand pianos and one Bösendorfer, a C. B. Fisk positive, a Dowd harpsichord, a two-manual Richard Kingston harpsichord, and the Ortel Organ (Flentrop, 1960).
Organ majors may enroll in the School of Music through the Institute of Sacred Music for all degree programs—M.M., M.M.A./D.M.A., Certificate in Performance, and A.D. The Institute also offers an employment placement service for organ students at Yale.
Voice and Opera
Doris Yarick-Cross, chair
Students majoring in vocal performance at Yale are enrolled in one of two separate and distinct tracks: the opera track and the track in early music, oratorio, and chamber ensemble, sponsored jointly by the Institute of Sacred Music and School of Music. Both tracks are designed to enhance and nurture the artistry of young singers by developing in them a secure technique, consummate musicianship, stylistic versatility, performance skills, and comprehensive performance experience. In both tracks there is a strong emphasis on oratorio and the art song repertoire, and each student is expected to sing a recital each year.
The Yale community and the New Haven area offer ample opportunities for solo experience with various Yale choral and orchestral ensembles, as well as through church positions and professional orchestras. Close proximity to New York and Boston makes attendance at performances and auditions in those cities convenient. Additionally, students have the opportunity to teach voice to undergraduates in Yale College and to nonmajors in the Yale School of Music.O
OPERA
Doris Yarick-Cross (artistic director and voice); Janna Baty, Lili Chookasian, and Richard Cross (voice); Douglas Dickson (opera coaching); Emily Olin (Russian diction); Marc Verzatt (acting and body movement); and guests
Singers in the opera program are prepared for rigorous careers by practical studies in the art of opera performance. The program encompasses thorough musical training including languages, style, acting, body movement, recitals, and general stage skills. Full productions with orchestra, as well as performances of excerpts, are presented throughout the year to give students varied performance experience. Recent productions have included Die Fledermaus, L’heure Espagnole, Bluebeard’s Castle, La Bohème, Così fan tutte, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kat’a Kabanova, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, Le Médecin malgré lui, Die Zauberflöte, Faust, Falstaff, La Traviata, La Cenerentola, Les Contes d’Hoffman, Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Albert Herring, La tragédie de Carmen, The Rape of Lucretia, The Kaiser of Atlantis, Iolanta, and the first staged Italian performance of Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims. Repertoire is chosen with young voices in mind, and to afford the widest casting possibilities and maximum experience for all.
Private voice lessons are supplemented by intensive coaching in both operatic and song literature. Weekly seminars and voice classes stress diction, interpretation, and effective communication. Master classes by eminent artists give young musicians contact with and insight into the real world of music. Such guests have included Jennifer Larmore, Alan Held, Elly Ameling, Carlo Bergonzi, Régine Crespin, Marilyn Horne, Evelyn Lear, Sherrill Milnes, and Renata Scotto.
Yale Opera is distinguished by its ongoing relationship with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Italy, which offers summer performance opportunities for Yale Opera students and alumni. Yale Opera was first invited to Milan in the summer of 2004 to present a series of concerts, and the unique artistic relationship that was kindled that summer continues to grow stronger. During the summer of 2008, Yale Opera collaborated with the Orchestra Verdi to present concert performances of Mascagni’s Il sì, Offenbach’s La Périchole, Weill’s Die Sieben Todsünden, Lehar’s Der Frühling, Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate, and J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus.
EARLY MUSIC, ORATORIO, AND CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
James Taylor (program adviser and voice); Marguerite Brooks and Simon Carrington (ensemble); Margot Fassler and Markus Rathey (musicology); Judith Malafronte (voice, performance practice); Ted Taylor (art song coaching)
This vocal track, leading to the M.M. degree or Artist Diploma (for external candidates), is designed for the singer whose interests lie principally in the fields of early music, oratorio, art song, contemporary music, and choral chamber ensembles. Private voice lessons are supplemented by intensive coaching in art song and oratorio literature and by concentrated study of ensemble techniques in the chamber ensemble, Yale Schola Cantorum, directed by Simon Carrington. Schola’s touring and recording schedules provide invaluable professional experiences. Singers’ work in Schola and ISM offers the opportunity of working with such renowned conductors as Sir David Willcocks, Sir Neville Marriner, Valery Gergiev, Jeffery Thomas, Nicholas McGegan, Stephen Layton, and Helmuth Rilling. Schola performs major works featuring these voice students in the various solo roles. Weekly seminars and voice classes provide in-depth instruction in performance practices, diction, and interpretation, and singers have the opportunity to participate in master classes by internationally renowned artists, such as Russell Braun, David Daniels, Christian Gerhaher, Donald Sulzen, and Lawrence Zazzo. Classes in diction, movement, and vocal repertoire are shared with students in the opera track. Students are encouraged to avail themselves of the offerings of the University, particularly courses in the Department of Music. All students enrolled in the Early Music, Oratorio, and Chamber Ensemble voice track also participate in ISM’s Colloquium on Wednesday afternoons, and choose two electives from the academic courses offered by the Institute faculty. For more precise information about the courses and requirements in this track, contact the Institute’s admissions office at 203.432.9753.
Orchestral Conducting
Shinik Hahm, Toshiyuki Shimada, and guests
The orchestral conducting program offers intensive training to a highly gifted group of young conductors. During the two-year curriculum students train with the artistic director and also work with a group of distinguished guest mentors. Students have the opportunity to travel to observe eminent conductors in rehearsals.
Conductors frequently have the opportunity to conduct the Philharmonia and other ensembles in rehearsal and performance.
Although there is an emphasis on orchestral repertoire, students develop their technique and general musicianship. Score-reading skills and analysis classes are required. In addition, students in the program are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the diverse course offerings of the School of Music, the Department of Music, and the other divisions of the University.
Choral Conducting
Marguerite Brooks and Simon Carrington
The program prepares students for careers as professional conductors in a variety of contexts, including educational, civic, and church. A primary emphasis of the master’s degree is laying the foundation for continued work in a doctoral program. Students are expected to expand their musicianship skills and develop the broad knowledge of repertoire required of conductors.
The program for choral conductors includes individual lessons with the choral conducting faculty and lessons during regularly supervised sessions with the Repertory and Recital choruses. Attendance at a weekly seminar, Repertory Chorus rehearsals, and membership in the Yale Camerata are required each term, as is participation as a singer in either the Yale Schola Cantorum or the Repertory Chorus. First-year students conduct Repertory Chorus in two shared performances. Second- and third-year students present a degree recital with the Recital Chorus. Choral conducting students are required to study voice as a secondary instrument for two terms and are encouraged to pursue other secondary instrumental studies. Students who are enrolled in the School of Music through the Institute of Sacred Music will have additional requirements as specified by the Institute. All students are expected to avail themselves of the offerings of the University, particularly courses in the Department of Music.
Choral conductors are advised to observe rehearsals of each of the various vocal and instrumental ensembles. Further conducting experience is gained by serving as assistant conductor for one of the faculty-led choirs. Visiting guest conductors have included Harold Decker, George Guest, Stefan Parkman, and Robert Shaw. Both Sir David Willcocks and Krzysztof Penderecki visited in 2004–2005, and Sir Neville Marriner in 2006. In 2007 and 2008 Helmuth Rilling visited. In 2009 students will also have the opportunity to work with Nicholas McGegan.
Composition
Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, Ezra Laderman, David Lang, Ingram Marshall, Christopher Theofanidis, and guests
The program focuses on studies in composition, including computer music and recording techniques. In addition, composers are urged to continue to develop competency as both instrumentalists and conductors. Students are encouraged to take as many courses as possible in music history and literature and are required to complete successfully courses in the analysis of tonal and nontonal music.
Composers are expected to produce enough work in their two-year residency for one full concert. These works are interspersed during the six to eight concerts given each year under the rubric New Music New Haven.
One of the most effective features of the composition program is provided by regular visits of distinguished visiting composers who serve on the teaching faculty. Gilbert Amy, Louis Andriessen, Earle Brown, Anthony Davis, Lukas Foss, Betsy `Jolas, Leon Kirchner, Zygmunt Krause, Tania Léon, Nicholas Maw, Marlos Nobré, Roger Reynolds, Poul Ruders, Frederic Rzewski, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Roberto Sierra, Morton Subotnick, Nicholas Thorne, Charles Wuorinen, Ned Rorem, David Del Tredici, and Alvin Singleton have each taught for one term in the composition program. Visiting guest composers who have recently addressed the composers’ seminar include Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Robert Beaser, John Corigliano, Vinko Globokar, John Harbison, David Lang, Bruce MacCombie, Steven Mackey, Ingram Marshall, Steve Reich, James Wood, Yehudi Wyner, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
Center for Studies in Music Technology
Kathryn Alexander, director; Jack Vees, associate director
The Center for Studies in Music Technology (CSMT) offers courses and supports projects in all aspects of computer applications in music composition, performance, and research. CSMT currently has facilities for sound synthesis and analysis of all types, digital recording and processing, and MIDI-based synthesis. Aside from composition projects, CSMT supports research in interactive performance systems, physical modeling of instruments, analysis of performance gesture, and music notation.
Music in Schools Initiative
Associate Dean Michael Yaffe, director; Olivia Malin and John Miller, project managers
Through collaborations with music teachers and classroom teachers, our comprehensive educational programs provide expansive music education in New Haven Public Schools. Funded by a generous grant from the Yale College Class of 1957, the Yale School of Music currently supports programs in more than twenty schools. Although not taken for credit, the Music in Schools Initiative provides interested School of Music students the opportunity to obtain valuable training and teaching experience while helping to develop innovative educational programs. For further information, visit www.yale.edu/music/outreach.
Courses of Instruction
Key to Course List
A schedule of the hours and places at which various classes are to meet will be posted before the beginning of each term.
Courses designated “a” meet in the fall term only.
Courses designated “b” meet in the spring term only.
Courses designated “a,b” are offered in both the fall and spring terms.
Courses designated “a–b” are yearlong courses. Credit for these courses is granted only after completion of two terms of work.
Courses designated M are courses in the major.
Courses designated NP are nonperformance courses.
Courses designated P/F will be graded on a Pass/Fail basis.
Musicianship and Theory
MUS 499a, Introductory Hearing 2 credits.
MUS 500b, Hearing 2 credits. Prerequisite: MUS 499a. See MUS 502a, 503a, 549a for description.
MUS 502a, 503a, 549a, Hearing 4 credits. Developing aural and analytic skills through the exploration of a variety of tonal styles, hearing with and without score, hearing from recordings, and hearing with attention to both pitch and nonpitch compositional elements. The goal is to connect the above to performance and to understand the structure of music. One of these sections is a degree requirement. Does not count as a nonperformance elective. A higher level of Hearing may be taken as a nonperformance elective. Joan Panetti, Chairperson
MUS 610a–b, 710a–b, Score Reading and Analysis 4 credits per term. NP. An examination of repertoire from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Appropriate analytic points of view are used to discover inherent stylistic similarities and differences in orchestration and texture. Classwork includes a substantial term paper, as well as playing scores at the piano. Permission of instructor required; enrollment limited to eight. Faculty
MUS 658b, Twentieth-Century Music: Ear Training and Analysis 4 credits. NP. This course attempts to develop students’ ability to recognize and generate structures and processes particular to music of the twentieth century and to apply them in analysis of short pieces. The course makes use of musical examples by Schoenberg, Bartók, Debussy, Stravinsky. and others. Reading, singing, memorizing, and manipulation of these excerpts are among the course’s central activities, which also include singing (and playing), dictation, identification, improvisation, and, above all, recognition. The course also extends the ear training skills into the area of analysis, although analysis is secondary to ear training. Short pieces to be analyzed by Debussy, Bartók, Schoenberg, Webern, and others. Enrollment limited to fifteen. Michael Friedmann
MUS 672a, The Yale Interdisciplinary Seminar on Rhythm 2 credits. NP. The seminar addresses such questions as the response in humans to rhythmic activity, rhythm as a factor in emotional equilibrium, what the content of rhythm is, and dimensions that are involved in the transaction of musical rhythm in time. The seminar visits other departments of the University for discussions of rhythm in astronomy, geology, neurology, painting, and philosophy. Enrollment limited. Willie Ruff and guests
MUS 692b, Advanced Hearing and Analysis 4 credits. NP. For musicians who are passionate about integrating aural, analytic, and performance skills. A variety of composers and styles are explored. The workload consists of performances, short presentations, and short papers. Permission of the instructor required. Joan Panetti
Performance
MUS 515a,b, 615a,b, 715a,b, 815a,b, Improvisation at the Organ 2 credits. Development of improvisatory skills at the keyboard. Jeffrey Brillhart
MUS 523b, Liturgical Keyboard Skills 2 credits. In this course, students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for musical genres, both those familiar to them and those different from their own, and learn basic techniques for their application in church service playing. Students learn to play hymns, congregational songs, service music, and anthems from a variety of sources, including music from the liturgical and free church traditions, including the Black Church experience. Beginning with the piano, students are encouraged to play by ear, using their aural skills in learning gospel music. This training extends to the organ in the form of improvised introductions and varied accompaniments to hymns of all types. We seek to accomplish these goals by active participation and discussion in class. When not actually playing in class, students are encouraged to sing to the accompaniment of the person at the keyboard, to further their experience of singing with accompaniment, and to give practical encouragement to the person playing at the time. Shinik Hahm and staff
MUS 529a,b, Introduction to Conducting 4 credits. A study of the art of conducting through analysis of scores, baton technique, and orchestration. Assignments include weekly conducting exercises, study of repertoire, quizzes, and a final examination. The ability to read scores and transpose is assumed. Permission of the instructor required; enrollment limited. Shinik Hahm and staff
MUS 530a,b, Intermediate Conducting 4 credits. Continuation of the techniques utilized in Conducting 529a,b. More difficult orchestral pieces are analyzed and conducted, and score reading at the piano is stressed. A playing ensemble is made up of participants in the class. Some piano playing skills required. Prerequisite: Conducting 529a,b; thorough knowledge of theory and analysis. Permission of the instructor required. Enrollment limited to eight, determined by audition. Toshiyuki Shimada
MUS 531a–b, 631a–b, 731a–b, Repertory Chorus 2 credits per term. A reading chorus open by audition and conducted by graduate choral conducting students. The chorus reads, studies, and sings a wide sampling of choral literature. Marguerite Brooks, Simon Carrington
MUS 532a–b, 632a–b, 732a–b, Conducting Repertory Chorus 2 credits per term. Students in the graduate choral conducting program work with the Repertory Chorus, preparing and conducting a portion of a public concert each term. Open only to choral conducting majors. Marguerite Brooks, Simon Carrington
MUS 533a–b, 633a–b, 733a–b, Seminar in Piano Literature and Interpretation
4 credits per term. M. For piano majors. Piano faculty and guests
MUS 534b, Collaborative Piano: Instrumental 2 credits. A course for piano majors, intended to broaden their experience and to provide them with the skills necessary to prepare sonatas and accompaniments. A number of selected instrumental sonatas are covered, as well as the problems involved in dealing with orchestral reductions and piano parts to virtuoso pieces. Sight reading and difficulties related to performing with specific instruments are also addressed. Students are encouraged to bring works to class that they are preparing for recitals. Elizabeth Sawyer Parisot
MUS 535a–b, 635a–b, 735a–b, Recital Chorus 2 credits per term. A chorus open by audition and conducted by graduate choral conducting students. It serves as the choral ensemble for four to five degree recitals per year. Marguerite Brooks
MUS 536a–b, 636a–b, 736a–b, Conducting Recital Chorus 2 credits per term. Second- and third-year students in the graduate choral conducting program work with the Recital Chorus, preparing and conducting their degree recitals. Open to choral conducting majors only. Marguerite Brooks
MUS 537b, Collaborative Piano: Voice 2 credits. A course designed for pianists focusing on the skills required for vocal accompanying and coaching. The standard song and operatic repertoire is emphasized. Sight-reading, techniques of transposition, figured bass, and effective reduction of operatic materials for the recreation of orchestral sounds at the piano are included in the curriculum. Ted Taylor
MUS 538a–b, 638a–b, 738a–b, Cello Ensemble 2 credits per term. An exploration of the growing literature for cello ensemble emphasizing chamber music and orchestral skills as well as stylistic differences. Performances planned during the year. Required of all cello majors. Aldo Parisot
MUS 540a–b, 640a–b, 740a–b, Individual Instruction in the Major 4 credits per term. M. Individual instruction of one hour per week throughout the academic year, for majors in performance, conducting, and composition. Faculty
MUS 541a,b, 641a,b, 741a,b, Secondary Instrumental, Compositional, and Vocal Study 2 credits per term. P/F. Permission of program director required. Study of a secondary instrument, voice, or composition for credit. Conductors may register and receive credit in two areas. Students who register for secondary study are assesssed a fee of $100 per area per term and may be required to perform juries at the end of each term. Faculty
MUS 542a-b, 642a-b, 742a-b, The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale and New Music New Haven 2 credits per term. Participation, as assigned by the faculty, is required of all orchestral students. In addition to regular participation in Philharmonia, students are assigned to New Music New Haven, to groups performing music by Yale composers, and to other ensembles as required. Shinik Hahm
MUS 543a–b, 643a–b, 743a–b, Chamber Music 2 credits per term. Required of instrumental majors (except organ) in each term of enrollment. Enrollment includes participation in an assigned chamber music ensemble as well as performance and attendance in master classes and chamber music concerts. Faculty and guests
MUS 544a–b, 644a–b, 744a–b, Seminar in the Departmental Major 2 credits per term. M. An examination of a wide range of problems relating to the area of the major. Specific requirements may differ by department. Required of all School of Music students except pianists who take 533, 633, 733. Faculty
MUS 546a–b, 646a–b, 746a–b, Yale Camerata 2 credits per term. Open to all members of the University community by audition, the Yale Camerata presents several performances throughout the year that explore choral literature from all musical periods. Members of the ensemble should have previous choral experience and be willing to devote time to the preparation of music commensurate with the Camerata’s vigorous rehearsal and concert schedule. Marguerite Brooks
MUS 565a, Elements of Choral Technique 4 credits. An exploration of conducting technique, rehearsal technique, score analysis, and repertoire for the choral conductor, this course is designed for students who are not majoring in choral conducting but are interested in learning the essentials of choral technique. Repertoire from the sixteenth century to the present is explored. Jeffrey Douma
MUS 571a–b, 671a–b, 771a–b, Yale Schola Cantorum 1 credit per term. Specialist Chamber Choir for the development of advanced ensemble skills and expertise in demanding solo roles (in music before 1750 and from the last one hundred years). Enrollment limited to, and required of, voice majors in the early music, song, and chamber ensemble program. Simon Carrington
MUS 625b, Intermediate Conducting: Wind Band 4 credits. More and more, music teaching jobs require teachers to work in both their field of expertise and a secondary area (i.e., trumpet teacher/assistant director of bands). Often the secondary area is connected to conducting or directing a band. This course is designed to give performers, conductors, or composers some exposure to and experience with the repertoire and history of the wind band, significant wind band repertoire (identification and analysis), preparing the score, and conducting selected wind band repertoire and arranging it for the band. Each student has the opportunity to conduct the Yale Concert Band in rehearsal. Permission of instructor required. Enrollment limited to ten. Prerequisite: Introductory Conducting. Thomas C. Duffy
Composition
MUS 559b, Music Drama Workshop 4 credits per term. NP. This course examines the many elements that go into the creation of a musical drama. Each student composes a major scene during the fall and produces it on the stage in the spring term. Guest librettists and composers critique works in progress. Ezra Laderman
MUS 652b, Instrumental Arranging 4 credits. NP. A practical study of writing for all instruments in all combinations including orchestra, concert band, jazz, and chamber ensembles. Enrollment limited. Willie Ruff
Voice and Opera
MUS 504a–b, 604a–b, 704a–b, Dramatic Movement for Singers 1 credit per term. Stage movement tailored specifically for singers. Physical preparation of the body through exercises that develop strength, control, and flow of movement while releasing tensions and extending the range of movement possibilities. Emphasis is placed on stage presence and movement problems as applied to specific roles, and on transferring the class experience to the stage. Required. Marc Verzatt
MUS 506a–b, 606a–b, 706a–b, Lyric Diction for Singers 2 credits per term. A language course designed specifically for the needs of singers. Intensive work on pronunciation, grammar, and literature throughout the term. French/German and Italian/Russian are offered in alternating years. Required. Faculty
MUS 507a–b, 607a–b, 707a–b, Vocal Repertoire for Singers 2 credits per term. A performance-oriented course that in successive terms surveys the French mélodie, German Lied, and Italian, American, and English art song. Elements of style, language, text, and presentation are emphasized. Required. Faculty
MUS 508a–b, 608a–b, 708a–b, Opera Workshop 3 credits per term. Encompasses musical preparation, coaching (musical and language), staging, and performance of selected scenes as well as complete roles from a wide range of operatic repertoire. Required. Doris Yarick-Cross, coaching staff, and guest music and stage directors
MUS 509a–b, 609a–b, 709a–b, Art Song Coaching for Singers 1 credit per term. Individual private coaching in the art song repertoire, in preparation for required recitals. Students are coached on such elements of musical style as phrasing, rubato, and articulation, and in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish diction. Students are expected to bring their recital accompaniments to coaching sessions as their recital times approach. Faculty
MUS 522a–b, 622a–b, 722a–b, Acting for Singers 1 credit per term. Marc Verzatt
MUS 594a, Vocal Chamber Music 1 credit. The class is conducted as a seminar, with a high level of individual participation each week. Grades are based on participation in and preparation for class, the final project, and performances. Attendance is mandatory. The term is devoted to Books VI, VII, and VIII of Madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi. Students learn to read from early-seventeenth-century prints, analyze verse structure, and consider performance practices. A staged production of this repertoire (memorized) includes many forms of movement and dance, requiring occasional weekend sessions and extra rehearsals during the production week. Students are expected to learn quickly and must be prepared to tackle a sizeable amount of repertoire. Faculty
MUS 595a–b, 695b, Performance Practice for Singers 1 credit per term. This course is designed for singers and others interested in exploring the major issues of historically informed performance of music before 1800. Judith Malafronte
History and Analysis
MUS 510a, Music History Survey 4 credits. NP. This class or another history elective as assigned by the history department is a degree requirement and satisfies the music history proficiency. A review of Western music history from the medieval period to the present, with particular emphasis on the baroque, classical, and romantic periods. Study of the principal genres, composers, and styles in each era and consideration of individual works in light of their musical, social, religious, and political context. Frank Tirro
MUS 513a, Vienna: 1875–1900 4 credits. NP. An examination of selected works by Brahms, Bruckner, Wolf, Schoenberg, and Mahler in the context of the social, political, and cultural circumstances that prevailed in imperial Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century. Some attention is devoted to the Edward Hanslick/Wiener Akademische-Wagner Verein conflict and the manner in which it affected the careers of the above-listed composers. Paul Hawkshaw
MUS 514a, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio 4 credits. NP. The Christmas Oratorio, composed for the Christmas season 1734–35, is an exceptional piece in Bach’s œuvre. It consists of six independent cantatas for the feast days between Christmas and Epiphany, which together form a large-scaled oratorio, telling the story of Christ’s birth, the praise of the angels, and the adoration of the Magi. Biblical narrative alternates with pious reflection, weaving an intricate fabric of theological and musical references. However, much of the musical material Bach used in his oratorio was originally composed for other (secular) occasions and in late 1734 transformed into a work of sacred art. The course compares the different versions of the movements and their way from the secular into the sacred realm. A second focus is on the theological context of the Christmas Oratorio. What are the major religious influences? What is the theological understanding of Christmas and the incarnation? How do the cantatas of the oratorio relate to cantatas composed by Bach and his contemporaries in other years? Markus Rathey
MUS 518b, In the Face of Death: Worship, Music, Art 4 credits. NP. “Remember, you are dust, and to dust you will return.” This seminar studies the rich traditions that worship, music, and the visual arts have created and continue to offer in the face of death. Our focus in this seminar is on the Christian faith tradition. Given the breadth of the subject matter, the course attends to a broad spectrum of themes related to ritual, music, and art “in the face of death.” Readings of historical sources (textual and non-textual) themselves, scholarly research into the past, and analysis of contemporary materials form the core material of analysis. The course creates space for a nuanced reflection on this tradition, as both backdrop and resource for contemporary engagement. The course also shows that worship, music, and art are not discrete entities in the Christian tradition but profoundly interrelated, especially around issues of death and dying. Markus Rathey
MUS 558a, Introduction to the Analysis of Nontonal Music 4 credits. NP. This course consists of the examination of various analytic techniques and their use in the analysis of music by Berg, Boulez, Dallapiccola, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Varèse, Webern, and others. Helpful, but not a prerequisite, is some prior exposure to Schenker analysis and a knowledge of the fundamentals of set theory. Thomas C. Duffy
MUS 564b, Studies in Italian Opera from Monteverdi to Dallapiccola 4 credits. NP. The class examines the musical and dramatic structure of selected operas in the Italian language. Works by Monteverdi, Handel, Pergolesi, Mozart, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini, and Dallapiccola are examined in detail. This is not intended to be a history of Italian opera, but rather a detailed examination of the organizational features of specific monuments of the literature. Students are required to make presentations in a seminar format throughout the term. Midterm and final examinations. Paul Hawkshaw
MUS 581b, Early Jazz and Swing 4 credits. NP. A study of the music of the early great jazz musicians from the music’s origins at the turn of the twentieth century until the style change after World War II. Major figures include pianists Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Art Tatum, and Fats Waller; horn soloists Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Cootie Williams, Barney Bigard, Jack Teagarden, Tricky Sam Nanton, Benny Goodman, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Lester Young; and bandleaders Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington. Frank Tirro
MUS 583b, Music at the Court of Henry VIII 4 credits. NP. The division between medieval and modern history in England is usually located at some point during the reign of King Henry VIII Tudor. During his reign, affairs of state and church moved in new directions, and his power, wealth, intellect, and taste called for an exuberant and extravagant English court. His rivalry with Francis I of France, Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, and the various popes of the Roman Catholic Church from 1509 to 1547 called for royal banquets and feasts, and these as well as occasions of stage required music, art, and literature of the highest order. In addition to English music and the musicians fully in his employ, Henry was conversant with music and musicians from the continent. One of his spies at the European courts was a music scribe of great renown, Pierre Alamire. Henry’s time was an age of great splendor in addition to a period of social and religious unrest and upheaval. The history of this era is fascinating, the art and literature some of the best ever created. This seminar explores these subjects and studies music and manuscripts known to have been in use by Henry and his court. Three manuscripts in facsimile are investigated—Pepys 1760, Royal.8.G.vii, and add. 31922—and some of the composers whose works are included for investigation in this seminar are Cornysh, Fayrfax, Taverner, Févin, Mouton, Compère, and Henry himself. Frank Tirro
MUS 585a, Twentieth-Century Analysis and Model Composition 4 credits. NP. Studies in the theory, analysis, and composition of the music of the early and mid-twentieth century. Prerequisite: 211a or b. Enrollment limited to eighteen students. Michael Friedmann
MUS 586a, Baroque Music and the Baroque World—A Survey 4 credits. NP. The period of music history between the early years of the seventeenth century and the middle of the eighteenth was a time of important stylistic changes and developments: the emergence of the opera, the sacred concerto, and, later in the seventeenth century, the development of the cantata. It was also a time of deep changes in piety and religion: while the friction between the Protestant and Catholic camps became more and more violent, authors of the early seventeenth century “rediscovered” texts by medieval mystics, and the pietistic movement of the later seventeenth century emphasized the personal relationship between the believer and God. The musical and religious developments of the Baroque period are intrinsically intertwined. While the music opens new paths of religious expression, the religious changes of the time inspire the musical development as well. This course gives an overview of the music in the Baroque in a number of case studies, covering both sacred and secular music of Europe and the Americas. A new history of the music of the Baroque (see bibliography) serves as a textbook. The readings are complemented in class by a deeper analysis of selected works and by a study of the religious background of the compositions analyzed. Markus Rathey
MUS 588a, Masterpieces of Music before 1750 4 credits. NP. A seminar with a maximum of 20 students. Major works from the High Renaissance through the Baroque are analyzed and presented by members of the class. Each student completes a term paper that must include both historical and analytical information on a large work of the student’s choice. Likely composers for inclusion in the seminar are Josquin, Palestrina, Willaert, Lasso, Monteverdi, Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Schütz, Buxtehude, Purcell, Lully, Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi. Frank Tirro
MUS 589a, Approaches to the Classical Style 4 credits. NP. An examination of recent and contemporary scholarship on eighteenth-century music, aimed at applying varying approaches to works composed between approximately 1730 and 1800. Among the thinkers and topics to be considered are Charles Rosen and James Webster on periodization, Daniel Heartz on the galant style, Leonard Ratner on rhetoric and topics, Eric Weimer and Janet Levy on texture, James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy on form, and Leonard Meyer and Robert Gjerdingen on schemata. Robert Holzer
MUS 612b, The Music of Igor Stravinsky 4 credits. NP. A survey of the life and works of the great Russian composer. Among the issues to be explored are the common elements that persist amid the great changes in style (“Russian,” “neo-classical,” and “twelve-tone”) that distinguish his output; the relation of these stylistic changes to larger trends in twentieth-century music and culture; and the distance between the facts of the composer’s career and his own account of it. Robert Holzer
MUS 614b, The Lesser Minimalists 4 credits. NP. If “less is more” (Corbusier), then lesser is more so! The big four Minimalists (Reich, Riley, Young, Glass) may have been aesthetically pure and somewhat dogmatic in their early works, but many composers who fell under their spell have created a substantial body of work that went beyond the confines of Minimalism. Among the better-known names in this group: Adams, Andriessen, Paert, Rzewski, Nyman, Bryars. Among the lesser known: Lentz, Dresher, Scott, ten Holt, Otte, Volans, Borden, Curran. While some of these composers have been called Minimalists, for the most part they have adopted the style of Minimalism, not the aesthetic, and have helped to forge a new identity of expressivity and accessibility. Final project and four response papers required. Enrollment limited to fifteen. Ingram Marshall
MUS 664b, The Symphony and the Sacred in the Nineteenth Century 4 credits. NP. The course describes the development of the metaphysical interpretation of music in the nineteenth century, and it shows how composers in the late eighteenth century (like J. Haydn and J. M. Kraus), in the first half of the nineteenth century (like Beethoven and Mendelssohn), and composers in the late nineteenth century have used quotations and allusions to create a “religious mood” in their symphonies. Markus Rathey
MUS 849b, 850a, 851b, Seminar for Master of Musical Arts Candidates NP. To be elected for a maximum of three terms and 16 credits, normally during the last three terms of residency, for 4 credits, 8 credits, and 4 credits respectively. An introduction to the problems and methodology of musicology and music theory. The course familiarizes the student with the work of current musicological research and provides an opportunity to develop a thesis topic and present the results of the thesis to the seminar. Required of all M.M.A. candidates. Michael Friedmann
Special Studies
MUS 521a,b, English: Writing Skills and Grammar Syntax 2 credits per term. Serena Blocker
MUS 550a, Music Technology for the Practicing Musician 2 credits. NP. An overview of pertinent technological developments and their historical contexts. Designed for students who have had little or no prior experience in this area. Jack Vees
MUS 551b, Studio Techniques and Contemporary Popular Music 2 credits. NP. This course combines a detailed presentation of the various elements of the Center for Studies in Music Technology (CSMT) studios along with a survey of popular music that has been shaped by the studio environment. The works of composers from Bartók to Zappa and the recordings of performers from Les Paul to Brian Eno are typical of the works that are presented. An optional workshop session is required of students who wish to do actual hands-on work at CSMT. Jack Vees
MUS 680a–b, The Art of Recording for Music 2 credits per term. NP. A workshop dealing with state-of-the-art digital recording techniques, equipment, studio acoustics, and compact disc production, with special emphasis placed on preparing students to use recording facilities as a musician on both sides of the microphone. The first term is devoted to a general survey of digital recording techniques through experimental recording of various student and professional musical ensembles. The second term is devoted exclusively to compact disc production. As a final project, each student produces a recording session using classmates or professional ensembles and works through the postrecording process to provide a digital tape suitable for compact disc production. Enrollment limited. Permission of instructor required. Eugene Kimball
MUS 690a,b, Independent Study Project 2 credits per term. NP. Second- or third-year students with the consent of the Academic Affairs Committee may elect, for one term only, to pursue individual study in specialized areas of interest, under the supervision of faculty members. An outline for proposed individual study must be completed and approved prior to the beginning of the term in which the student expects to pursue the special study. Forms are available in the Office of the Registrar. Faculty
Yale Institute of Sacred Music
MUS 519a–b, 619a–b, 719a–b, 819a–b, Colloquium 1 credit per term. NP. P/F.
Participation in seminars led by faculty and guest lecturers on topics concerning theology, music, worship, and related arts. Required of all Institute of Sacred Music students. Martin Jean
Graduate-Level Courses in the Department of Music
Permission for admission to graduate courses offered by the Department of Music must be obtained from the director of graduate studies of the department. The following courses are available in the graduate department in 2008–2009 (4 credits each term).
MUSI 525a, Sonata Theory James Hepokoski
MUSI 565b, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde Patrick McCreless
MUSI 612a or b, Practicum in Composition Kathryn Alexander
MUSI 705a, Nineteenth-Century Theory and Aesthetics Patrick McCreless
MUSI 814a, Directed Studies in the History of Music
MUSI 814b, Directed Studies in the History of Music
MUSI 815a, Sources for the Study of Mozart Craig Wright
MUSI 820b, Cavalli Operas Ellen Rosand
MUSI 841b, Opera as Multimedia: Work, Performance, Production Gundula Kreuzer
MUSI 845b, Methodological Issues in Music History and Analysis James Hepokoski
MUSI 909b, Art of Fugues Daniel Harrison
MUSI 912b, Music Theory and Phenomenology Brian Kane
MUSI 914a, Directed Studies in the Theory of Music
MUSI 914b, Directed Studies in the Theory of Music
MUSI 925a, Ethnographic Sound Recording Michael Veal
MUSI 928b, Music and Empire Sarah Weiss
MUSI 949a, Music of Elliott Carter Ève Poudrier
MUSI 952a, Metric States and Syntaxes Richard Cohn
MUSI 997b, Readings for Qualifying Examination Richard Cohn
MUSI 998a, Prospectus Workshop Richard Cohn
MUSI 999b, Dissertation Colloquium Richard Cohn
Performance Activities
Musical Organizations
The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale
All students of orchestral instruments are required to participate in the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale. The Philharmonia presents a series of concerts each season in Woolsey Hall and appears regularly in New York’s major concert halls. In 2006–2007 the orchestra performed in both Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and the Shubert Theater in New Haven. On May 4, 2008 the orchestra made its first annual appearance in Stern Auditorium as part of the Yale at Carnegie series. The winners of the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition perform as soloists with the orchestra, along with faculty members and other well-known artists. The Philharmonia also performs one concert each season of new works by Yale composers on the New Music New Haven series. In recognition of its adventurous programming, the Philharmonia has received two ASCAP awards.
The Philharmonia’s beginnings can be traced to 1894, when an orchestra was organized under the leadership of the School’s first dean, Horatio Parker. Guest conductors who have worked with the orchestra over the years include Pierre Boulez, Anshel Brusilow, Aaron Copland, David Effron, Szymon Goldberg, Sidney Harth, Danny Kaye, Anatoly Levin, Andrew Litton, Loren Maazel, Kurt Masur, John Mauceri, Eugene Ormandy, Krzysztof Penderecki, Robert Shaw, Sir George Solti, William Steinberg, Leopold Stokowski, Georg Tintner, and Samuel Wong. Guest soloists have included Hermann Baumann, horn, Maureen Forrester, contralto, Richard Goode, piano, Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin, Ivo Pogorelich, piano, Tony Randall, narrator, Shauna Rolston, cello, Mstislav Rostropovich, cello, Jian Wang, cello, and André Watts, piano.
The Philharmonia’s current music director is Shinik Hahm, who was appointed to the post in 2004 after the retirement of Lawrence Leighton Smith.
New Music New Haven
New Music New Haven presents new and recent compositions by faculty, students, and guest composers. Performers are students in the School and often include guest artists as well. The programs often feature music by a member of the composition faculty or by a renowned guest composer. An important part of the series is a program of new works for orchestra by Yale composers performed by the full Philharmonia Orchestra in Woolsey Hall.
Yale Opera
Under the artistic direction of Doris Yarick-Cross, the Yale voice and opera students perform in full-scale, mainstage productions as well as in programs of scenes. Performances during the 2006–2007 academic year were directed by acclaimed directors Vera Calabria, Pier Francesco Maestrini, and Marc Verzatt. Recent productions, including La Bohème, Così fan tutte, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Faust, Falstaff, La Traviata, Albert Herring, Les contes d’Hoffmann, and Il barbiere di Siviglia, were presented at New Haven’s historic Shubert Performing Arts Center, while more intimate productions of Orpheus in the Underworld, Trouble in Tahiti, Le disavventure teatrali, Kat’a Kabanova, Le Médecin malgré lui, The Triumph of Honor, La tragédie de Carmen, The Coronation of Poppea, The Rape of Lucretia, Iolanta, The Kaiser of Atlantis, La Cenerentola, The Long Christmas Dinner, Bluebeard’s Castle, L’Heure espagnole, L’Enfant et les sortilèges, and Riders to the Sea were given in Morse Recital Hall or Battell Chapel. In December of 1995, Yale Opera made its critically acclaimed debut in New York with Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, a semi-staged production that was given in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.
Each year, Yale Opera offers a series of public vocal master classes. In recent years, Jennifer Larmore, Alan Held, Elly Ameling, Sherrill Milnes, Gabriella Tucci, Marilyn Horne, Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Scotto, and Régine Crespin have conducted master classes in Morse Recital Hall.
The Yale Symphony Orchestra
The Yale Symphony Orchestra consists primarily of undergraduates, although membership is open to interested and qualified graduate or professional students, faculty, and staff. This full concert orchestra, under the direction of its music director, Toshiyuki Shimada, performs an average of seven concerts annually in Woolsey Hall and elsewhere.
The orchestra often shares the stage with internationally recognized artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Frederica von Stade, David Shifrin, Emanuel Ax, and Dawn Upshaw, as well as introducing undergraduate winners of the annual William Waite Concerto Competition. The Yale Symphony has presented national and world premieres of numerous works, including the European premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass in 1973. The orchestra performed in Carnegie Hall in March of 1993, and in December of the same year recorded Mahler’s monumental Ninth Symphony on compact disc. A recording of Ives’s Symphony No. 2 and Bernstein’s On the Town Dances was made in 1995. In 1997 the Symphony performed Mozart’s Requiem at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and in 2001 performed Verdi’s Requiem in Carnegie Hall.
The Yale Symphony has toured France, central Europe, Great Britain, Portugal, and Korea.
The Yale Bands
The University Bands include a concert band of sixty-five select musicians, a jazz ensemble in the form of a standard eighteen-piece big band, and a marching band of approximately 100–150 students that performs at sports events throughout the year. Although the constituency of the Yale Bands is predominantly undergraduate, wind, brass, and percussion instrument majors are eligible for membership and often have the opportunity to gain conducting experience by assisting the director.
In addition to University functions, the Concert Band and its component ensembles perform locally in Woolsey Hall and Morse Recital Hall. The Concert Band has toured Europe sixteen times and performed for the Japanese Band Association in Tokyo. American tours have featured concerts at the Kennedy Center, the National Building Museum, the Miami Ives Festival, Symphony Space, and Carnegie Hall. In 1993 the Concert Band welcomed Walter Cronkite as guest narrator and in 1994 attended the commemorative ceremonies surrounding the fiftieth anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy, France, where the band presented its reenactment of Glenn Miller’s 1943 radio broadcast from Woolsey Hall. Recently the Concert Band completed tours of Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Brazil, and presented the first concert by a Yale ensemble on the continent of Africa (Ceuta).
The Yale Jazz Ensemble performs on and off campus and has appeared in London’s finest jazz club, Ronnie Scott’s, and twice with the Mel Lewis Band in New York City’s Village Vanguard.
The Yale Glee Club
Yale’s oldest musical organization and principal undergraduate chorus, the Glee Club began as a group of thirteen men from the class of 1863 and has evolved today into a chorus of eighty women and men from Yale. The ensemble performs a broad range of choral repertoire from the sixteenth century to the present, frequently commissioning new choral works and performing several major works with orchestra each year. One of the world’s most traveled collegiate choruses, the Glee Club tours extensively each year and has appeared on six continents in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls.
Membership in the Glee Club is open to all Yale students by audition, primarily to undergraduates. Members of the Glee Club may also audition for the Glee Club Chamber Singers, a select ensemble of sixteen to twenty singers. Qualified students in the School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music often have the opportunity to assist the director with these organizations.
The Yale Camerata
Founded in 1985 by its conductor, Marguerite L. Brooks, the Yale Camerata is a vocal ensemble sponsored by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. The group’s approximately sixty singers are Yale graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, staff, and experienced singers from the New Haven community. The Camerata performs a widely varied spectrum of choral literature, with a special commitment to choral music of our time. The Camerata has collaborated with the Yale Glee Club, Yale Philharmonia, Yale Symphony, Yale Band, Yale Chamber Players, Yale Collegium Musicum, the New Haven Chorale, and the symphony orchestras of Hartford, New Haven, and Norwalk. The ensemble has also performed for Yale Music Spectrum and New Music New Haven. The chamber choir of the Yale Camerata has performed at the Yale Center for British Art and at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. In 1999 they traveled to Germany to perform the Berlioz Requiem with choirs from Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Israel, Great Britain and the Ukraine and, in 2001, spent a week in residence at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. The Camerata has been heard on Connecticut Public Radio and national broadcasts of National Public Radio’s program “Performance Today.” Guest conductors have included Robert Shaw, Jaap Schröder, George Guest, Sir David Willcocks, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Helmuth Rilling. With the Institute of Sacred Music, the Camerata has commissioned and premiered works of Martin Bresnick, Daniel Kellogg, Stephen Paulus, Daniel Pinkham, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, among others. The chorus has sung first performances of works by many composers including Francine Trester, Julia Wolfe, and Kathryn Alexander.
Yale Schola Cantorum
The Yale Schola Cantorum, founded in 2003, is a twenty-four-voice chamber choir, open to graduate and undergraduate students, specializing in music before 1750 and from the last hundred years, supported by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music with the School of Music. Simon Carrington is the group’s founder and conductor. In addition to performing regularly in New Haven, New York, and Boston, the Schola Cantorum records and tours nationally and internationally. The group’s live recording on CD with Robert Mealy and Yale Collegium Musicum of Heinrich Biber’s 1693 Vesperae longiores ac breviores has received international acclaim from the early music press. In 2008 its live recording of the 1725 version of Bach’s St. John Passion was released on the Gothic label. The choir has performed at national choral conventions in San Antonio and Miami, and under guest conductors Helmuth Rilling, Stephen Layton, Sir David Willcocks, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Sir Neville Marriner. The choir has toured in Hungary and southwest France, and in 2009 will visit China and South Korea. Repertoire to date includes works by Josquin des Pres, Orlando di Lasso, Adrian Willaert, William Byrd, Sofia Gubaidulina, Tallis, Schütz, Monteverdi, Bach, Britten, Charpentier, Stravinsky, Dallapiccola, Feldman, Rautavaara, MacMillan, O’Regan, and Yale faculty composers Ezra Laderman, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Joan Panetti.
The Battell Chapel Choir
The Battell Chapel Choir, conducted by a second- or third-year student, is open to all Yale students. The choir sings for Sunday services in the University Chapel during term time and offers two or three additional concerts. Members are chosen by audition and paid for singing in the choir.
The Marquand Chapel Choir
The Marquand Chapel Choir, conducted by a second- or third-year student, sings twice a week for services in the Divinity School Chapel as well as for two additional services during the year. Members of the choir, chosen by audition, receive credit for participation; section leaders may opt for payment instead of credit.
Concerts and Recitals
The Chamber Music Society at Yale
The Chamber Music Society at Yale, sponsored by the School of Music and under the direction of Vincent Oneppo, presents its ninety-second season of Sprague Hall subscription concerts in 2008–2009. Continuing the tradition of presenting the finest chamber music ensembles from around the world, the season features concerts by the Tokyo, Takács, and Daedalus string quartets, Trio Con Brio Copenhagen, and the Nash Ensemble from London. The series will also include two “bonus” concerts, one of chamber music by Olivier Messiaen, in commemoration of the centenary of the composer’s birth, and the other program by winners of the School’s Chamber Music Competition. Although tickets are required, they are available free to students of the School of Music.
The Duke Ellington Fellowship Series
The Duke Ellington Fellowship, directed by Willie Ruff, offers concerts by prominent jazz musicians each year. Recent seasons have featured Jabane, the Frank Wess Quintet, Elvin Jones, the Randy Weston Quintet, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band with Jon Faddis, Dave Brubeck, Dick Hyman, Barry Harris, Kenny Burrell, William Warfield, Clark Terry, and “The Whole Drum Truth,” a concert by drummers Albert “Tootie” Heath, Ben Riley, Ed Thigpen, and Jackie Williams. In 2007–2008, guest artists were clarinetist and saxophonist Eddie Daniels and saxophonist Joshua Redman. The Mitchell-Ruff Duo, with Professor Ruff on horn and bass and with Dwike Mitchell on piano, appears frequently on the series, often with guest artists. Visiting performers often present free concerts and master classes for children in addition to concerts for general audiences.
The Horowitz Piano Series at Yale
Directed by Boris Berman, this series of piano recitals was established in 2000 and dedicated to the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz, whose musical archive resides at Yale. In addition to recitals by the Yale piano faculty, there are concerts and public master classes by distinguished guests each year. In past seasons, these guest artists included Severin von Eckardstein, Yefim Bronfman, Garrick Ohlsson, Alexei Lubimov, Emanuel Ax, Tigran Alikhanov, Radu Lupu, Ruth Laredo, Mischa Dichter, and Fou Ts’ong. The upcoming season features recitals by guest artists Emanuel Ax and Pierre Reach, a program of twentieth-century music for piano duet, and recitals by faculty artists Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, Wei-Yi Yang, and Boris Berman. In addition, guest artist Malcolm Bilson will play the inaugural recital on Yale’s new fortepiano, constructed by Roger Regier.
Yale at Carnegie
In 2007–2008 the School of Music inaugurated the Yale at Carnegie concert series with five diverse programs in New York’s most prestigious concert venue. The first program of chamber music in Zankel Hall featured faculty artists the Tokyo Quartet, Claude Frank, and the Alianza Quartet, a fellowship ensemble in residence at the School. The second showcased music for winds with piano and strings performed by nine faculty artists, current students, and the New York-based alumni quintet Sospiro Winds. The first Weill Recital Hall program was dedicated to the songs of Charles Ives, under the direction of Doris Cross, featuring alumni and student singers with faculty pianists; the second was dedicated to the music of faculty composer Ezra Laderman, featuring current students, faculty bassoonist Frank Morelli, and another alumni ensemble, the Biava Quartet. The final program, in Stern Auditorium, was a concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale under the direction of Shinik Hahm with faculty pianist Boris Berman in an all-Prokofiev program. Another five-concert series is planned for 2008–2009.
Great Organ Music at Yale
Great Organ Music at Yale is a series of events in Woolsey Hall and Dwight Memorial Chapel. Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music, the series includes programs by the faculty, visiting artists, and other noted performers. In 2008–2009, in addition to faculty recitals on the series, Dame Gillian Weir will perform on the Newberry Organ in Woolsey Hall and David Yearsly will play a recital on the Krigbaum Organ in Marquand Chapel.
Faculty Artist Series
Faculty members of the School, many of whom are internationally recognized concert artists, share the point of view that part of their commitment to music and to teaching in a university involves regular and frequent performance, on campus and elsewhere. There is no admission fee for these concerts.
Chamber Music, Ensembles, and Vocal Concerts
School of Music performers have ample opportunities to perform publicly as members of various ensembles and as soloists. Among the prominent departmental ensembles that perform regularly are the Yale Cellos, directed by Aldo Parisot, and the Yale Percussion Group, under Robert van Sice. In addition, a number of concert series are organized through the School’s chamber music program, directed by Wendy Sharp. These include the Lunchtime Chamber Music series, which takes place in Sprague Hall and at the Yale Center for British Art; Vista, a new series that features chamber music groups that provide commentary and program notes before the concert on the Web and during the concert between selections; and concerts of chamber music for guitar in combination with other instruments, under the direction of Benjamin Verdery. Yale Opera offers a series of “Liederabend,” in which a different language (German, Italian, French, or Russian) is featured in each program. Concerts by the Yale Voxtet, composed of singers in the early music, oratorio, and chamber ensemble program, feature thematic programs for vocal ensembles and soloists.
Collection of Musical Instruments Concert Series
A series of five concerts is presented annually by the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments. These concerts present a roster of internationally distinguished performers, including in recent seasons Ensemble Caprice, David Owen Norris with Sonnerie, violinist John Holloway, London Baroque, harpsichordist Corey Jamason, pianist Carsten Schmidt, cellist Anner Bylsma, ensemble project Ars Nova, violinist Jaap Schröder, and the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet, and frequently feature the use of restored instruments from the collection.
Other Local Performing Groups
These include Orchestra New England, the New Haven Civic Orchestra, the Yale Russian Chorus, the Slavic Chorus, the Bach Society, the Collegium Musicum, the New Haven Oratorio Chorus, and the New Haven Chorale.
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the nation’s fourth oldest orchestra, offers a series of concerts every year in Woolsey Hall and features leading artists as guest soloists.
Next: Faculty Profiles |
