Yale Schola Cantorum and ISM conducting students honored

Yale Schola Cantorum, the 24-voice chamber choir specializing in music from before 1750 and the last hundred years, now in its fourth season under the direction of Simon Carrington, was selected to perform in Miami at the national convention of American Choral Directors Association (March 7 – 10). The ensemble, which is supported by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and School of Music, performed three concerts and received three standing ovations from an audience of approximately 6000 choral conductors from all over the USA and around the world.

The program included works by Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599), Michael Tippett (1905-1988), JS Bach (1685-1750) and the world premiere of The Ecstasies Above by British composer Tarik O’Regan (b. 1978). The Ecstasies Above was commissioned for Yale Schola Cantorum and Simon Carrington by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music from the Robert Baker Commissioning Fund for Sacred Music. The work is scored for two solo vocal quartets, string quartet, and choir. The Hindemith Quartet of Yale–Owen Dalby, Wayne Lin, Yi-Ping Yang, and Hannah Collins–performed. The vocal soloists were drawn from the Yale graduate voice program in early music, oratorio, and chamber ensemble led by James Taylor; soloists included Abigail Haynes, Melanie Scafide Russell, Jay Carter, Sylvia Aiko Rider, Birger Radde, Steven Caldicott Wilson, Joshua Copeland, and Jason Steigerwalt.

Sooyeon Lee (above), a first year choral conducting student in the master’s program at the Institute of Sacred Music and School of Music, won first place in the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Conducting Competition, Graduate Division, at the convention. Steven Gearhart was also a semi-finalist in the competition. Former Yale choral conductors reaching the final stages of this competition include Anna Song (MM, '00), Joan Lee (AD, '01), Bradley Wells (MMA, '98; DMA, '06), and Kimberly Dunn (MM, '05).

Another choral conducting student, Dominick DiOrio (left), was the 2006 recipient of the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Prize for The Soul's Passing, which was also performed at the convention.