Yale Pr inceton Joint Glee Club
Concer t
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Tonight’s concert is a fundraiser for Kenya’s Art of Music Foundation, a non-profit organization that offers young people from under-resourced communities transformative experiences through music education and mentoring. The Yale Glee Club partnered with Art of Music during its 2023 tour to Kenya, and this year is supporting Awuor Onguru (YGC Class of 2024) in her work with the organization. Please donate generously!
i. Princeton Glee Club
Gabriel Crouch, conductor
The Tiglet Giles Swayne (b.1946)
Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? And what dread feet— Could fetch it from the furnace?
What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
—William Blake
Vox Dicentis Edward Naylor (1867–1934)
Madeleine Murnick ’26, soprano
Nicholas Hu ’26, tenor
Vox dicentis: Clama.
Et dixit: Quid clamabo?
Omnis caro foenum, Et omnis gloria eius quasi flos agri. Vere foenum est populus; Exsiccatum est foenum, et cecidit flos; Verbum autem Domini nostri manet in aeternum.
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.
Surely the people is grass; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Super montem excelsum ascende, Tu qui evangelizas Sion; Exalta in fortitudine vocem tuam, Qui evangelizas Ierusalem; Exalta, noli timere.
Dic civitatibus Iuda: Ecce Deus vester:
Ecce Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet, Et brachium eius dominabitur, Ecce merces eius cum eo, Et opus illius coram illo.
Sicut pastor gregem suum pascet; In brachio suo congregabit agnos, Et in sinu suo levabit; Foetas ipse portabit.
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
—Isaiah 40: 6-11
More to Live For Shruthi Rajasekar (b.1996)
The greatest key to human life is living it together, to tangle ourselves in the kind of chains that turn those many selves all into one, free to do anything that makes friendships stronger.
Hearts are not won in war, but by love and with a giving soul.
—from Baruch Spinoza’s Ethica, (1677), appendix of Part 4: xi and xii
Translated by C. Luke Soucy ’19
O Magnum Mysterium Joanna Marsh (b.1970)
Performed by Princeton Chamber Choir
O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum,
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Jesum Christum Alleluia!
There is an Old Belief
Performed by Princeton Chamber Choir
There is an old belief, That on some solemn shore, Beyond the sphere of grief Dear friends shall meet once more. Beyond the sphere of Time and Sin And Fate’s control, Serene in changeless prime Of body and of soul. That creed I fain would keep That hope I’ll ne’er forgo, Eternal be the sleep, If not to waken so.
Hymn to the Eternal Flame
Jenia Marquez ’25, conductor
that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in a manger! blessed is the virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord, Jesus Christ. Alleluia!
Hubert Parry (1848–1918)
—John Gibson Lockhart
Stephen Paulus (1949–2014)
Sophia Huellstrunk ’25, soprano
Claire Dignazio ’25, mezzo soprano
Every face is in you, Every voice, Every sorrow in you, Every pity, Every love, every memory, Woven into fire. Every breath is in you, Every cry, Every longing in you, Every singing, Every hope, every healing, Woven into fire. Every heart is in you, Every tongue, Every trembling in you, Every blessing, Every soul, every shining, Woven into fire
—Michael Dennis Browne
You Must Have that True Religion Traditional Spiritual
Chloe Webster ’25, soprano arr. Roland Carter (b.1942)
Oh, You must have that true religion, You must have your soul converted, You must have that true religion or you can’t cross there.
Where have you been, poor sinner?
Where have you been, I say?
I’ve been way down to the river of Jordan. No, you can’t cross there.
Where have you been, poor mourner?
Where have you been, I say?
I’ve been way down to the river of Jordan. No, you can’t cross there.
Where have you been, good Christian?
Where have you been so long?
I’ve been way down in the valley for to pray, and I ain’t done praying yet.
Myfanwy Joseph Parry (1841–1903)
Paham mae dicter, O Myfanwy, Yn llenwi’th lygaid duon di?
A’th ruddiau tirion, O Myfanwy, Heb wrido wrth fy ngweled i?
Pa le mae’r wên oedd ar dy wefus
Fu’n cynneu cariad ffyddlon ffôl?
Pa le mae sain dy eiriau melus, Fu’n denu nghalon ar dy ôl?
Why so the anger, Oh Myfanwy,
That fill your dark eyes
Your gentle cheeks, Oh Myfanwy, No longer blush beholding me?
Where now the smile upon your lips That lit my foolish faithful love? Where now the sound of your sweet words, That drew my heart to follow you?
—Richard Davies
I’m a Train arr. Peter Knight (1917–1985)
Princeton Football Medley arr. Walter Nollner and Drew Fornarola ’06
Jenia Marqiuez ’25, conductor
Yuri Lee ’27 and Otto Trueman ’27, piano intermission
Yale Glee Club
Jeffrey Douma, conductor
Os justi meditabitur sapientiam, et lingua ejus loquetur judicium. Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius: et non supplantabuntur gressus ejus. Alleluia.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
And his tongue speaks what is just. The law of his God is in his heart; And his steps will not be impeded. Alleluia.
—Psalm 37: 30-31
Insecurity and uncertainty manifest often and in varied forms. Yet, returning to the known, the certain, the universal, yields unparalleled serenity. An indescribable inner peace. 19th-century Austrian composer Anton Bruckner’s sacred motet Os Justi was a pinnacle of my high school choir experience. My appreciation was further accentuated in knowledge that Bruckner, too, was a second tenor, having sung as a choirboy at the Sankt Florian monastery. Arriving on campus as a firstyear student, I held conflicting emotions. I took delight in the new community and the novel opportunities while also yearning for a taste of familiarity. When the Yale Glee Club rehearsed Os Justi on September 4th, 2024, the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth, I was touched, with recollections—and with an epiphany. Despite the transitions encountered in any journey, embracing one’s foundational values— treasured within one’s heart (corde)—as the compass affords remarkable tranquility. These values glimmer in the magnificent juxtaposition between softness and tender devotion (e.g., lex dei “the law of God”) with assuredness and glory (e.g., loquetur judicium “speaks what is just”). For these attributes directing the human spirit, sapientiam “wisdom”, judicium, and lex dei, where do they find sanctuary in human beings? “In the heart.” In corde. The repetition of in corde towards the motet’s conclusion underscores the aforementioned values’ significance to one’s heart. In essence, the one whose corde honors sapientiam, judicium, and lex dei, “shall never be impeded in one’s steps” (et non supplantabuntur gressus ejus). This timeless message, which will live well beyond another two hundred years, reminded me on September 4th that uncertainty is ephemeral when the heart is certain. Os Justi is a concise composition, with Bruckner even being asked Ist’s der ganze Text? “Is this the whole text?” But the experience it affords, one of pondering, profound reflection, and newfound certainty, takes the center stage in the listener’s repository of memories. In our times of need, to dispel insecurity and uncertainty, Os Justi shines as a beacon, illuminating the path for our steps forward. Prithvi Narayanan
Sixty-Seventh Psalm
Ava Dadvand, conductor
Charles Ives (1874-1954)
God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
—Psalm 67
This year we celebrate the 150th birthday of Charles Ives, an alumnus of the Yale Glee Club and one of the earliest composers in the modernist movement. An insurance man by trade, Ives did not need to rely on the success of his compositions for money. With this ability to compose more freely, Ives introduced to church music the trademark dissonance of modernism. In his “Sixty-Seventh Psalm,” Ives experiments with polytonality: throughout the piece, the sopranos and altos sing in a different key from the tenors and basses. As major and minor chords clash, the listener never experiences true resolution, and must find solace in discord. In my role as conductor, I have enjoyed a front-row seat to this tremendous work of art, and I hope our performance fills you with the same sense of awe that I have felt in every rehearsal with the Glee Club. —Ava Dadvand
A Prayer
O Lord, the hard-won miles
Have worn my stumbling feet: Oh, soothe me with thy smiles, And make my life complete.
The thorns were thick and keen Where’er I trembling trod; The way was long between My wounded feet and God. Where healing waters flow Do thou my footsteps lead. My heart is aching so; Thy gracious balm I need
—Paul Laurence Dunbar
Ken Burton (b.1970)
Born the free son of two formerly enslaved Black Americans, celebrated poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) existed in a liminal space—constantly oscillating between the pain of his people’s dark past and the hope of a new day begun. It’s fitting, then, that this setting of A Prayer by composer Ken Burton (b. 1970) pulls from several genres, transforms in tone and key, and brims with soulful, yet haunting intensity to do justice to Dunbar’s devastating lyrics. The piece begins with a long-suffering motif that changes color as the poem evolves, moving from a contemplative prayer to an earnest entreaty by the end. Each note, laden with the weight of generations, breathes a longing that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. As the subject matter of the poem turns retrospective in the second verse, a sonic amplification gestures towards a shift in speaker, from the singular, free Dunbar to the collective voice of his enslaved parents and ancestors; a notion most highlighted by the vocal inflection on the word “Trembling.” The third verse resolves the tension between the first two with the introduction of a new key and healing water, vocally represented by rippling alto and bass phrases that underlay the resolute forward movement of the other voice parts. In the end, Burton adds a single word to Dunbar’s poem—a final “Amen”—that punctuates and deepens the hopeful ending of this piece, as if the prayer has not only been spoken, but answered. —Andrew Boanoh ’27
Break Silence
World Premiere can we break silence without breaking each other can we break like waves of water waves of light waves of love soft and bright with life
—Julie Flanders
Carlos Cordero (b.1992)
I write music that allows us to explore how to be kinder with each other and with this commission I had the opportunity to dream a reality where we are vulnerable, honest, and embracing of each other’s nuances. Through Julie’s poetry, I saw possibility and love. Break Silence might feel like a strong demand at times,
but my hope is that we can sit down and talk about how we can hold each other up, not tear ourselves apart. I love thinking about phrases within phrases and when writing Break Silence I thought a lot about the following inner phrases:
Can We Break?
Can we break silence without breaking each other?
Can we break without breaking each other?
I took this exploration further and sought the statement out of the question: We Can. —Carlos Cordero
Nuestra Mirada Micaela Carballo (b.1988) World Premiere Winner, 2024 Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition
Nuestra mirada que no es nueva sino que nunca antes había sido compartida.
Pensar escribir Crear compartir
Nuestra mirada.
No es más que otra forma de ver y crear un nuevo mundo.
Nuestra mirada que no es nueva sino que nunca antes había sido compartida.
Sospechosos, testigos, de la mujer silenciaron su voz.
Nuestra mirada que no es nueva sino que nunca antes había sido compartida.
Our view Our view is not new but has never been shared before. Think, Write, Create, Share, our view.
It is nothing more than another way of seeing and creating a new world.
Our view is not new but has never been shared before. Suspects, witnesses, of the woman silenced her voice.
Our view is not new but has never been shared before.
Nuestra mirada is a setting for choir of an original Spanish poem by Argentinian writer and film director Sabrina Odoguardio. It is inspired by an interview with two women artists: Victoria Ocampo and Maria Luisa Bemberg, and is about the view of women on the arts, history, life, that never was shared before because suspects, witnesses of women, silenced her voice. Women’s voices are not new, but they are being heard for the first time. There is another story, which was never told, and has a woman’s perspective. —Micaela Carballo
iii.
Yale Glee Club Chamber Singers
Alex Whittington, conductor
O Vos Omnes Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)
O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte:
Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.
Attendite, universi populi, et videte dolorem meum.
Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.
O all you who walk by on the road, pay attention and see: if there be any sorrow like my sorrow. Pay attention, all people, and look at my sorrow: if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.
—Responsory for Matins of Holy Saturday
iv.
Yale Glee Club
Jeffrey Douma, conductor
Bayanihan Arianne Abela
Alex Whittington, conductor
Sama sama tayo
Sa fiesta at trabaho
Kaibigan o pamilya
Siguradong masaya
tara na tara na
Bayanihan
Sa hirap at ginhawa
Dahan dahan ang paglipat
Kayang kaya ang pagbuhat
Sandali lang, tapos na
Balita ko may lilipat
Tawagin ang lahat
Let’s all be together
In celebration or at work
Friend or family
It surely will be fun
Come on, come on
Bayanihan
In hardship or in good times
Slowly we make the move
Carrying is so easy
In a moment we are done
I heard that someone’s moving Call everyone to come
Ang bayan ay tutulong
Sa paglipat at angat
Bayanihan, Bayanihan
Salu-salo
Magtulungan
Magsaya
Kain na
sayaw na
sama na
halika na
salamat
walang anuman
Bayanihan
The community will help us
With the lifting and the move
Bayanihan, Bayanihan
Get together
Help one another
Celebrate and have fun
Eat already
Dance already
Join already
Come here already
Thank you
No problem!
Bayanihan
—Barbara Abela
Bayanihan (buy-uh-nee-hun) is derived from the Filipino word “bayan” meaning nation, town, or country. This term refers to a Filipino tradition where people in a town or community are asked to help a relocating family. The relocation is not just belongings but the actual transfer of the house to a new location. To thank people, the family throws a party with food and dancing. Today bayanihan spirit means helping others in need without expecting anything in return.
I included in the piece a section reminiscent of the tinkiling, a traditional Filipino dance with bamboo sticks. The dance is always in three, with emphasis on beats 2 and 3. Dancers must be comfortable with the choreography to avoid hurting their feet. I have used the words “tara na” (let’s go/come on) as nonsense dancelike syllables. My hope is that additional percussion can be added. Using coconut shells (baos) would be a great addition to the piece if possible. —Arianne Abela
Leron, Leron Sinta Traditional Filipino Folk Song
David Liebowitz, conductor arr. Saunder Choi
Leron, Leron sinta, buko ng papaya, dala-dala’y buslo, sisidlan ng bunga. Pagdating sa dulo’y, nabali ang sanga.
Leron, Leron my dear, blossoms of the papaya tree, with a bamboo basket, he’d gather some fruits. But when he reached the top (of the tree), the branch broke.
Kapos kapalaran, humanap ng iba.
Gumising ka, neneng; tayo’y manampalok.
Dalhin mo ang buslong, sisidlan ng hinog.
Pagdating sa dulo’y, lalamba-lambayog.
Kumapit ka, neneng, baka ka mahulog.
Oh, what a trick of fate, he had to search for another. Wake up, neneng; let’s pick some tamarind fruits. Take the bamboo baskets, to put the ripe ones in. Upon reaching the top (of the tree), the branches swayed heavily. Hold on tight, neneng, as you might fall.
Originally sung by workers as they harvested fruits, “Leron, Leron Sinta,” is a folk song from the Tagalog region of the Philippines. The title translates from Tagalog to “My Dear, Little Leron.” This refined arrangement is by Saunder Choi, a Filipino-Chinese composer and choral artist who holds degrees from De La Salle University-Manilla, Berklee College of Music, and USC. On our spring tour to the Philippines, the Glee Club is collaborating both with Choi’s alma mater, De La Salle University, and with the Philippine Madrigal Singers, for whom Choi has composed. To me, the song’s quick tempo, catchy tune, and distinctive time signatures evoke a whimsical scene of picking papayas on a windy day; the lines “Sisidlan ng bunga pagdating sa dulo’y, nabali ang sanga,” mean, “He’d gather some fruits, but when he reached the top (of the tree), the branch broke.” My favorite moment of the song is the smooth section near the end of the piece. With its warm, lush harmonies, this section sounds like the harvested papayas taste! —Creed Gardiner
v.
Yale Glee Club
The Power in Our Voices
Omeno Abutu ’27 World Premiere Winner, 2024 Fenno Heath Award
There is power in our voices
There is power in the song
Healing communion
There is power in our voices
And with our song, may hearts draw nigh And bonds grow strong as years go by
For love, I sing And joy, I sing
And peace, I sing, I sing!
There is power in our voices
There is power in the song
Goodness and peace
Healing communion
There is power in the song!
“Power in Our Voices” is a piece written for the Yale Glee Club as a way to reflect on what singing in choirs means to me. Firstly, voices have the power to bring people together, either to witness the song or to take part in it. Perhaps this is because choirs rely on the hallmarks of a good community, the ability to relate with one another harmoniously and to respect each other in dissonance, to be on the same page and to respectfully disagree. Maybe this is why choirs naturally foster community. Further, the various levels of connection in singing—harmonically through counterpoint, physically in a space, and spiritually through shared purpose —make it an endlessly rewarding, communal pursuit.
Growing up, my mother always told me that when we sing, we pray twice, so I think there is no better way to express my prayer for the Yale Glee Club than through song. My first wish is that each member feels empowered as an individual. I like comparing a choir conductor to an inverted glass prism, one that is fed the rainbow and spits out a single stream of white light. While the sound that reaches the audience is beautiful, pure, and refined, it is nothing without the unique color that each member brings. A choir draws its strength from the diversity of voices within it, and that individuality is worth celebrating.
My last wish is that our song can inspire goodness, that the magic of our voices can encourage peace, unity, and healing in this world rife with bitter division. It is the concept of a choir, a place where each person has an important voice and stands shoulder to shoulder with other humans, that inspires this piece.
—Omeno Abutu
Eli Yale Traditional Student Song
Anya AitSahlia ’25, president, and Ines Gilles ’25, manager, soloists
Yale Football Medley Various arr. Heath
Old Nassau Karl Langlotz arr. Walter Nollner (1922–2000)
Tune every heart and every voice, Bid every care withdraw; Let all with one accord rejoice, In praise of Old Nassau. In praise of Old Nassau we sing, Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Our hearts will give, while we shall live, Three cheers for Old Nassau.
Bright College Years
Bright College years, with pleasure rife, the shortest, gladdest years of life; How swiftly are ye gliding by!
Oh, why doth time so quickly fly?
The seasons come, the seasons go, the earth is green or white with snow, But time and change shall naught avail, to break the friendships formed at Yale.
In after years, should troubles rise, to cloud the blue of sunny skies, How bright will seem, through mem’ry’s haze, those happy, golden, bygone days!
Oh, let us strive that ever we, may let these words our watch-cry be, Where’er upon life’s sea we sail: «For God, for Country and for Yale!»
Carl Wilhelm arr. Robert Bonds ’71
princeton glee club
Gabriel Crouch, director
Mike McCormick, choral specialist
soprano i
Tuba Ahmed ’26
Anna Ferris ’26
Ada Frederick ’27
Caitlin Hodge ’27
Sophia Huellstrunk ’25
Laurel Jarecki ’27
Annie Kim ’26
Lena Molyneux ’25
Madeleine Murnick ’26
Samantha Sasaki gs
Claire Shin ’25
Chloe Webster ’25
soprano ii
Madison Anderson ’27
Ellie Choi ’28
Sophia Girand ’25
Anna-Maria Elisabeth Glueck gs
Yujia Huang
Eleanor Monroe ’25
Tal Naider ’28
Riya Pawar ’28
Sophia Root ’26
Sasha Villefranche ’26
Sabrina Warner ’28
alto i
Claire Dignazio ’25
Kennedy Dixon gs
Maya Drame ’28
Thalia Eitel-Porter ’25
Lynn Hirose gs
Daeun Kim ’28
Sarah Lekaj ’25
Jenia Marquez ’25
Lucy McKnight gs
Chloe Ng ’27
Natalie Oh ’26
Jennifer Shi ’25
Alison Silldorff ’25
Piper Winkler gs
alto ii
Karlo Andrei V Antalan ’25
Isabella Bustos ’27
Katya Grygorenko ’27
Seryn Kim ’27
Bonnie Ko gs
Lale Kurtulush ’27
Yuri Lee ’27
Sophie Miller ’27
Montague Oxman ’28
Devanna Ritchie ’25
Vanessa Rivkin ’25
Allison Rodrigues ’26
Jennifer Yan ’27
tenor i
Braiden Aaronson ’25
Laurie Drayton ’26
Akash Jim ’26
Michael McCormick
Gary Sun ’26
Arturo Manuel Cruz Urrutia ’27
Morgan Taylor ’27
William Yang ’25
Yuyu Yasuda ’25
Hans Yu gs
tenor ii
Michael Cheng ’25
Jordan Chi ’28
David Getz ’28
Nicholas Hu ’26
Ben Kim ’25
Jake Miller ’28
Khoa Sands ’26
Jonathan Schiff ’28
Stanley Stoutamire, Jr. ’27
Joshua Warner ’26
bass i
Misha Bilokur ’25
Evan Chandran ’25
Harold Choi ’28
Raphael Delgado ’28
Andy Eskenazi ’28
Zach Gardner ’26
Henry Hsiao ’26
Romit Kundagrami ’26
Josef Lawrence gs
Alexander Margulis ’28
Max Mathias ’28
Jacob Neis gs
Kalu Obasi ’25
Miguel Palacios ’28
Blesson Ren ’28
Timmy Seiferth ’26
Evan Shidler ’27
Otto Trueman ’27
Theo Wells-Spackman ’25
Zach Williamson ’26
Shravan Venkat ’27
bass ii
Charlie Ambach ’26
Alex Anderson ’28
Thomas Buckley ’26
Evan Cantwell ’27
Paul Frazel pd
Henry Laufenberg ’26
Robert Mohan ’26
Rupert Peacock ’24
Ilia Curto Pelle ’22 gs
Liam Silverberg ’28
Arthur Yang ’28
soprano
Madison Anderson ’27
Talia Czuchlewski ’26
Lucia Denk gs
Elizabeth Dentzer gs
Sophia Girand ’25
Rachel Glodo gs
Anna-Maria Glueck gs
Sophia Huellstrunk ’25
Maddy Kushan gs
Madeleine Murnick ’26
Brittany Roberts gs
Sara Shiff ’25
alto
Claire Dignazio ’25
Kennedy Dixon gs
Laurie Drayton ’26
Yujia Huang
Yuri Lee ’27
Jenia Marquez ’25
Lucy McKnight gs
Anastasia Shmytova gs
Alison Silldorff ’25
Emma Simmons gs
chamber choir
tenor
Braiden Aaronson ’25
Jack Amen ’25
Logan Emmert ’25
Yehyun Hong ’28
Mike McCormick
Arturo Cruz Urrutia ’27
William Yang ’25
Hunter York gs
bass
Alex Anderson ’28
Simeon Brown gs
Harold Choi ’28
Henry Hsiao ’26
Jacob Neis gs
Rupert Peacock ’24
Blesson Ren ’28
Ben Rymer gs
Shravan Venkat ’28
Zach Williamson ’26
Arthur Yang ’28
princeton university glee club officer board
President: Jenia Marquez ’25
Manager: Robert Mohan ’26
Concert Manager: Tuba Ahmed ’26
Tour Managers: Karlo Andrei Antalan ’25 & Allison Rodrigues ’26
Publicity Chairs: Madison Anderson ’27 & Yuri Lee ’27
Social Chairs: Sophia Girand ’25 & Charlie Ambach ’26
Technology Chair: Sophie Miller ’27
Alumni Liaison: Caitlin Hodge ’27
DEI Liaison: Sasha Villefranche ’26
Archivist: Evan Shidler ’27
history
Ulysses S. Grant was President and Verdi’s Requiem had just premiered when the Princeton University Glee Club was founded by Andrew Fleming West, the first Dean of the Graduate College, in 1874. Since that time, the ensemble has established itself as the largest choral body on Princeton’s campus, and has distinguished itself both nationally and overseas. Nowadays the Glee Club performs frequently on Princeton’s campus, enjoying the wonderful acoustic and aesthetic of Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall. In the last few years performances have included Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passions and Mass in B Minor, Mozart’s Requiem, MacMillan’s Seven Last Words and Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered. In 2014 the Glee Club was the first collegiate choir to perform Wynton Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass, and in 2018 gave the United States premiere of John Tavener’s Total Eclipse, alongside the world premiere of Shruthi Rajasekar’s Gaanam. The performing arts series “Glee Club Presents” was founded in 2014 to bring professional vocal and choral artists to Princeton to work with and perform alongside the Glee Club. Since then the Glee Club has shared the Richardson stage with artists of the caliber of Tenebrae, Roomful of Teeth and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The choir embraces a vast array of repertoire, from Renaissance motets and madrigals, Romantic partsongs, and 21st century choral commissions to the more traditional Glee Club fare of folk music and college songs. The spectrum of Glee Club members is every bit as broad as its repertoire: undergraduates and graduate students, scientists and poets, philosophers and economists—all walks of academic life represented in students from all over the world, knit together by a simple belief in the joy of singing together.
bios
The Chamber Choir at Princeton is the smaller sibling of the Princeton University Glee Club, and forms part of a large network of choral and vocal groups on our campus which includes the Glee Club, Chapel Choir, Playhouse Choir (for theatrically-inclined singers), a Vocal Consort Certificate program (for students interested in one-to-a-part singing) and as many as fifteen a cappella groups. Led by Gabriel Crouch since 2010, the choir has grown significantly in size and in ambition and has distinguished itself in some notable collaborations and invited performances: The complete motets of JS Bach with the Leipzig vocal ensemble Calmus in 2014, performed in both Princeton and Leipzig; headline performances for the conference of the American Handel Society of Dixit Dominus and a new German language edition of Messiah in 2017; the forgotten masterpiece Black
Christ of the Andes by Mary Lou Williams with pianist Cyrus Chestnut; and in 2022, a performance of Francis Poulenc’s epic cantata Figure Humaine, which earned the choir a place in the closing concert of the 2023 National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) in Atlanta, performing the same work.
Gabriel Crouch is Director of Choral Activities and Professor of the Practice in Music at Princeton University. He began his musical career as an eight-year-old in the choir of Westminster Abbey, where his solo credits included a Royal Wedding, and performances which placed him on the solo stage with Jessye Norman and Sir Laurence Olivier. After completing a choral scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was offered a place in the renowned a cappella group The King’s Singers in 1996. In the next eight years, he made a dozen recordings on the BMG label (including a Grammy nomination), and gave more than 900 performances in almost every major concert venue in the world. Since moving to the USA in 2005, he has built an international profile as a conductor and director, with recent engagements in Indonesia, Hawaii and Australia as well as Europe and the continental United States. In 2008 he was appointed musical director of the British early music ensemble Gallicantus, with whom he has released six recordings under the Signum label to rapturous reviews, garnering multiple Editor’s Choice awards in Gramophone magazine, Choir and Organ magazine and the Early Music Review, and, for the 2012 release “The Word Unspoken,” a place on BBC Radio’s CD Review list of the top nine classical releases of the year. His recording of Lagrime di San Pietro by Orlando di Lasso was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2014, and his follow-up recording, Sibylla (featuring music by Orlandus Lassus and Dmitri Tymoczko), was named “star recording” by Choir and Organ magazine in the summer of 2018. His most recent release is Mass for the Endangered, a new composition by Sarah Kirkland Snider released on the Nonesuch/ New Amsterdam labels, which has garnered high acclaim from The New York Times, Boston Globe, NPR’s “All Things Considered” and elsewhere.
yale glee club
163rd season
Jeffrey Douma, Music Director
T. Sean Maher, Operations and Production Manager
Alex Whittington, Assistant Conductor
David Liebowitz, Student Conductor
Ava Dadvand, Student Conductor
President: Anya AitSahlia
Manager: Ines Gilles
Archivists: Omeno Abutu, Angélique Wheeler
Stage managers: Ruthie Weinbaum, Gui Pereira, Ben Weiss
Alumni Coordinators: Seung Min Baik Kang, Kyle Thomas Ramos
Web Manager: Catharine Lee
Publicity Chairs: Sophia Groff, Sarah Sparling
Social Chairs: Catalina Ossmann, Elizabeth Wolfram
Community Engagement Officers: Lukas Koutsoukos, John Raskopf
Wardrobe Manager: Alliese Bonner
soprano 1
Tamara Bafi ’27 Economics and Cognitive Science
Joleen Bakalova ’28 Anthropology; Global Affairs
Alliese Bonner ’27 Music
Kinnia Cheuk ’26 English
Alex Hawley ’25 Statistics & Data Science
Erica Lu ’28 Economics; Film & Media Studies
Rhea McTiernan Huge ’27 Undeclared
Lila Schweinfurth ’25 Computer Science and Mathematics; Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Elizabeth Wolfram ’27 Mathematics and Philosophy; Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
soprano 2
Violet Barnum ’25 Music
Kylie Berg ’28 Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Senlee Dieme ’26 History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health
Inès Gilles ’25 Sociology
Sophia Groff ’25 English
Katie Gurney ’26 Mathematics
Aurelia Keberle ’27 Biomedical Engineering
Rose Kosciuszek ’27 Political Science
Catharine Lee ’27 Cognitive Science; Comparative Literature
Christina Logvynyuk ’25 Economics and East European Studies
Cayley Tolbert-Schwartz ’28 Applied Physics; Theater
Claire Zhong ’28 Cognitive Science
alto 1
Omeno Abutu ’27 Music
Anya AitSahlia ’25 Classics
Ziqi Cui ’27 Undeclared
Logan Gilbert ’28 Mathematics and Music
Mika Hiroi ’28 Undeclared
Alistair Lam ’27 Cognitive Science; Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Peighton Lotwis ’26 History; Music
Emily Patrick ’26 Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies with certificate in Education Studies
Sofia Sato ’28 Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Sarah Sparling ’25.5 Linguistics
Abigail Taylor ’25 English; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Angélique Wheeler ’26 History; Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
alto 2
Alexis Cruz ’28 Astrophysics
Tesse Okunseri ’25 Neuroscience
Catalina Ossmann ’27 Cognitive Science
Aryana Ramos-Vázquez ’26 Biomedical Engineering
Myla Toliver ’28 History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health
Hai Yen Tran ’26 Statistics and Data Science; Ethics, Politics, and Economics
Ruthie Weinbaum ’25 History
Thisbe Wu ’26 Art
Anna Zoltowski ’27 Classics
tenor 1
Matthew Chen ’27 Ethics, Politics and Economics; Sociology
Schandy Cordero Schlatter ’28 Environmental Engineering
Ayush Iyer ’26 Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; Economics
Jack Purdue ’25 Humanities
Bill Qian ’26 Computer Science
John Raskopf ’27 Music
Gbemiga Salu ’27 Applied Mathematics
Nate Stein ’28 Ethics, Politics, and Economics; Undecided
Alex Whittington mm ’25 Choral Conducting
tenor 2
Jonathan Akinniyi ’26 Political Science; History
Charles Calkins ’26 History
Andrew Jean-Charles ’27 Ethics, Politics, and Economics
David Liebowitz ’26 Architecture
Stephen Morris ’27 Political Science
Prithvi Vijay Narayanan ’28 Political Science
Jaden Nicita ’28 Theater and Performance Studies
Max Ondik ’28, Political Science and East Asian Studies
Ari Panagiotis Tsomokos ’27 Undeclared
Bobby Xiao ’25 Computer Science and Economics
Andrew Xu ’27 Computer Science and Mathematics
Vincent Zhen Tan ’25 Humanities
bass 1
Lukas Bacho ’25 Philosophy
Andrew P. Boanoh ’27 Political Science; Philosophy
Ava Dadvand ’25 Classics; Linguistics
Aviv Fetaya ’26 Computer Science; Music
Creed Gardiner ’26 American Studies
Cameron Gray-Lee ’27 Undeclared
Alexander Kingma ’28 Computer Science and Mathematics
Lukas Koutsoukos ’27 Ethics, Politics, and Economics
August Rivers ’28 Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
Jeffrey Yang ’28 Economics
bass 2
Seung Min Baik ’26, Economics; History
Benjamin Graham ’28 Statistics and Data Science
Sohum Kapadia ’25, Cognitive Science
Deven Kinney ’24 Global Affairs and History; ’25 Master’s in Public Policy
Joshua Li ’26, Global Affairs; Astrophysics
Kyle Thomas Ramos ’26 Political Science
Liam Richardson ’25 Statistics & Data Science
Evan Stein ’28 Undeclared
Lucas Vander Elst ’28 DS-Pre Med; Comparative Literature
Ben Weiss ’27 Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Benjamin Xu ’26 Computer Science and Mathematics
yale glee club
From its earliest days as a group of thirteen men from the Class of 1861 to its current incarnation as a 80-voice all-gender chorus, the Yale Glee Club, Yale’s principal undergraduate mixed chorus and oldest musical organization, has represented the best in collegiate choral music.
In recent seasons, the Glee Club’s performances have received rave reviews in the national press, from The New York Times (“One of the best collegiate singing ensembles, and one of the most adventurous … an exciting, beautifully sung concert at Carnegie Hall”) to The Washington Post (“Under the direction of Jeffrey Douma, the sopranos—indeed, all the voices—sang as one voice, with flawless intonation … their treacherous semitones and contrapuntal subtleties became otherworldly, transcendent even”).
The students who sing in the Yale Glee Club might be majors in music or biology, English or political science, philosophy or mathematics. They are drawn together by a love of singing and a common understanding that raising one’s voice with others to create something beautiful is one of the noblest human pursuits.
The Glee Club’s repertoire embraces a broad spectrum of music from the 16th century to the present, including motets, contemporary works, music from folk traditions throughout the world, and traditional Yale songs. Committed to the creation of new music, the Glee Club presents frequent premieres of newly commissioned works and sponsors two annual competitions for young composers. They have been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition, WQXR’s “The Choral Mix,” and BBC Radio 3’s “The Choir.”
Choral orchestral masterworks are also an important part of the Glee Club’s repertoire; recent performances include Verdi Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, Shaw Music in Common Time, Orff Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem, Bernstein Chichester Psalms, Britten War Requiem and Cantata Misericordium, Fauré Requiem, Haydn Missa in Tempore Belli, Missa in angustiis, and Creation, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, Nänie, and Schicksalslied, Mendelssohn Elijah, Penderecki Credo, Aaron Jay Kernis Symphony of Meditations, Purrington Words for Departure, and choral symphonies of Mahler and Beethoven.
One of the most traveled choruses in the world, the Yale Glee Club has performed in every major city in the United States and embarked on its first overseas tour in 1928. It has since appeared before enthusiastic audiences throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa.
Historically a leading advocate of international choral exchange, the Glee Club has hosted countless guest ensembles at Yale and at New York’s Lincoln Center in conjunction with its own international festivals. In 2012, the Glee Club carried this tradition forward with the first Yale International Choral Festival in New Haven, and in June of 2018 presented the third incarnation of the festival, hosting choirs from Sri Lanka, Mexico, Germany, and New York City, along with the Yale Alumni Chorus and Yale Choral Artists.
The Glee Club has appeared under the baton of many distinguished guest conductors from Leopold Stokowski to Sir David Willcocks to Robert Shaw. Recent collaborations have included performances under the direction of Marin Alsop, Grete Pedersen, Matthew Halls, Sir Neville Marriner, Dale Warland, Nicholas McGegan, Stefan Parkman, Simon Carrington, Erwin Ortner, David Hill, Craig Hella Johnson, and Helmuth Rilling.
The Yale Glee Club has had only seven directors in its 164-year history and is currently led by Jeffrey Douma. Previous directors include Marshall Bartholomew (1921–1953), who first brought the group to international prominence and who expanded the Glee Club’s repertoire beyond college songs to a broader range of great choral repertoire; Fenno Heath (1953–1992), under whose inspired leadership the Glee Club made the transition from TTBB chorus to mixed chorus; and most recently David Connell (1992–2002), whose vision helped carry the best traditions of this ensemble into the twenty-first century.
jeffrey douma
Jeffrey Douma is the Marshall Bartholomew Professor in the Practice of Choral Music at the Yale School of Music and has served as Director of the Yale Glee Club since 2003. The Glee Club has been hailed under his direction by The New York Times as “one of the best collegiate singing ensembles, and one of the most adventurous.” He also heads Yale’s graduate program in choral conducting and serves as founding Director of the Yale Choral Artists and Artistic Director of the Yale International Choral Festival.
Douma has appeared as guest conductor with choruses and orchestras on six continents, including the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore’s Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Estonian National Youth Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic Choir, Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Solistas de la Habana, Istanbul’s Tekfen Philharmonic, Norway’s Edvard Grieg Kor, the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and the Central Conservatory’s EOS Orchestra in Beijing, as well as the Yale Philharmonia and Yale Symphony Orchestras. He also serves as Musical Director of the Yale Alumni Chorus, which he has lead on eleven international tours. He served previously as Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, CT, where performances with the professional Schola Cantorum ranged from Bach St. John Passion with baroque orchestra to Arvo Pärt Te Deum, and recently served as Director of Music at the Unitarian Society of New Haven.
Choirs under his direction have performed in Leipzig’s Neue Gewandhaus, Dvorak Hall in Prague, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Notre Dame de Paris, Singapore’s Esplanade, Argentina’s Teatro Colon, the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls, and Carnegie Hall, and he has prepared choruses for performances under such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, William Christie, Valery Gergiev, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir David Willcocks, Dale Warland, Krzysztof Penderecki, Nicholas McGegan, Craig Hella Johnson, and Helmuth Rilling.
Douma has presented at conferences of the ACDA and NCCO, and the Yale Glee Club has appeared as a featured ensemble at NCCO national and ACDA divisional conferences. Active with musicians of all ages, Douma served for several years on the conducting faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. He frequently serves as clinician for festivals and honor choirs. Recent engagements include conducting masterclasses at the China International Chorus Festival, the University of Michigan School of Music, the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana
University, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Hochschule der Künste in Zurich, the Florence International Choral Festival, and the Berlin Radio Choir’s International Masterclass, as well as residencies at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing and at Luther College as Visiting Conductor of the internationally renowned Nordic Choir.
An advocate of new music, Douma established the Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition and Fenno Heath Award, and has premiered new works by such composers as Jennifer Higdon, Joel Thompson, Caroline Shaw, Dominick Argento, Paola Prestini, Ayanna Woods, Bright Sheng, Ned Rorem, Rodrigo Cadet, Ted Hearne, Han Lash, Martin Bresnick, David Lang, Derrick Skye, Rene Clausen, Bongani Magatyana, and James Macmillan. He also serves as editor of the Yale Glee Club New Classics Choral Series, published by Boosey & Hawkes. His original compositions are published by G. Schirmer and Boosey & Hawkes. A tenor, Douma has appeared as an ensemble member and soloist with some of the nation’s leading professional choirs.
In 2003, Douma was one of only two North American conductors invited to compete for the first Eric Ericson Award, the premier international competition for choral conductors. Prior to his appointment at Yale he served as Director of Choral Activities at Carroll College and taught on the conducting faculties of Smith College and St. Cloud State University.
Douma earned the Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of Michigan. He lives in Hamden, CT, with his wife, pianist and conductor Erika Schroth, and their two children.
upcoming yale glee club concerts
december 8, 2024
1:30 p.m., Battell Chapel
Handel Messiah Audience Singalong
Suggested donation: $10
Scores will be available for purchase for an additional $10. A portion of the proceeds will benefit New Haven’s homeless.
february 16, 2025
3:00 p.m., Woolsey Hall
Yale Symphony Orchestra: Awakening
Tickets: yalesymphony.org
This concert is made possible through the generous support of the Charles B. Kaufmann III ’66 Yale Glee Club Fund.
march 26, 2025
7:00 p.m., Woolsey Hall
New Haven High Schools Choral Festival
Free admission/No tickets or reservations required
Yale Glee Club brings together the choirs from the New Haven High Schools, along with students from the Yale Music in Schools Initiative, for an all-day clinic culminating in a free concert at 7:00 p.m. with guest clinician, Dr. Brandon Williams.
april 25, 2025
7:30 p.m., Woolsey Hall
Mozart Requiem
Free admission/No tickets or reservations required
Yale Glee Club is joined by a professional orchestra for a performance of Mozart’s monumental Requiem
may 17, 2025
8:00 p.m., Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
Tickets: music.yale.edu
Yale Glee Club 2025 Commencement Concert
Yale Glee Club performs its traditional concert celebrating the YGC members of the Class of 2025