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Yale Harvard Choral Concert le Harv

Radcli e Choral Society

Harvard Glee Club Yale Glee Club

friday, november 21, 2025

woolsey hall, yale university

Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te.

Radcliffe Choral Society

Hana Cai, Associate Director of Choral Activities

Justin Blackwell, Pianist i.

Laudamus Te from Gloria Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

We praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you.

Invitation to Love Marques Garrett (b.1984)

Come when the nights are bright with stars Or when the moon is mellow; Come when the sun his golden bars Drops on the hay-field yellow. Come in the twilight soft and gray, Come in the night or come in the day, Come, O love, whene’er you may, And you are welcome, welcome.

You are sweet, O Love, dear Love, You are soft as the nesting dove. Come to my heart and bring it rest As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

Come when my heart is full of grief Or when my heart is merry; Come with the falling of the leaf Or with the redd’ning cherry. Come when the year’s first blossom blows, Come when the summer gleams and glows, Come with the winter’s drifting snows, And you are welcome, welcome.

Si te quiero es porque sos mi amor, mi cómplice y todo

Y en la calle codo a codo somos mucho más que dos.

Tus manos son mi caricia, mis acordes cotidianos.

te amo porque en tus manos trabajan por la justicia.

Tus ojos son mi conjuro contra la mala jornada

Te quiero por tu mirada, que mira y siembra future.

Tu boca que es tuya y mía, tu boca no se equivoca

te quiero porque tu boca sabe gritar rebeldía.

Y por tu rostro sincero y tu paso vagabundo

y tu llanto por el mundo, porque sos pueblo te quiero.

y porque amor no es aureola ni candida moraleja.

y porque somos pareja que sabe que no está sola.

Te quiero en mi paraiso, es decir que en mi país

la gente viva feliz, aunque no tenga permiso.

If I adore you, it is because you are my love, my intimate friend, my all; And in the street, arm in arm, we are so much more than two.

Your hands are my caress, my daily affirmations.

I love you because your hands work for justice.

Your eyes are my lucky charm against misfortune.

I adore you for your gaze that looks to and creates the future.

Your mouth is yours and mine, Your mouth is never mistaken: I love you because your mouth Knows how to cry out for rebellion.

And for your sincere face and wandering spirit and your weeping for the world, because you are the people, I love you.

and because our love is neither famous nor naive.

and because we are a couple that knows we are not alone.

I want you in my paradise, which is to say, in my country.

The people to live happily, even though they aren’t allowed to!

Te Quiero Alberto Favero (b.1944)

This

is the Day

This is the day that the Lord has made: I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise. I will rejoice; I will rejoice. I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise.

This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, rejoice, rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it.

For the rising of the sun till the going down of the same.

This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, rejoice, rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it.

He’s worthy of the glory.

He’s worthy of the honor.

This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, rejoice, rejoice and be glad in it.

Halelujah, Halelujah rejoice!

This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, rejoice rejoice and be glad, and be glad in it. I will rejoice rejoice!

Aide Sance Zaide

Aide, sance zaide megu dve planini nane more, aide, sance

Zaide megu dve planini.

Aide zad planini zelenolivade nane more aide, zad planini, zelenolivade.

Traditional Bulgarian song

Go down, bright sun

Between two mountains, dear mother. Go down, sun

Set between two mountains.

Behind the mountains, green meadows. Dear mother.

Behind the mountains, green meadows.

Harvard Glee Club

Brandon Straub, Resident Conductor and Pianist ii.

Andrew Clark, Director of Choral Activities

De Profundis Leevi Madetoja (1887–1947)

De profundis clamavi ad te Domine

Domine exaudi vocal mea.

Fiant aures tuae intendentes, in vocem deprecationis meae.

From the depths, I have cried out to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.

–Psalm 130:1–2

Alto Rhapsody Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Preston McNulty-Socha, countertenor

Andrew Courtney & Brandon Straub, pianists

Aber abseits wer ist’s?

Im Gebüsch verliert sich der Pfad.

Hinter ihm schlagen

Die Sträuche zusammen,

Das Gras steht wieder auf,

Die Öde verschlingt ihn.

Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen

Des, dem Balsam zu Gift ward?

Der sich Menschenhaß

Aus der Fülle der Liebe trank?

Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter, Zehrt er heimlich auf

Seinen [eignen] Wert

In [ung’nugender] Selbstsucht.

Ist auf deinem Psalter, Vater der Liebe, ein Ton

Seinem Ohre vernehmlich, So erquicke sein Herz!

Öffne den umwölkten Blick

Über die tausend Quellen

Neben dem Durstenden

In der Wüste!

But who is that apart?

In the underbrush his path loses itself. Behind him the shrubs clap together, The grass stands up again, The wasteland engulfs him.

Ah, who heals the pains

Of him, for whom balsam became poison?

Who drank hatred of Man

Out of the fullness of love?

First despised, now a despiser, He furtively consumes His own merit

In unsatisfying egotism.

If there is in Thy Psalter, Father of love, one note

To his ear audible, Then refresh his heart!

Open his clouded gaze

To the thousand springs

Next to the thirsting one

In the desert!

–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)

My Lord What a Mornin’ Traditional Spiritual arr. Reginald Mobley, Baptiste Trotignon, and Susan LaBarr [Refrain]

My Lord, what a morning; My Lord, what a morning; Oh, my Lord, what a morning, When the stars begin to fall, When the stars begin to fall.

You’ll hear the trumpet sound, To wake the nations underground, Looking to my God’s right hand, When the stars begin to fall. [Refrain]

You’ll hear the sinner moan, To wake the nations underground, Looking to my God’s right hand, When the stars begin to fall. [Refrain]

You’ll hear the people shout, To wake the nations underground, Looking to my God’s right hand, When the stars begin to fall. [Refrain]

Which Side Are You On?

Florence Reece (1900–1986) Adapted by Windborne [Refrain]

Which side are you on?

Which side are you on?

Come all of you good workers

Good news to you I’ll tell Of how the good ol’ union Has come in here to dwell [Refrain]

My daddy was a miner And I’m a miner’s son And I’ll stick with the union ‘Til every battle’s won [Refrain] They say in Harlan County There are no neutrals there

You’ll either be a union man Or a thug for J. H. Blair [Refrain]

Oh, workers can you stand it?

Oh, tell me how you can Will you be a lousy scab Or will you be a man?

Don’t scab for the bosses

Don’t listen to their lies Us poor folks haven’t got a chance Unless we organize [Refrain]

Reece (1900–1986)

These Things Shall Never Die Brandon Williams (b. 1984)

The pure, the bright, the beautiful That stirred our hearts in youth, The impulses to wordless prayer, The streams of love and truth, The longing after something lost, The spirit’s yearning cry, The striving after better hopes— These things can never die.

The timid hand stretched forth to aid A brother in his need; A kindly word in grief’s dark hour

That proves a friend indeed; The plea for mercy softly breathed, When justice threatens high, The sorrow of a contrite heart— These things shall never die.

Let nothing pass, for every hand Must find some work to do, Lost not a chance to waken love, Be firm and just and true. So shall a light that cannot fade Beam on thee from on high, And angel voices say to thee— “These things shall never die.”

–Charles Dickens (1812–1870)

Harvard and Radcliffe Football Songs

Yale Glee Club

Jeffrey Douma, conductor iii.

Oggayam Ti Pananabak - A Song of Welcome

World premiere

kabsat a nadayaw, ingkam pay kumablaaw

Kaaddayu ‘tanga aldaw

Dangdang ay si dong ilay, ay ay

Agyaman tay iti Apo

Ta nagsasabat tayu

Napay nag-aaddayu intay nag-aamamu, ay ay Salidummay.

Dangdang ay si dong ilay insinali-salidummay

Nilo Alcala

Honorable brothers/ sisters, We greet you with a warm welcome

On this special day of gathering

Dangdang ay si dong ilay, ay ay.*

Let us thank the Lord For allowing us to gather together

Though we’ve come from different lands

Let us bond and get to know one another

Salidummay*

Dangdang ay si dong ilay* insinali-salidummay*

–Text adapted from a Tingguian/Itneg chant

* Salidummay or Salidommay is a word with no direct translation but is widely used in countless Cordilleran songs that express thanksgiving, worship, and courtship among other positive themes. The phrase “dangdang ay si dong ilay, insinali-salidummay” is commonly heard in songs during festive occasions and celebration.

“Oggayam ti Panganabak (A Song of Welcome)” is an original choral work inspired by a traditional Tingguian/Itneg chant from the Cordillera region of the Philippines. Drawing from the indigenous oggayam—a form of traditional Cordilleran oral poetry—I weave rhythms, vocal inflections, and percussive patterns reminiscent of gongs, bamboo instruments, and the expressive vocal style of oggayam chanters. The text, a heartfelt welcome to guests and strangers, celebrates gratitude, fellowship, and the breaking of boundaries. In a time marked by division and exclusion, this piece resounds as a timely call to human solidarity and shared belonging—an echo of the enduring Filipino spirit of hospitality and unity. –Nilo Alcala

The Firmament Juniper Duncan Winner, 2025 Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition Kevin Vondrak, conductor; Noah Stein, piano the rain-drop who fell to earth leapt from the great green moon and transgressed the curtain of the sea making not a sound we too dove into a foreign ocean forgoing all recompense and witnessed humanity perched upon the leatherback carapace of god

Winner of the 2025 Emerging Composers Competition at the Yale Glee Club, The Firmament for mixed choir and piano is grounded in a remarkable original text by the composer, Juniper Duncan. The poem inhabits a sense of mythological timelessness while connecting themes of transformation and natural hydrological cycles. Deeply literary in its formulation, it is also thoroughly modern, enabling a personal reading that resonates with the development and growth occurring during college years. All of this hinges on the word “transgress,” which refers not just to a geological process, but also to an empowered sense of individuality.

Duncan, herself a student in library and information science at Simmons University, also constructs a multifaceted musical world. After a ponderous, cloudlike introduction with impressionistic nods to the sound of raindrops, the verse emerges from a churning piano accompaniment of triplet sixteenth notes. The sopranos carry a songlike tune which is harmonized by the other voice parts in tight, vocal jazz-inspired sonorities. The piece culminates at the end of the second verse in a striking combination of poetic vision (“humanity perched upon the leatherback carapace of god”) and complex, shifting harmonies. A brief coda follows, mirroring the introduction, and it is here where the only purely triadic chord is heard (interestingly, on the phrase “making not a sound.”) In a composition full of seventh chords and extended harmonies, this moment itself is conspicuous in its simplicity—a representation of the humility and transcendence of this remarkable new work. –Kevin Vondrak, ysm ’30

America Will Be Joel Thompson (b.1988)

Sophie Dvorak and Yara Chami, soloists

Who are you that mumbles in the dark and who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I’m the one who dreamt a dream while still a serf of kings A dream so strong, so brave, so true that even yet it sings. To build a homeland of the free.

For all the songs we’ve sung, and all the dreams we’ve dreamed, America was never America to me, and yet l swear: America will be!

–Adapted from Langston Hughes’s Let America Be America Again

Give me your tired, your poor

Your huddle masses yearning to be breathe free give me the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these to me! I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

–Adapted from Emma Lazarus’s The New Colossus

Spanish

Yo sueño de un nuevo amanecer.

Sindhala

Mage anagatha sindluwa.

Filipino

Umaasa ako 110 may pagbabago.

Arabic

‘Atamanaa ‘an albashar yatealam an yu hib.

Portuguese

Eu canto porque estou livre.

Mandarin

Wô mèngxiângzhe mêihâo de wèilái

Japanese

Seigi o motomote

German

Ich singe für eine Flucht alus der Welt.

Vietnamese

Còn ủỏc mong hoà bi`nh.

Haitian Creole

Mwen chante pou lapè sou Latè.

I dream of a new dawn.

I sing for the future.

I hope there is a change.

I hope that people can learn to love.

I sing because I am free.

I dream of a better future.

I hope for justice.

I sing for an escape from the world.

I dream of peace.

I sing for peace.

–Words by students from the Freedom High School Chorus, Orlando, Florida

Living in the United States, we contend with contradictory definitions of this nation: America is at once a land of immigrants, a wealth built on enslaved labor, a dream of individual prosperity, a set of colonized lands, and “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Joel Thompson’s America Will Be! wrestles with this tension between America’s grandiose ideals and its brutal realities. The work deftly weaves together diverse American voices: sentiments of the multilingual Freedom High School Chorus, Langston Hughes’ Let America Be America Again, and Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus. Through Thompson’s lyrical (and musical) composition, much of the piece expresses this idea of dissonance.

That said, the song ultimately affirms that America’s ideals will be. Written in 2018, this hopeful conclusion takes on new meanings in 2025, when these ideals feel unattainable []. Hughes, a Black writer amidst the Great Depression, insisted that America’s founding principles “sing,” “even yet” through the hardships of the time, namely racism and poverty. Thompson’s song today echoes Hughes’ original poem; it charges us, as performers, as listeners, and as Americans, to “sing” our convictions in American ideals (such as equality, opportunity, and refuge) until they are. –Creed Gardiner ’26

North Ryan O’Neal (b. 1983)

A song by Sleeping At Last John Raskopf, piano

We will call this place our home

The dirt in which our roots may grow

Though the storms will push and pull

We will call this place our home

We’ll tell our stories on these walls

Every year, measure how tall

And just like a work of art

We’ll tell our stories on these walls

Let the years we’re here be kind, be kind

Let our hearts, like doors, open wide, open wide

Settle our bones like wood over time, over time

Give us bread, give us salt, give us wine

A little broken, a little new

We are the impact and the glue

Capable of more than we know

We call this fixer upper home

With each year, our color fades

Slowly, our paint chips away

But we will find the strength

And the nerve it takes

To repaint and repaint and repaint every day

Smaller than dust on this map

Lies the greatest thing we have:

The dirt in which our roots may grow

And the right to call it home

The world that we live in is large and vast. What do we feel when we find our belonging within it? The artist behind Sleeping at Last, Ryan O’Neal, grounds this feeling through “North” by exploring the meaning we find not in the world at large, but in the specific, personal investments that we make in the spaces we call our own. Unlike the other three songs titled by cardinal directions in his album Atlas: Land, “North” doesn’t grapple with abstract concepts like truth and distance, but rather with the tangible act of defining “home.” This home is signified by the “True North” found within the title—it is a fixed, reliable point of orientation that anchors us against the world’s abstract vastness. George Chung’s choral arrangement reflects this through deliberately simple, soft phrases that gently descend in a push-and-pull motion. His arrangement uses open chords and sparse doublings instead of dense orchestration, where the music’s lightness suggests that the “greatest thing we have” is not a heavy, monumental burden, but a gentle, intimate act where we “repaint” our spaces and “find the strength” to belong. The lyrics then transform the microscopic “dust” on our map to become the center of our universe, and this profound greatness is found not in grandiosity, but in the quiet, foundational right to belong. “North” feels distinctly familiar, as its exceptionally simple melody reflects the “fixer-upper” of a house becoming grounded into the “dirt” of a sacred space. This right is nourished, O’Neal suggests, when we “let our hearts, like doors, open wide.” –Joshua Li ‘26

Didn’t It Rain

Yale Glee Club Chamber singers Kevin Vondrak, conductor iv.

Forty days and forty nights when the rain kept a-fallin’

The wicked climbed the tree and for help kept a-callin’

For they heard the waters wailin’

Didn’t it rain?

Tell me, Noah, didn’t it rain?

Some climbed the mountain, some climbed the hill

Some started sailin’ and a rollin’ with the wheel

Some tried swimmin’ and I guess they’re swimmin’ still

For they heard the waters roarin’

Didn’t it rain?

Tell me, Noah, didn’t it rain?

Traditional Spiritual arr. Stacey V. Gibbs

Heilig, WoO 27 Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) (from Die Deutsche Liturgie)

Heilig, heilig, heilig ist Gott, der Herr Zebaoth!

Alle Lande sind Deiner Ehre voll Hosanna in der Höhe!

Gelobt sei der da kommt Im Namen des Herrn Hosanna in der Höhe!

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts: heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Yale Glee Club

Jeffrey Douma, conductor v.

Twa Tanbou Sydney Guillaume

John Raskopf, conductor

Twa Tanbou

Kap fe yon diskisyon

Yon gwo dimanch maten

Le yo sot nan Ginen

Yon Ti Kata

Yon Tanbouren

Yon Gwo Boula

Boula rete li di

Li di li ka frape pi fo

Boula rete li di

Se li kl ka frape pi fo

Tanbouren di li gen pi bel son

Li di “Ie map site, se rete tande”

Kata ki tap koute, li rete li move

Li pa te ka konprann kouman de kamarad,

Ki abiye ak menm rad

Ki pitit menm manman

Chita ap fe deblozay

Yon bon jou Madigra, Kata tonbe zouke

Denye moun ki te la yo tout tonbe danse …

Tanbouren ak Boula kite la ap tande

Pou ft fet la pi bel: yo tou fon ribanbel

Three drums

Are having an argument

A great Sunday morning

On their way back from Guinea

A little Kata …

A little Tanbouren …

A big Boula …

Boula declared

That he can hit the loudest

Boula declared “I can hit the loudest!”

Tanbouren said “I have the most beautiful sound”

He said “when I perform, keep quiet and listen!”

Kata who was hearing all this became angry

He could not comprehend how two soldiers

Who are dressed with the same outfit

And are children of the same mother

Are sitting around making a scandal

One fine Mardi-Gras day, Kata started to “zouk”

Every single person there began to dance …

Tanbouren and Boula who were there listening

To make the party more exciting, they started a great throng

Jou sa-a

Yo chante yon chante ke’m pap janm

bliye:

Tout tanbou ki dispese

An nou kole zepol

Poun fe la vi pi bel

That day, They all sang a song that I’ll never forget:

All drums that are dispersed

Let’s put our shoulders together

To make life more beautiful

–Louis M. Celestin

Composed in 2007 by Haitian-born composer Sydney Guillaume, Twa Tanbou sets a vibrant Haitian Creole poem by Louis-Marie Célestin that celebrates unity, humility, and collaboration. The poem tells the story of three drums—the deep Boula, the lyrical Tanbouren, and the quick, bright Kata—who quarrel over which plays the most important role. Only when they join together, blending their distinct voices, do they create true beauty. The text becomes a parable for community: like the drums, we achieve harmony not through competition, but through cooperation and mutual respect.

Guillaume’s music draws on the rhythmic traditions of Haitian Rara and Vodou ceremonial music. Rara, a lively street-parade genre, pulses with layered rhythms and call-and-response singing, while Vodou drumming uses cyclical patterns to connect performers with spiritual and ancestral forces. Its three interlocking drums embody balance and unity—similar to the trio heard in Twa Tanbou. Guillaume weaves these influences together, blending the spiritual depth of Vodou with the exuberance of Rara to turn the choir into a living drum ensemble. –John Raskopf ’27

The Road Home Tune: “Prospect”

Omeno Abutu, conductor adapted by Stephen Paulus

Tell me where is the road I can call my own, That I left, that I lost, so long ago.

All these years I have wondered, oh when will I know, There’s a way, there’s a road that will lead me home.

After wind, After rain, when the dark is done, As I wake from a dream, in the gold of day, Through the air there’s a calling from far away, There’s a voice I can hear that will lead me home.

Rise up, follow me, come away is the call With (the) love in your heart as the only song There is no such beauty as where you belong Rise up, follow me, I will lead you home.

In 2001, the Dale Warland Singers commissioned Stephen Paulus to write a new folk arrangement for choir. Paulus fell in love with a simple pentatonic tune collected in the Southern Harmony songbook, and asked librettist Michael Dennis Browne to compose the lyrics. While writing “The Road Home”, Browne was between visits from the United States to his birthplace of England to be with his sister, who had fallen ill.

Browne was in his mid-twenties when he crossed the Atlantic, just a little older than members of the Glee Club. At the piece’s opening, the speaker yearns for a specific home—the place “that they left, that they lost so long ago.” After years of wandering, the speaker finally hears a voice that will lead them home again—but is this “home” truly the home of their past? In the last verse, the specific longing for a bygone home is supplanted by a more general phrase, “There is no such beauty as where you belong.”

Being from Hong Kong, I’ve watched the city change rapidly over the past few years: friends leave, local newspapers disappear, laws change. I still feel the same nostalgia for Hong Kong, because it raised me. But I’ve also found myself belonging to many more homes in college—especially when I sing on stage or in rehearsals with the Yale Glee Club, whom I’d call my family. The road home may lead to a place, a history, a people, the present, or the future. As the Glee Club performs, I hope that you’ll find a piece of your own home here in this music as well. –Kinnia Cheuk ’26

A

Simple Phrase Rory Bricca ’26 Winner, 2025 Fenno Heath Award

Rushing down College Street

Our weekly rhythms on repeat

A familiar face sighted

An old acquaintance reunited

It’s a sudden, joyous rendezvous,

With a timeless phrase tried and true

To celebrate the love we feel

The good old, “Hey! Let’s grab a meal!”

Grab a meal! Grab a meal!

Grab a meal, yes! Sounds like a deal

Grab a meal! Grab a meal!

I really have to go but I’ll text you…

Hey, let’s grab a meal! Grab a meal!

Grab a meal, yes! This time for real!

Grab a meal! Grab a meal!

So, are you free next Monday dinner?

No I’m not but Tuesday dinner?

No I’m not but Wednesday dinner?

Friday lunch? Wednesday lunch?

Tuesday lunch? Friday dinner?

Sunday? Monday? Wednesday? Friday? Tuesday?

How about Sunday dinner?

You mean Family Dinner?

Thursday lunch, Thursday lunch, Thursday lunch, Thursday lunch

Yes, Thursday lunch! Thursday lunch!

Thursday lunch! And together we’ll munch

On chicken tenders! Or grilled cheese!

At Silliman or Davenport or Trumbull? Stiles? Murray?

How about Berkeley? Hopper? Saybrook? JE?

Pierson? Branford? Franklin? TD?

Wait, TD??

Morse! Morse! Morse! Morse!

To grab a meal! Grab a meal! Grab a meal!

Grab a meal, yes! What an ordeal…

To grab a meal! Grab a meal! Grab a meal!

And so we don’t instantly forget

It’s going in the GCal

Send an invite for the GCal

Meet at Morse, in the GCal

In the GCal, in the holy GCal

To grab a meal!

The Fenno Heath Award invites composers to write a short piece that reflects “the composer’s experience at Yale.” Typically, this yields tender ballads about finding community, or the joy of singing—“bright college years with pleasure rife.” That’s all well and good. I, however, felt compelled to honor the most quintessential Yale tradition of them all, in the uptempo pastiche style of Yale football songs: running into someone you vaguely recognize from first year, locking eyes for a moment of shared history, and exchanging that timeless, heartfelt simple phrase … –Rory Bricca ’26

Eli Yale

Traditional Student Song

Kyle Thomas Ramos ’26, president; Kinnia Cheuk ’26, manager soloists

Yale Football Medley arr. Fenno Heath ’50

Combined Choruses vi.

Abendlied Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839–1901)

Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, und der Tag hat sich geneiget.

Bide with us, for evening shadows darken, and the day will soon be over.

Radcliffe, Now We Rise to Greet Thee Emily Coolidge ‘08

Radcliffe, now we rise to greet thee, Alma Mater, hail to thee!

All our hearts are one in singing Of our love and loyalty. We have learn’d to know each other In thy light, which clearly beams, Thou hast been a kindly Mother, Great fulfiller of our dreams.

Radcliffe, now we rise to greet thee, Alma Mater, hail to thee!

Alma Mater, give thy daughters

Each a spark from Truth’s pure flame; Let them when they leave thy altars Kindle others in thy name. For our strength and joy in living, Love and praise to thee belong; Thou whose very life is giving, From thy daughters take a song.

Radcliffe, now we rise to greet thee, Alma Mater, hail to thee!

Fair Harvard Traditional Irish Melody

Niko Paladino ’20, HGC president Samuel Gilman, 1811

Fair Harvard! we join in thy Jubilee throng, And with blessings surrender thee o’er

By these Festival-rites, from the Age that is past,

To the Age that is waiting before.

O Relic and Type of our ancestors’ worth, That hast long kept their memory warm, First flow’r of their wilderness! Star of their night!

Calm rising thro’ change and thro’ storm.

Farewell! be thy destinies onward and bright!

To thy children the lesson still give,

With freedom to think, and with patience to bear, And for Right ever bravely to live.

Let not moss-covered Error moor thee at its side,

As the world on Truth’s current glides by, Be the herald of Light, and the bearer of Love, Till the stars in the firmament die.

Bright College Years Carl Wilhelm arr. Robert Bonds ‘71

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 memory’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!”

radcliffe choral society 2025-26

Hana Cai, Associate Director of Choral Activities

Justin Blackwell, Pianist

President: Orlaith Lasell ’27

Co-Vice Presidents: Anika Christensen ’26 and Katya Popova ’28

Secretary: Sally Edwards ’26

Manager: Maria Fernanda Cifuentes ’26

Assistant Manager: Maria Georgieva ’28

Teaching Assistants: Edith Mora Hernandez and Karen Frank

Alumni Relations Manager / Historian: Trinity Cook–Thompson ’29

Librarian: Willow Kwak ’29

Assistant Librarian: Olivia Ryan ’29

Financial Manager: Linda Ye ’28

DEI Manager: Carisma Wong ’26

Co-Publicity Managers: Elizabeth Djajalie ’28 and Emily Kuang ’29

International Tour Manager: Chloe Call ’27

International Tour Assistant Manager: Georgia Hutchinson ’27

Technology Manager: Elyana Hewitt ’29

’Cliffe Notes Conductor: Anika Christensen ’26

soprano i

Oishi Banerjee gsas

Anika Christensen ’26

Shelly Cao gsd

Erika Guy ’26

Danni Kim gse

Angelica King ’29

Willow Kwak ’29

Catherine Li ’29

Elisabeth Stevens ’28

Trinity Cook–Thompson ’29

Linda Wnertzewska ’26

Ylesia Wu gsas

soprano ii

Cameron Bernier ’29

Sirui Cai ’26

Chloe Call ’27

Yoobin Chee gse

Michelle Chung ’28

Sally Edwards ’26

Elyana Hewitt ’29

Georgia Hutchinson ’27

Leanna Lin ’29

Lilian MacArthur ’28

Edith Mora-Hernandez

Apple Nguyen ’28

Kaveri Sangupta hls

alto i

Deborah Chen ’29

Maria Fernanda Cifuentes ’26

Isabel Crews ’29

Elizabeth Djajalie ’28

Chiamaka Inejirika ’27

Emily Kuang ’29

Orlaith Lasell ’27

Katya Popova ’28

Isabella Quinteros–Ratcliffe ’29

Olivia Ryan ’29

Jieyan Wang gsas

alto ii

Pangaea Finn gsas

Karen Frank

Maria Georgieva ’28

Patricia Halliday ’26

Andrea Nystedt ’28

Sam Park ’29

Joanna Rawlings ’29

Joanna Wang ’27

Arden Woodall gse

Carisma Wong ’26

radcliffe choral society

The Radcliffe Choral Society, founded in 1899, is a treble choral ensemble at Harvard University, currently under the direction of Dr. Hana J. Cai. The ensemble performs a distinctive repertoire spanning nine centuries of choral literature: sacred and secular, a cappella and accompanied, collaborative and choral-orchestral. The Radcliffe Choral Society aims to foster the appreciation and enjoyment of women’s and treble choral music through the commission of new works for soprano-alto voices, high-caliber performances, and domestic and international travel, striving to honor its history and further its legacy. As a student run and managed 501(c)(3) non-profit, singers are given a unique opportunity to join the Executive Committee, learning about and developing their skills in arts management. Featuring a student-led a cappella group, ‘Cliffe Notes, the Radcliffe Choral Society promotes excellence in women’s choral music and celebrates the extraordinary community formed through its music-making.

dr. hana j. cai, director

Dr. Hana J. Cai serves as the Associate Director of Choral Activities and the Director of the Holden Voice Program at Harvard University where she conducts the Radcliffe Choral Society and co-conducts the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. She was previously the conductor of Dolce at Lehigh University and the Ithaca College Treble Choir. In March 2019, Cai was the winner of the ACDA Conducting Competition and was a finalist for the 2023 American Prize Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting and conducted at Carnegie Hall in 2024. She has presented her research at NYSSMA, ACDA, and NCCO. Cai holds degrees from the University of Maryland, the Eastman School of Music, and Indiana University. Her diction guide for Mandarin Chinese for singers and conductors is published in The Choral Scholar and American Choral Review.

harvard glee club 2025-26

Dr. Andrew Clark, Conductor

Brandon Straub, Pianist and Asst. Conductor

Kevin Lackie, Teaching Assistant

Andrew Courtney, Teaching Assistant

President: Jake Truncale

Vice President: Caleb Hultmann

Secretary: Preston McNulty Socha

Manager: Jack Flanigan

Financial Manager: Jialin Chen

Librarian: Will Cottiss

DEI Manager: Jeffrey Yang

Design Manager: Preston McNulty Socha

Historian: Preston McNulty Socha

Assistant Historian: Will Cottiss

Publicity Manager: Jialin Chen

Sales Manager: Adam Chiocco

tenor i

Andrew Courtney ta

Soren Cowell–Shah ’27

Darby Madden ’29

Preston McNulty Socha ’28

Livingston Zug ’26

tenor i

Odera Arene ’28

Peter Donets ’26

Kevin Lackie ta Dree Palimore ’26

Juan Pedraza Arellano ’26.5

Jake Truncale ’27

Owen Wang ’29

bass i

Samson Axelrod ’28

Andrew Bogdan gse ’26

Connor Buchanan ’29

Yaroslav Davletshin ’28

Nathan Georg ’28

Roy Han ’26

Vishwum Kapadia ’29

Austin Li ’29

Paul Mahoney ’29

Khang Nguyen ’27

Benjamin Kasiel Pixley ’29

Nathanael Tjandra ’26

Jeffrey Yang ’26

Connor Yu ’26

bass i

Jialin Chen ’28

Felix Chen ’29

Adam Chiocco ’27

Will Cottiss ’28

Jack Flanigan ’27

Sawyer Guerrero ’29

Caleb Hultmann ’27

Bruce Lowmanstone ’29

Max Lightfield ’27

Albert Sveen ’27

William Tang ’28

harvard glee club

The Harvard Glee Club, America’s oldest collegiate choir, is a tenor-bass choral ensemble founded at Harvard University in 1858. Guided by the four cardinal virtues of glee, good humor, unity, and joy, the Glee Club aims to cultivate and sustain the art of tenor-bass choral music across centuries of tradition. The ensemble performs at home at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre and on both domestic and international tours, with recent performances in the Dominican Republic, Korea, Japan, and throughout the United States. A student-run and -managed 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the Glee Club provides members opportunities for leadership and arts management including planning tours, organizing concerts with collaborating universities, and marketing performances. While traditionally drawing on repertoire from the collegiate, folk, and sacred choral traditions of Europe and North America, the Glee Club has also commissioned contemporary composers representing a broad array of experiences and styles, including Bongani Magatyana, Molly Joyce, Karen Thomas, Morten Lauridsen, Robert Kyr, and Sir John Tavener. The Glee Club features a student-led a cappella subset, Glee Club Lite, which further broadens this rich repertoire with music from the popular, musical theater, and jazz traditions.

To learn more about the Harvard Glee Club, visit www.harvardgleeclub.org.

Director of Choral Activities and Conductor, Harvard Glee Club

Andrew Clark is the Director of Choral Activities and Senior Lecturer on Music at Harvard University. He serves as the Music Director and Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, the Harvard Glee Club, the Harvard Summer Chorus, Cambridge Common Voices, and teaches courses in conducting, choral literature, and music and disability studies in the Department of Music. Clark’s work with the Harvard Choruses empowers individuals and communities through active engagement with choral music: fostering compassion, community-building, and joy. As an artist-educator devoted to advancing equity, justice, and access to the arts, Clark has developed community partnerships with youth music education programs, correctional institutions, health care facilities, overnight shelters, senior-care communities, and other service organizations operating beyond the normalized conventions of arts practice. Clark has organized Harvard residencies with distinguished conductors, composers, and ensembles, including Sweet Honey in the Rock, The Crossing, the Lorelei and Antioch ensembles, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Maria Guinand, Harry Christophers, Craig Hella Johnson, and Maasaki Suzuki, among others.

Since arriving at Harvard in 2010, Dr. Clark has led the Harvard Choruses in performances at the Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Metropolitan Museum of Art, and venues across the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. His choral-orchestral performances with the Harvard Choruses have received critical acclaim, ranging from the Baroque era to seminal 20th- and 21st-century works. Clark has commissioned and premiered over fifty compositions and recently launched the Harvard Choruses New Music Initiative, supporting the creative work of undergraduate composers.

His choirs have been hailed as “first rate” (Boston Globe), “cohesive and exciting” (Opera News), and “beautifully blended” (Providence Journal), achieving performances of “passion, conviction, adrenalin, [and] coherence” (Worcester Telegram). He has collaborated with the National Symphony, the Pittsburgh and New Haven Symphonies, the Boston Pops, the Handel and Haydn Society, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Boston Philharmonic, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Trinity Wall Street Choir, the Washington Chorus, Stephen Sondheim, Ben Folds, and the late Dave Brubeck, among others.

Prior to his appointment at Harvard, Clark was Artistic Director of the Providence Singers and served as Director of Choral Activities at Tufts University. Clark continues his work as a founding faculty member of the Notes from the Heart music program near Pittsburgh, a summer camp for children and young adults experiencing disabilities and chronic illness. He earned degrees from Wake Forest, Carnegie Mellon, and Boston Universities, studying with Ann Howard Jones, David Hoose, and the late Robert Page.

brandon straub

Pianist and Assistant Conductor

A multifaceted educator, conductor, keyboardist, and singer, Brandon Straub is equally at home with musicians of all ages and degrees of experience. Straub is Associate Director of Music at St. Paul’s Choir School and Parish Harvard Square, where he will become Director of Music in June 2024. He has also led programs at St. Albans School, National Cathedral School, The Hill School, and Episcopal High School. He has prepared choruses for a growing list of world-class ensembles, conductors, and artists, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and LA Philharmonic at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, and the Kimmel Center. During his 11 seasons as Associate Conductor & Pianist for the Choral Arts Society of Washington, Straub founded the Choral Arts Youth Choir, and he has prepared members of the Choral Arts Chorus

and Youth Choir for the past ten broadcasts of “A Capitol Fourth” on PBS. He has been active as a conductor, organist, and professional singer at churches throughout DC, including Washington National Cathedral and St. John’s Church Lafayette Square (the “Church of the Presidents”). A native of Michigan, Straub holds degrees in Music Education and Voice from Michigan State University and Conducting and Harpsichord Performance from the University of Michigan.

kevin lackie

Teaching Assistant

Kevin Lackie, conductor, educator and baritone, brings extensive skills in choralvocal technique and community development. With a background of building and repairing choral programs across the east coast, his ensembles regularly receive praise for artistry, programming, and connection with their community. Most notably, Kevin Lackie made his Boston Symphony Hall conducting debut in 2025 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Opening Week 2025 program “Music’s Next Generation—A College Showcase.”

Mr. Lackie is also an advocate for socioeconomic equity in the choral world. Kevin founded the New Hampshire-based “Scores Project,” which raises funds to donate to local public music programs in need of financial support. Dedicated to the belief that no child should be denied access to music due to a lack of finances, this project has continued for almost a decade, uninterrupted by the pandemic, and has contributed thousands of dollars to choral programs around the state.

A strong advocate for education reform, Mr. Lackie was the longest-standing member of the Fairfax County Public School curriculum writing team that wrote a grade 5-12 choral curriculum that is used in 196 schools in Northern Virginia. He regularly presents at conferences, is published with Virginia ACDA, and will be published in the ACDA Choral Journal in 2026 with a ChorTeach article on classroom management. Additionally, he has been a proud mentor teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools supporting new teachers in their programs.

Prior to moving to Boston, Mr. Lackie was the Founder and Artistic Director of the Mount Vernon Chamber Singers in Alexandra, VA, Alexandria’s newest and most-exciting choral ensemble. He has served as Music Director and Director of Traditional Worship in numerous church denominations and taught middle and high school choral programs. Additionally, he still serves as Tenor-Bass Repertoire & Resource Chair with the Virginia Chapter of the American Choral Director’s Association. Mr. Lackie has earned degrees from Keene State College, East Carolina University, and is pursuing his Doctorate in Conducting at Boston University.

Andrew Courtney is a conductor, accompanist, vocalist, and composer. He currently serves as the teaching assistant with the Harvard Glee Club and Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, choirs in which he sang as an undergraduate. During that time, he was the manager and student conductor of the Glee Club, and composed and arranged for the choir and its subset components. He has had works performed by The Crossing, the Parker Quartet, the Orange County School of the Arts, and Ensemble Veritas. He has previously served as the Assistant Artistic Director of the All-American Boys Chorus in Orange County, California. His previous teachers include Sarkis Baltaian and Margery Burger, and he studied with Claire Chase, Chaya Czernowin, and Federico Cortese. Andrew is experienced as a music director for academic theatrical productions for and is active in Boston as a choral and operatic tenor. He holds an A.B. in mathematics from Harvard University.

yale glee club

165th season

Jeffrey Douma, Music Director

T. Sean Maher, Operations and Production Manager

Kevin Vondrak, Assistant Conductor

Omeno Abutu, Student Conductor

John Raskopf, Student Conductor

President: Kyle Thomas Ramos

Manager: Kinnia Cheuk

Winter Tour Managers: Ayush Iyer, Anjal Jain

Domestic Tour Managers: Alliese Bonner, Matthew Chen

Social Chairs: Catalina Ossman, Elizabeth Wolfram

Publicity Chairs: Sofia Sato, Joleen Bakalova

Stage Managers: Logan Gilbert, Alex Kingma

Archivists: Kylie Berg, Angelique Wheeler

Alumni Coordinators: Nate Stein, Anna Zoltowski

Community Engagement Officer: Claire Zhong

Wardrobe Managers: Mika Hiroi, Joshua Li

Website Managers: Erika Lu, Aurelia Keberle

soprano i

Tamara Bafi ’27, Economics and Humanities*

Joleen Bakalova ’28, Global Affairs

Yara Chami ’26, Economics, Certificate in Data Science

Alliese Bonner ’27, Music

Kinnia Cheuk ’26, English, Energy Studies*

Anjal Jain ’26, Biomedical Engineering and Music*

Miriam Levenson ’29, Undeclared*

Erica Lu ’28, Economics and Film & Media Studies

Rhea McTiernan Huge ’28, Philosophy

Elizabeth Wolfram ’27, Math & Philosophy, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry

soprano ii

Kylie Berg ’28, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry

Senlee Dieme ’26, History of Science Medicine and Public Health†

Sophie Dvorak ’26, Music*

Manon Gilles ’29, Mathematics and Philosophy

Katie Gurney’ 26, Mathematics

Aurelia Keberle ’27, Biomedical Engineering

Rose Kosciuszek ’27, Political Science*

Catherine Lee ’27, Cognitive Science & Comparative Literature

Christina Logvynyuk, gsas ’26, European & Russian Studies

Teresa Ng ’29, Economics and Mathematics

Cayley Tolbert-Schwartz ’28, Chemistry and Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies *

Naomi Tracey-Hegg ’29, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Claire Zhong ’28, Cognitive Science, Data Science Certificate

alto i

Omeno Abutu ’27, Music

Ziqi Cui ’27, Global Affairs and Astronomy

Logan Gilbert ’28, Mathematics & Physics*

Mika Hiroi ’28, English

Sreetama Kushari ’29, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology*

Alistair Lam ’27, Cognitive Science†

Sofia Sato ’28, Psychology; Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Francesca Sisskind ’29, Applied Mathematics and Economics

Sarah Sparling ’26, Linguistics

Hila Tor ’28, Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies and Physics

Angelique Wheeler ’26, History and Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology

alto ii

Temiladeoluwa Adeniran ’29, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Alexis Cruz ’28, Astrophysics

Audrey Jamieson ’29, Undeclared

Alexis Mburu ’27, Anthropology

Catalina Ossman ’27, Cognitive Science

Aryana Ramos-Vazquez ’26, Biomedical Engineering

Fiona Ress ’29, Biomedical Engineering*

Myla Toliver ’28, Chemistry and Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies

Thisbe Wu ’26, Art (Painting/ Printmaking)

Anna Zoltowski ’28, Classics

Dibora Yilma ’29, Cognitive Science tenor i

Matthew Chen ’27, Ethics, Politics, and Economics

Schandy Cordero ’28, Ethics, Politics, and Economics

Ayush Iyer ’26, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry and Economics

Harry Pambianchi ’29, Math and Physics

Bill Qian ’26, Computer Science and Applied Math*

John Raskopf ’27, Music, Education Studies Intensive Certificate*

Gbemiga Salu ’27, Applied Mathematics

Nate Stein ’28, Political Science

Noah Stein ’26, Music*

Kevin Vondrak YSM ’26, Choral Conducting tenor ii

Jonathan Akinniyi ’26, Political Science

Andrew Jean-Charles ’27, Political Science and Music

Tavian Jones ’26, Applied Mathematics

David Liebowitz ’26, Music and Architecture*†

Parker Mednikow ’29, Chemical Engineering

Stephen Morris ’27, Political Science

Prithvi Narayanan ’28, Global Affairs and Political Science

Ari Tsomocos ’27, Undeclared

Corin Wang ’29, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

Andrew Xu ’27, Computer Science and Mathematics*

bass i

Andrew Boanoh ’27, Philosophy

Alexandre Campant ’29, Biomedical Engineering

Aviv Fetaya ’26, Computer Science and Music*

Creed Gardiner ’26, American Studies

Cameron Gray-Lee ’27, Mathematics and Physics, and Music

Alex Kingma ’28, Mathematics and Computer Science*

Lukas Koutsoukos ’27, History and Ethics, Politics, and Economics

Frank Petty ’29, Computer Science and Economics

Vishwa Rakasi ’29, Global Affairs*

Everett Tolbert-Schwartz ’26, Applied Physics and Chemistry*

Jeffrey Yang ’28, Cognitive Science and Sociology

bass ii

Seung Min Baik ’26, History and Economics*

Ethan Cooper ’29, Political Science

Ben Graham ’28, Music and Cognitive Science

Zach Jarvis ’28, Music and Philosophy

Josh Li ’26, Astrophysics and Global Affairs

Kyle Thomas Ramos ’26, Political Science*

Lukas Vander Elst ’28, DS-Pre Med; Comparative Literature

Ben Weiss ’27, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Computer Science

Ben Xu ’26, Computer Science and Mathematics†

Charlie Zhong ’29, Undeclared

†—Section leader *—Chamber singers

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 aleading 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 165-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, music director

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 Director of the Chamber Choir and Choral Conducting Workshop at Yale’s Norfolk 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.

kevin vondrak, assistant conductor

Kevin is a second-year dma candidate in Choral Conducting at the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music. He comes to Yale from Philadelphia, where he is associate conductor of The Crossing, a professional new-music choir. He has worked on dozens of world premieres with many of the world’s leading composers, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, Kimmel Center, Lincoln Center, The Met Cloisters,, the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, The Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. These projects have involved collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bang on a Can, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. As a recording producer with The Crossing, he has won two Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance (Born in 2023, and Ochre in 2025). Kevin is also an experienced church musician, most recently serving as interim choirmaster at St. Mark’s Church on Locust Street in Philadelphia. He takes particular pride in his six-year tenure directing The Beaumont Chorus, a vibrant choir of senior citizens in suburban Philadelphia, and in teaching David Lang’s the mile-long opera to over 1000 avocational singers in a performance on The High Line in New York City. Kevin holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis (B.A. Music) and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music (M.M. Choral Conducting). He lives in Wooster Square with his fiancée Brittany, and enjoys camping, cooking, and playing Bach on the mandolin.

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