Music at Yale | Spring 2015

Music at Yale SPRING 2015

Young Alumni in Orchestra Jobs Artists, Teaching: Stories of community engagement Nkonsonkonson: Yale musicians visit Ghana Visits by John Adams, Valery Gergiev, Yo-Yo Ma In memoriam: Ezra Laderman, Claude Frank, Richard Rephann

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma visited Yale in January for a concert and an open conversation with Aldo Parisot. The concert concluded with Ma performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major with members of the Yale Philharmonia, conducted by Parisot.

Contents

Concert News

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Residency with Composer John Adams

6

Honorary Doctorate for Alumnus Joseph Polisi

6

Students Receive Instruments from Music In Schools Initiative

7

Croatian President Speaks on Music and Politics

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Artists, Teaching

8

Fifth Symposium on Music in Schools 14 Trio of Websites Complete

15

Faculty News

16

Yale Acquires Petryn Collection 19 Nkonsonkonson: Ghana Tour

20

A Job with the Philharmonic

24

Work Begins on Hendrie Hall

29

Yale Center Beijing

30

2014 at Norfolk

31

Student and Alumni News

32

Board Profile: Lester Morse

39

Recordings+Publications 40 Honors Dinner

43

In Memoriam

44

Contributors 48

Yale School of Music Robert Blocker, Dean 1

Concert News Angélique Kidjo The Afro-pop star Angélique Kidjo performed a special benefit concert on December 6, 2014. The Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, hailed by National Public Radio as “Africa’s greatest living diva,” performed with Yale ensembles including Shades, the Yale Percussion Group, and members of the Yale Concert Band, as well as the Peregrine String Quartet.

Ms. Kidjo, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002, is a passionate advocate for girls’ education and humanitarian causes. Time Magazine has said: “Being Africa’s premier diva is not a crown that Kidjo wears lightly… As an African, she says, she comes from a place with problems.

But as a musician, she argues, she can solve them.”

Kidjo proved that in the concert, in which she advocated for causes like girls’ education not just in-between songs but in her music itself. Proceeds from this concert benefited the Yale Africa Initiative Student Scholarships.

Kidjo is the founder of the Batonga Foundation, which supports both secondary school and higher education for girls in Africa. The concert was presented in collaboration with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, which conferred upon Kidjo the Visionary Leadership Award in January, 2015.

Shades is Yale’s co-ed a cappella group dedicated to singing music of the Africa diaspora. The Yale Percussion Group, comprising students in the School of Music, and the undergraduate Yale Concert Band were fresh off a musical tour of Ghana last May (see page 20), where they took part in numerous exchange concerts and the percussionists studied West African rhythms with Ghanaian drum masters.

Yale Philharmonia The Yale Philharmonia opened its 2014–2015 season on September 19 with Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” The orchestra was joined by the Yale Camerata and Yale Glee Club. Shinik Hahm 2

conducted; the vocal soloists were Emily Workman ’15 MM, soprano, and Leah Hawkins ’15 MM, mezzo-soprano.

Composer/conductor John Adams visited in October to lead the Philharmonia in his own music alongside pieces by Stravinsky and Beethoven; see page 6 for story.

Principal guest conductor Peter Oundjian led the orchestra’s November concert, which featured music from the first half of the twentieth century by two Americans, Gershwin and Barber, and two Europeans who spent time at Yale: Elgar and Hindemith.

The program included Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis, Barber’s Symphony No. 1, and Elgar‘s Introduction and Allegro. Elgar dedicated the piece to Yale faculty member Samuel Simons Sanford, who had been instrumental in having Elgar awarded an honorary doctorate of music at Yale University in 1905.

The annual New Music for Orchestra concert on December 11 featured the

Left: Angélique Kidjo performs in Woolsey Hall. Above: John Adams conducts the Yale Philharmonia.

Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale and, for the first time, the chamber chorus of the Yale Camerata. The chorus performed three works by first-year composition students Natalie Dietterich, Tiange Zhou, and Katherine Balch. The Yale Philharmonia then presented pieces by second-year students Michael Laurello, Jesse Limbacher, and Nicholas DiBerardino.

Yongyan Hu returned to Yale in January to lead the Philharmonia in a program of French and Catalonian music. Mezzo-soprano Aleksandra Romano ’14 MM, a winner of the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition, sang Xavier Montsalvatge’s Cinco Canciones Negras. Also on the program were Debussy’s La Mer and two Ravel pieces. The rest of the season includes the Philharmonia’s annual concert in Sprague Hall, an April concert with Oundjian featuring Brahms’ Symphony No. 2, and a program led by Hahm highlighting works by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.

Oneppo Chamber Music Series features the resident Brentano Quartet The Brentano Quartet, new resident quartet of the School of Music, opened the 2014–15 season of the Oneppo Chamber Music Series with a soldout concert on September 23, 2014.

The series, which is under the artistic direction of David Shifrin, will also feature the Quartet in its last concert of the season, in May. On October 28, the Orion String Quartet and Windscape performed Bach’s Art of the Fugue in Samuel Baron’s arrangement for string quartet and wind quintet. Two string quartets joined the Brentano on the series: the Jupiter on November 18 and the Danish on February 17.

A performance by the Dutch early music ensemble Musica ad Rhenum on March 3 was co-presented by the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, which also presents its own concert series. A program called Letters from Argentina, on March 31, features performances of tango music performed by violinist Cho-Liang Lin, along with David Shifrin, clarinet; Pablo Aslan, bass; Satoshi Takaeishi, percussion; and Hector del Curto, bandoneon.

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Did you know?

Edward Elgar received an honorary doctorate from Yale on June 28, 1905. That ceremony was the first time that his Pomp and Circumstance March was played at a Commencement ceremony.

Horowitz Piano Series presents guest pianists Richard Goode, Peter Serkin The Horowitz Piano Series at Yale presents a wide range of concerts in the 2014–2015 season. Guest artists and Yale faculty offered performances of music from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century.

Many events this season have centered around the legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven. Richard Goode opened the series on October 1 with a program of late Beethoven works. The second guest artist on the series was Peter Serkin, who played music from the Renaissance

by Josquin, Dowland, Byrd, and others, as well as selections by Mozart and Schoenberg, on October 22.

Yale Opera performed Rossini’s La Cenerentola at Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall, May 2014

Boris Berman, the artistic director of the series, paired two sets of Beethoven variations (including the “Eroica” Variations in E-flat major) with selections by Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Peter Frankl opened the spring semester on January 14 with Beethoven and Schumann, including Schumann’s Waldszenen and Beethoven’s “Les Adieux.”

Deputy Dean Melvin Chen explored music by Bach, Prokofiev, and Brahms on December 10. And Wei-Yi Yang commemorated the 100th anniversary of Alexander Scriabin’s death in 2015.

His program, on February 4, featured selections from Scriabin’s enigmatic and mystical Études and Poèmes intertwined with works of Chopin and Liszt. The season concludes with Hung-Kuan Chen on March 25.

Ellington Jazz Series The 2014–2015 season of the Ellington Jazz Series at Yale, directed by Willie Ruff, had four concerts, beginning Friday, September 12 with the Ravi Coltrane Quartet. Two ensembles that performed at Yale in 2012 returned for this season: the Ron Carter Trio on

October 24, and the Mingus Big Band, a tribute to the late Charles Mingus, on December 5.

The season closed on March 6 with “The Tuskegee Airmen, Yardbird, and the Blues: The American Jazz Century,” a multimedia program hosted by Willie Ruff. Featured artists included the pianist Aaron Diehl, who performed with his trio, and the duo of Amanda Kemp and Michael Jamamis performing “The Chaconne Emancipated,” a dramatic setting of J.S. Bach’s timeless Chaconne for solo violin, interwoven with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, African American spirituals, and Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Yale Opera Yale Opera is enjoying a year rich in performance opportunities. The season opened with the annual Fall Opera Scenes on November 1 and 2. The production, which presented a different selection of scenes each day, featured the work of stage director Marc Verzatt and musical directors Douglas Dickson and Timothy Shaindlin.

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Later that month, Yale Opera teamed up with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra for a full-staged performance of Puccini’s one-act opera Suor Angelica.

This was the first such collaboration between the NHSO and Yale Opera.

The creative team included stage director Verzatt and costumes by John Carver Sullivan; St. Mary’s Church became the opera’s set. On that same program, the NHSO also gave the world premiere of Virtue by YSM faculty composer Christopher Theofanidis ’94 MMA, ’97 DMA. December focused on lieder, with two programs dedicated to art song.

At the Liederabend on December 6, the first half of the concert consisted of Russian art songs, and the second was comprised of arias and duets from Russian operas. The performance featured pianist Emily Olin and narrator Richard Cross.

Singers from Yale Opera performed on the Yale in New York concert series in a program featuring vocal treasures from the Frederick R. Koch Collection, housed at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Three singers

Valery Gergiev leads the Yale Philharmonia in an orchestral reading, left; in conversation in Sprague Hall, right.

in the Yale Opera program performed: soprano Nicole Percifield ’15 AD sang Debussy’s Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire; mezzo-soprano Evanna Chiew ’15 MM sang songs by Mahler and Sibelius; and baritone Brian Vu ’14 MM, ’15 AD sang two sets of songs, one of German-language Lieder by Wolf and Schumann, the other of French songs

by Duparc.

The singers were joined by pianists Miki Sawada ’14 MM and DMA student Yevgeny Yontov ’14 MM. The program was presented Thursday, December 4 in New Haven and Sunday, December 7 in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

For its major production of the season, Yale Opera presented Mozart‘s The Marriage of Figaro February 13–15 at New Haven’s Shubert Theater. Ted Huffman was the stage director of this original production, and Dominique Trottein conducted, with the Yale Philharmonia taking part. The creative team also include costume designer Rebecca Welles and lighting designer William Warfel. Set designer Marsha Ginsberg made her Yale Opera debut with this production.

Valery Gergiev, Mariinsky Chorus visit for daylong residency The Yale School of Music held a residency with Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, and the Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre, on Friday, January 16, 2015.

NPR calls Gergiev “a powerful force in the world of classical music” and “an unstoppable promoter of Russian culture.” The article notes a pivotal point in his career: “In 1988, when Gergiev was in his mid-30s, he took the helm of the historic Kirov Theater, a jewel of imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. The Mariinsky, as it’s now called, has been home to Russia’s greatest performing artists: Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Nureyev and Baryshnikov. In 1892, The Nutcracker received its world premiere there.”

The residency began with an open conversation between Gergiev and Robert Blocker, Dean of the School of Music, on the stage of Morse Recital Hall. Gergiev then moved to Woolsey Hall to lead the Yale Philharmonia in 5

a reading of two Russian orchestral works: Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy and Stravinsky’s Firebird.

The day culminated in a public concert by the widely renowned Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre, conducted by Pavel Petrenko.

These events were made possible by the generous friendship of Frederick Iseman ’75 BA, a Yale College alumnus and chairman of the Mariinsky Foundation of America. ||

Yale awards honorary Doctor of Music degree to alumnus Joseph Polisi

Residency with Composer John Adams Renowned American composer and conductor John Adams return to the university in his multiple roles as composer, conductor, and thinker during a weeklong residency Oct. 12–19. Adams took part in a panel discussion and conducted two concerts with the Yale Philharmonia and the Brentano String Quartet.

At Yale’s 313th Commencement Exercises on Monday, May 19, the University awarded honorary degrees to twelve “individuals who have achieved distinction in their fields.”

Among these awards were two Honorary Doctor of Music degrees, awarded to Joseph Polisi ’73MM ’75MMA ’80DMA, and bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley.

The panel discussion included Peter Salovey, president of Yale, and Robert Blocker, dean of the Yale School of Music. Video of that discussion is available on the School’s website.

Mr. Polisi, president of The Juilliard School since 1984, was recognized for his contributions to arts education. Said President Salovey upon presenting the degree:

The residency culminated in two concerts that showcased Adams’ dual roles as conductor and composer. He conducted the Yale Philharmonia in his own Beethoven-inspired piece Absolute Jest, paired with Stravinsky’s Orpheus and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4. “Absolute Jest,” a concerto for string quartet and orchestra, featured the Brentano String Quartet in its debut year as Yale’s quartet-in-residence.

“For thirty years, you have led Juilliard, the world’s leading conservatory for professional training in music, dance, and drama.

A compelling advocate for the arts, you are a gifted musician, teacher, and administrator. You have been instrumental in creating community outreach programs, bringing the arts to children in city schools, and working for curriculum reform to embrace the arts.

You have used your background in international relations to further musical diplomacy in international settings and to promote the role of the arts in public discourse and experience. You are one of Yale’s own, and we are proud to award this degree of Doctor of Music.

Concerts took place Oct. 17 in Woolsey Hall and, to open the eighth season of the Yale in New York concert series, Oct. 19 in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The New York Times wrote, “The excellent Brentano String Quartet… played with a judicious blend of command and spontaneity. The young orchestra musicians looked and sounded inspired.”

Adams’ residency at Yale also included private workshops with School of Music graduate students. He met with student composers and also coached performance students working on his compositions.

Joseph Polisi has fashioned The Juilliard School into the world’s leading and best known conservatory. His leadership is admired and respected by peers throughout the world, and his gifts as a musician and author reflect his commitment to the fine and liberal arts. President Polisi is one of the School’s most distinguished graduates, and his enduring friendship has enriched the YSM community.” ||

Yale awarded John Adams an honorary Doctor of Music degree in 2013. He presented Yale’s Tanner Lectures on Human Values in 2009. || Watch the panel discussion with John Adams: music.yale.edu/video/john-adams-pres-salovey

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Croatian President Speaks on “Music and Politics”

Four New Haven Students Receive Instruments from Music In Schools Initiative This past summer, during a Morse Summer Music Academy concert, the Music in Schools Initiative awarded four students with brand-new instruments in honor of their hard work and dedication to the program. This is the second year that Yale has been able to distribute instruments to students, thanks to the John Miller Instrument Fund.

Ivo Josipovic, the president of Croatia, connected music with politics in a talk given on September 22.

Elected president in 2010, Josipovic holds degrees in both music and law; he has a degree in composition from the Zagreb Academy of Music, and has taught harmony at the academy in addition to teaching law at the University of Zagreb. He has served as director of Music Biennale Zagreb and as Secretary-General of the Croatian Composers’ Society.

The four students, along with their current school enrollments, are: Jordan Lampo, percussion (11th grade, Wilbur Cross High School) Joseline Tlacomulco, clarinet (12th grade, Co-Op High School)

In his talk, Josipovic explored a broad spectrum of his topic, from drawing parallels between statesmen and musicians to commenting on his own use of music in political campaigning and governing. He also discussed the role of music in war, noting that music has been used both to rally people for war and to protest against it, and that musicians have participated both willingly and unwillingly in war.

Josipovic played a wide variety of musical examples, including excerpts from Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer, and Melissa Dunphy’s Gonzales Cantata. Introducing a clip from the song “Imagine” by John Lennon, Josipovic spoke about the power of musicians in society and their role in politics. “Pop musicians are very important. I quite appreciate John Lennon’s approach: he’s dreaming of a better society.” ||

Justin Lewis, baritone saxophone (12th grade, Co-Op High School) Richard Romero, alto saxophone (Freshman, University of New Haven) These students have each participated in the Morse Summer Music Academy, as well as in- and after-school programs with the Music in Schools Initiative, for several years. They were selected by their teachers and teaching artists based on their musical promise and leadership. They may use the instruments through high school and college as long as they stay involved in music. When they finish college, the instruments are officially transferred to their ownership.

The John Miller Instrument Fund was created to honor the memory of John Miller ’07 MM, who served as the manager of Music in Schools Initiative from 2006 to 2011. The fund was designed to provide better instruments for deserving instrumental performers from the New Haven Public Schools, who have participated in the Music in Schools Initiative and the Morse Summer Music Academy. ||

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Artists,Teaching

By Donna Larcen

What if you had a class for school-age children that promotes cooperation, sharpens focus, and improves coordination? It would address every aspect of a person’s development.

Wouldn’t that be worth doing?

Four graduates of the Yale School of Music think so.

Dantes Rameau, Olivia Malin, Paul Murphy, and Laura Usiskin are involved in programs helping innercity children play musical instruments.

They have taken their musical acumen, combined it with teaching skills, and found ways to interact with city children to bring the joy and discipline of learning and playing music. These are multi-layered success stories.

Their experiences with children have shaped their attitudes about being a professional musician. Here are their stories.

Dantes Rameau ’07 MM, BASSOON ATLANTA MUSIC PROJECT Dantes Rameau grew up in Ottawa, the son of parents from Cameroon and Haiti. He started music lessons at age 6.

“Now that I have some perspective, I think they wanted to expose me to things not generally associated with young black boys,” Dantes says of his parents. “They let me play basketball, hockey, be in the Boy Scouts, but they wouldn’t let me quit music lessons…

I realized this later and at 32, I am capable of doing anything.”

Now he is the teacher, encouraging inner city kids in Atlanta to reach their dreams through practice and performing in the Atlanta Music Project, which he started in June, 2010.

The program works with 150 kids in four locations, providing instruments, teachers, and chances to play in public.

Dantes found his calling at Yale’s Music in Schools Initiative.

“In my second year at Yale I heard about the program in orientation,” he says. “I 8

saw it as a huge opportunity to put more skills in my toolkit, a way to help me make a living.”

After working with the New Haven students, “I said to myself I was going to pursue a performance career, but I was never turning my back on these kids.”

After Yale, Dantes spent two years at Carnegie Mellon University in a performance residency program studying with Nancy Goeres, principal bassoon at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The next year, with the support of an Abreu Fellows Program (named for the founder of El Sistema, José Antonio Abreu), he attended the New England Conservatory of Music, and spent two months in Venezuela working with El Sistema, the free music program that has taught 1 million mostly-poor children how to play instruments. Its most famous graduate is Gustavo Dudamel, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“What I saw really inspired what we do at the Atlanta Music Project…

The teachers are from the community and they feel a responsibility to the neighborhood and the kids….

DANTES RAMEAU

“Professional musicians come back to bring up the next generation.

This sense of taking your destiny in your hands really appeals to me.”

Professional musicians come back to bring up the next generation. This sense of taking your destiny in your hands really appeals to me.”

At the end of the fellowship Dantes had the choice of starting his own organization or joining an established program.

“I felt it was important to work with young African American kids,” Dantes says. “They need to see an African American leader.”

He chose Atlanta because his aunt and uncle retired there and he had a place to stay. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra gave him office space. He received $6,200 from the Sparkplug Foundation for startup money. He launched a Kickstarter campaign online that raised $19,000 in 55 days. In July, 2011, the Coca Cola Foundation kicked in $50,000. In November, 2011 Dantes was one of 25 artists from 9,000 applicants to receive $25,000 from AOL’s Artists 2 for 25 grant program. He invested it in the AMP. “We have raised over $1 million. We are always looking for funding and exposure to raise our credibility.”

He now has four employees, 16 teachers on contract, and reaches out to 150 students in four locations. He expects to serve 300 kids by 2017. He has a board of directors and is making three-year plans. His goal in 2015 is to launch a new choir program. By 2016 he expects to be able to populate a full orchestra.

“I still feel like I play bassoon way better than I lead a nonprofit,” Dantes says.

He leans on others to mentor him. “I look to worldly musicians who give back.” He thinks about the lessons Frank Morelli gave him at Yale and “the way he taught music. He always tied it to something greater,” he says of his bassoon mentor.

Along the way he received recognition for his accomplishments and his program.

Dantes is in awe that when he calls Robert Blocker, the YSM dean will take his call.

In 2010 he gave a TEDx talk about using music for social change. He was in the 2012 class of LEAD Atlanta, a nine-month community education course for young professionals. In 2013 Ebony Magazine chose him as a Community Crusader in its Power 100 list of influential African Americans.

The McGill Alumni Association gave him the James G. Wright Award for exemplary contributions to their community. In 2014 the Atlanta Business League included him in its Men of Influence Award program.

He thinks back to his parents who made him practice when he spells out to Atlanta parents what it will take to be successful.

Dantes has been invited back to Yale to speak about his experiences.

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“They have to put in two hours a day,” he says. “It’s a lot of effort. I tell them that the program is designed for the kids to do well. The kids are being instilled with a work ethic, ambition and desire for excellence.”

He also teaches a lesson about the benefits of working in a group as musicians and basketball players.

“Look at LeBron James. He grew up playing in an AAU team from sixth grade with the same six boys and played with them through high school.

PAUL MURPHY

“We started out talking about thunderstorms and making the sounds, then recording them... Then I played music Beethoven composed that sounds like a thunderstorm. By then the kids are excited.”

They never got into trouble. If I can give that same opportunity to six kids from the same neighborhood… I say to their parents, if you want a different outcome for your children, try a different experience.”

Laura Usiskin ’09 AD, ’13 DMA, CELLO MONTGOMERY MUSIC PROJECT Laura Usiskin started piano lessons at age four in her hometown of Winnetka, Illinois.

“My parents thought it was a good idea,” she says. At five she took up the cello and played both instruments until, at age 11, the cello won.

Her first cello teacher was Gilda Barston at the Music Institute of Chicago. In high school she studied with Richard Hirschl of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In college she hedged her bets. She entered a BA program at Columbia in neuroscience and behavior, all the while studying music at Juilliard which resulted in a Master of Music degree.

Music became the focus. She went on to Yale in 2006 to study for a doctorate in music. She received the Aldo Parisot Prize, marking her as someone likely to succeed in a solo career. She studied with the legendary Parisot.

“After I finished the DMA coursework at Yale I was encouraged to go out in the world and put together a portfolio.

It’s the equivalent of a dissertation two-to-five years after the course work is completed,” Laura says, from her current home in Birmingham, Ala. In the fall of 2010, she accepted a paid two-year residency with the Montgomery Symphony, which is a volunteer orchestra. Her charge was to be the principal player in the string section, play a concerto with the orchestra, and perform three recitals each season. She moved to Montgomery, rehearsed weekly, and found there was flexibility in her schedule between rehearsals and performances.

“I had in mind I would get involved in music in the community. Early in my tenure I went to a rehearsal at the Montgomery Youth Orchestra. I wondered where they learned to play.

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There wasn’t much going on in the public schools,” she says. “Some of them had private lessons.”

She talked to Thomas Hinds, the conductor of the Montgomery Symphony, and to its then-manager, violinist Helen Steineker.

“Both of them recognized that a kids’ orchestra is a great thing for the community,” she says. They were already running one, but where could the kids get training?

Usiskin thought about Venezuela’s El Sistema model of teaching and its method of incorporating music as a community value. She was most familiar with the Suzuki model, begun

by Shin’ichi Suzuki, who believed young children could learn violin if the lessons were broken down to easy steps.

“It is very expensive for a child to take private lessons, and instrument rental is cost-prohibitive for so many families,” she reasoned. “Let’s make it affordable.”

Laura wanted to get the program up and running quickly, since her Montgomery contract was only for two years.

“On July 1 of 2011 we had done zero fundraising and I was registering kids for a mid-August start. It was a leap of faith. We had a whole group of people who became the advisory board. We started an online campaign — which wasn’t as prevalent at the time. We got in at the perfect moment on Indiegogo.”

She used the nonprofit status of the symphony. They agreed to allow her startup to use the symphony’s mailing list one time. She wrote an appeal letter and people gave. “That was a huge bump, financially.”

She sought advice from her Yale colleague, Dantes Rameau, who was staring his own kids’ music project in Atlanta. “He is the real deal for sure,” Laura says. “We overlapped.”

She applied for some grants. The first year she raised about $20,000 and had 40 students, the second 80 students, the third 100 students. The Yale alumniVentures committee gave her an $8,000 grant for 2011–12. The program is now held in 15 locations around Montgomery. Most students receive scholarships, but all are required to pay something. The Montgomery Symphony Association handles finances.

She recruited fellow Yalie Peter Povey ’09 MM to run two-week summer camps for violin, viola, and cello students. He stayed for three years. Povey, who grew up in England, was a classmate at Eton with Prince William.

The string students were invited to open for the Montgomery symphony in an outdoor concert. In a New York Daily News story, Povey said the kids played Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” “The audience went wild,” he said. “It was like the best thing they’d ever seen.”

Except for Laura, all of the original teachers have moved on. Noemí Oeding is the current executive director and oversees seven teachers, including Laura—who drives in from Birmingham, where she lives with her husband, Jason Robins ’06 MM, a YSM graduate and trombone player with the Alabama Symphony.

Laura has an active solo and group career. In New Haven she had a oneyear fellowship with the Yale Baroque Ensemble, and she played with the symphony orchestras in New Haven and Jacksonville. She performed at Yale’s summer home in Norfolk. She’s a founding member of Arté Trio in New York City.

“I ran the program from Birmingham a couple days a week, then made the 90-mile commute and did the rest from Montgomery. I left it in good shape and I am still teaching there.” Laura stepped down as executive director in January, 2014.

Paul Murphy ’05 MM, TRUMPET THE ACADEMY, DECODA Paul Murphy had aspirations to be a pediatrician, but one with a sense of humor.

“I was really into Patch Adams,” he says of the doctor, famous for wearing a clown nose and making his patients laugh. “But I also love music, so I was a double major at St. Olaf’s College.”

The Minnesota native soon discovered that music was the bigger draw.

He was leaning toward the cello, but ended up a trumpet player. “Trumpet is the coolest instrument, and I stayed with my teacher from middle school through high school.”

After college he studied with Allan Dean at YSM. His time at Yale prepared him to be a performer. He pursued that after graduation, taking a job as principal trumpet of the Daejeon Philharmonic in South Korea. It didn’t work out.

He left South Korea disheartened and moved back to his parents’ house. He took an office job doing data entry.

He had doubts about music. He was looking at law school.

The low point came at the office Christmas party. He told his boss he played the trumpet and would be happy to perform some holiday tunes.

She turned him down, saying the 11

instrument was too loud and would be more appropriate for a Fourth of July party outdoors.

“That was a turning point,” Paul says.

“I had no music connection. I had to do something.”

He read an article in the New York Times about a new academy that Carnegie and Juilliard were starting intending to train the musicians of the next generation.

He called the Carnegie box office to apply to the fellowship program. No one had information. He sent emails.

No response.

Finally someone found his email, contacted him, and told him to be ready to audition in two weeks. He called Allan Dean for a reference. Meanwhile, he applied to festival programs in Los Angeles and Chicago.

“I had to do something. I wanted to be a musician, not work in an office. I had to fight my way back in.”

He was chosen as an Ensemble ACJW Fellow at The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute.

It got him back on track.

“The odds against making a living are totally stacked against you,” Paul says about music as a profession. “Allan Dean taught us to take advantage of everything like how to work with colleagues, take courses in things outside music, and work on your personal growth.”

He is now a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic, a job he started in 2008. He visits 60 schools a year reaching out to school children and telling them about the orchestra and music. He regularly works with grade school children in East Harlem, the Bronx, and Park Slope. He tailors his music lessons to his students.

“I gave a lesson about Beethoven to third graders at a Catholic school in Harlem. We started out talking about thunderstorms and making the sounds, then recording them... Then I played music Beethoven composed that sounds

LAURA USISKIN

“It is very expensive for a child to take private lessons, and instrument rental is cost-prohibitive for so many families. Let’s make it affordable.” like a thunderstorm. By then the kids are excited.”

His struggles have made him appreciative.

“Every day I feel incredibly lucky.

Even on tough days, I know I have ownership of my career.”

Paul also works as a freelance trumpeter. He is a co-founder of and performer with Decoda, a chamber collective which began in 2011 and has been named an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall. He has performed on the soundtrack of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” played in the big Christmas show at Radio City, and acted as cohost for the New York Philharmonic’s Young Peoples concerts. He teaches trumpet through online lessons.

In 2011 he and fellow Yale graduate James Austin Smith ’08 MM received $5,000 from the alumniVentures grants program for their podcast project to “declassify” classical music in monthly hour-long programs.

He makes mention of a friend, James Ehnes, who poses a question he’s been thinking about in a piece picked up by the Huffington Post.

“Why don’t schools ask students to listen to a Beethoven symphony or Miles Davis in the same way that they demand students study the works of Mark Twain or Shakespeare?”

Paul is trying to do something to answer that question.

“One of the reasons I love my job as a teaching artist at the New York Philharmonic is that I DO get to draw students deeply inside the canon of great musical literature.”

Paul balances his own music performance with teaching music to New York children.

“I have two pillars in my life: performing and service. Maybe it’s the Midwest part of me,” he says. “I think of my teaching as a personal mission to draw people into the art of music. It’s a beautiful thing to experience that.”

He writes a music blog, One Musical Citizen (www.onemusicalcitizen.com), “on finding meaning and vocation as a 21st-century musician.”

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Olivia Malin ’07 MM, TRUMPET When Olivia Malin was four, her parents gave her a xylophone for Christmas. She moved on to piano at age five, but her teacher “fired” her because “I didn’t like the endings of songs. I came up with my own.”

So she switched to trumpet.

“I was just really excited,” Olivia says.

“I was loud and I always played the melody.”

She liked that it was not a traditional girl’s instrument. She became interested when her music teacher set up a band camp in the fourth grade.

In high school she joined the jazz and concert bands.

She grew up in Burkittsville, Maryland, went to a Catholic grammar school, moved to a public high school and then thought about joining the U.S. Marines.

“My dad pointed out that I was a little headstrong to take orders,” Olivia says.

“But he didn’t see music as a profession because it wouldn’t bring in enough money.”

OLIVIA MALIN

“I didn’t know how much meaning [teaching] would have. It was life and career changing for me.”

“My dad is right, music is not an easy path,” Olivia says. “It’s a crapshoot.”

Olivia went to Illinois Wesleyan University and then on to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

She wanted to get her graduate degree at Yale.

“I had a really amazing teacher in North Carolina,” she says. “He totally prepared me for my audition for Yale. I met Allan Dean ahead of time and he was incredibly friendly. I played my audition pieces in a performance settings so when I went to Yale, I was ready.”

At Yale she worked as a teaching artist at three schools in New Haven as part of the Music in the Schools Initiative. Just before she graduated, Associate Dean Michael Yaffe asked Olivia and a fellow student, trombonist John Miller ’07 MM, to head up the YSM program.

“He knew I loved teaching. I was really devoted to community outreach,” Olivia says. “I didn’t know how much meaning it would have. It was life and career changing for me. It put a lot of things into focus.”

She says she loves orchestral music, but it always made her a little nervous. “I

thought I would get over it… I am never, never nervous on stage playing jazz.

She was in charge of music at the Mauro-Sheridan K-8 school in New Haven. “Yale paid me to be the band director,” Olivia says.

Olivia has taken those skills to the Bronx.

“I fell in love and wanted to move to New York. I always wanted to be in a bigger city. I grew up in a farm town. I wanted to have an impact on students who might need me more. I wanted to be in the Bronx or Harlem.”

But where to find work? There are not that many jobs available for band directors in New York City, and Olivia found that it tends to be a closed circle.

The schools hire those already in the system.

“My name was on a teacher database. A school in the Bronx called me. They interviewed me. It was a perfect fit.”

The Kappa International High School hired Olivia as its music teacher.

The school has about 500 students. “I ended up with about 35 kids in the band.

I have recruiting to do and instruments 13

that need repair. The band director that left was really loved… We are climbing.

I am used to a lot of noise.”

Olivia welcomes mentoring. “I ask others to observe my class. I get observed a lot. I get positive feedback.

Some is very practical. I use the advice the next day.”

Her music classes are a mix of history, music theory, and appreciation. She’s throwing in some world music. All the ninth graders have to take her music class. Music and the arts are a priority at the school.

Olivia still performs with Yale-based band, Brass; her salsa band, Mikata; and her Nigerian Highlife band. She takes the train up to Connecticut for gigs.

So the little girl who liked to make up her own endings to songs is now helping others write their own beginnings. It’s a work in progress.

“I can see myself doing this for a long time,” Olivia says. “It feels very good right now. This could be my forever job.” ||

Fifth Symposium on Music in Schools to Spotlight Music Partnerships

By Michael Yaffe, Associate Dean Director, Symposium on Music in Schools

While the Yale School of Music is primarily a graduate program for composers and performers, a unique biennial event recognizes the work of music teachers across America. The fifth Yale Symposium on Music in Schools, made possible by an endowment created by the Yale College Class of 1957, will be held June 4–7, 2015. The Symposium has two functions: to encourage high-level discussion about the importance of music as an integral part of young people’s lives, and to recognize teachers with the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Awards.

This year’s Symposium will focus on partnerships between professional music organizations and public school music programs. In the fall and winter, the School solicited applications from programs that have substantive partnerships and created a program stronger than either partner could do on its own. In June, 35–40 partnership programs will attend the Symposium with each program sending two representatives to New Haven, one from the public school and one from the professional music organization. These organizations can include chamber music groups, individual musicians, orchestras, opera companies, community music schools, university music schools, jazz ensembles, popular music groups, and other organizations.

Sebastian Ruth

Joanne Lipman

The Symposium participants will spend three days in strategic sessions exploring their role in creating quality music activities for school children, and how and why their partnership is such an important way to accomplish these aims. It will also explore the political, philosophical, and practical reasons why partnerships must have clear missions, a sustainable model, research capabilities, and connections to the curriculum of the public school.

In addition, educational researchers Jill and Robert Beck will challenge the attendees to strengthen their partnerships through research that will serve the local program and also the national discussion about the value of music education.

The Symposium will feature a major speech

by Sebastian Ruth, a visiting lecturer at YSM who is the founding director of Community Music Works in Providence, RI and a MacArthur Fellow. Professor Ruth teaches a YSM course on Music and Civil Society, and his address to the attendees will explore the philosophical basis of the claim that musicians can develop programs that will make their communities as a whole stronger and more vibrant.

In addition, David Lang ’89 DMA, a professor in the YSM composition program, will give a talk on the differences he perceives in the delivery of music education to him and to his son. Lang, Musical America’s Composer of the Year in 2013, is the co-founder and director of Bang on a Can. Finally, journalist Joanne Lipman, author of Strings Attached, will discuss ways in which she feels music educators can make the case for the value of their work in the context of the general education of young people.

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The Symposium allows the School of Music to make the connection between quality music programs in the public schools and the development of professional musicians, amateurs, and audience members. In addition, it articulates a vision that supports the work of pre-college music teachers, and in this case also their partners in the music community of their region.

In hopes of continuing the conversation about educational partnerships beyond the Symposium, YSM will publish and disseminate papers, conversations, and interviews following the Symposium. ||

Trio of Websites Complete SCHOOL OF MUSIC SITE LAUNCHED IN 2013; WEBSITES FOR YALE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND NORFOLK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL COMPLETE THE PROJECT The School of Music proudly announces the completion of its suite of websites, with the August launch of new sites for the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments (collection.yale.edu) and Yale Summer School of Music/ Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (norfolk.yale.edu).

The Collection and Norfolk sites, along with the Yale School of Music’s website (music.yale.edu) launched in the fall of 2013, were created by a broad partnership that included School of Music staff members, the Yale Digital Collections Center, and Madison Mott.

The School of Music’s website has won two W3 silver awards and a silver award from the Connecticut Art Directors Club. The site was also nominated for a Webby Award in the School/University category.

The sites were designed on the same footprint by Monica Ong Reed, designer at the Yale School of Music. Dana Astmann, the manager of communications for the School, led content strategy and copywriting, and Austin Kase produced the video library, including the School’s award-winning overture video.

Watch the video online: music.yale.edu/video/music Team members from Madison Mott included project manager Kristyn Shayon Miller and developer Jordan Miller, who created the highly customized WordPress sites.

The teams worked closely with Carly Bogen from the Yale Digital Collections Center to integrate the organizations’ digital assets—including still photography, audio, and video content—with the WordPress interface.

For the Collection, the extensive interface also included metadata such as measurements, descriptions, and provenances. This enhanced access to information will benefit scholars, instrument makers, and music lovers throughout the world in researching musical instruments.

The Collection, which is directed by William Purvis, offered much help from curators Susan Thompson and Nicholas Renouf as well as museum interns Kelly Hill, Jane Mitchell, and Katrin Endrikat.

For the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Deanne Chin worked with the YSM templates to tailor the site to Norfolk’s atmosphere and use cases. ||

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Faculty News

Paul Berry receives Provost’s Teaching Award Assistant Professor of Music History Paul Berry ’99 BA, ’07 PhD was honored as one of the winners of the 2013–14 Yale Provost’s Teaching Awards. The awards celebrate teaching excellence at Yale.

The cornerstone of the Provost’s Teaching Initiative is the development and recognition of outstanding teaching by untenured faculty university-wide. With the generous support of an anonymous donor, the Provost’s Teaching Prize acknowledges the teaching excellence of 10 members of Yale’s untenured faculty each year.

The citation for Berry’s award noted: Paul displays an exuberant passion for the subject of music. He has a gift for integrating the diverse cultures and backgrounds of School of Music students and engaging them as learning partners in making sense of music and its role in society—past, present, and future. Because Berry is both a scholar and a practicing musician, his class presentations reflect new ideas about historical works and a clear understanding of music in our own time.

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Aaron Jay Kernis receives A.I. duPont Composer’s Award, is the subject of new biography Professor Adjunct of Composition Aaron Jay Kernis received the 2014 A.I. duPont Composer’s Award from the Delaware Symphony Orchestra.

The award recognizes a living American composer or conductor who has contributed significantly to contemporary classical music. Kernis, a Philadelphia native and 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner, accepted the prize at the DSO’s final chamber concert last spring.

The program featured Kernis’ Musica Celestis alongside selections by Webern and Mendelssohn.

Last September, author and musicologist Leta Miller published a combined biography and a wideranging introduction to Kernis’ work.

The book was published by Illinois University Press as a part of the American Composers series.

Kernis was also selected for induction into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Carol Jantsch commissions tuba concerto from alumnus Michael Daugherty

David Lang, Alvin Singleton elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters

Composer Michael Daugherty ’82 MMA, ’87 DMA wrote a tuba concerto for Carol Jantsch, and several performances of it are coming up in the spring. Jantsch, Lecturer in Tuba at YSM, will record the Daugherty concerto with the Albany Symphony in conjunction with performances of both the Vaughan Williams and Daugherty concertos. She will also record and premiere the band version of the work with the University of Michigan Symphony Band.

Composers David Lang ’83 MMA, ’89 DMA, a member of the YSM composition faculty, and alumnus Alvin Singleton ’71 MMA were recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Finally, Jantsch will play the Daugherty on a subscription concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra in March.

Jantsch is the principal tubist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Lang, Professor Adjunct of Composition, held Carnegie Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Chair in Composition for the 2013–2014 season.

His activities there culminated in a concert series, Collected Stories, that took place in April 2014. The series explored six distinct themes—entitled hero, spirit, love/loss, travel, (post)folk, and memoir—over six multi-genre concerts that showcased different modes of storytelling across a wide variety of music.

Singleton has served as Visiting Professor of Composition at the Yale School of Music. His career awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis by the City of Darmstadt, Germany; and (twice) the Musikprotokoll Kompositionpreis from Austrian Radio.

In 2004, Singleton joined the American Composers Orchestra as Music Alive composer-in-residence and artistic advisor for the IMPROVISE! Festival.

The academy, founded in 1898, is an honor society with a core membership of 250 writers, musicians and artists.

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Hannah Lash to embark on twoyear residency with New Haven Symphony Hannah Lash, Assistant Professor of Composition, will embark on a twoyear residency with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, 2015–2017.

She will also have a Copland House Residency this summer. Lash will be a faculty composer at the Bennington Chamber Music Festival and Composer Forum in August, and guest faculty at the Summer Composition Intensive at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana. A recording on Analog Records features her monodrama “Stoned Prince” performed by the ensemble Loadbang.

Current projects include a commission from the Cabrillo Festival, where Lash will premiere a new orchestra piece this summer; a large-scale dramatic work commissioned for City of Tomorrow (woodwind quintet), which they will take on tour and record in the 2015– 2016 season; and an opera in the works with Boston’s Guerrilla Opera.

In February, her music was featured in a Guggenheim Works and Process, along with that of David Lang ’83 MMA, ’89 DMA; Ted Hearne ’08 MM, ’09 MMA, ’14 DMA; and Caroline Shaw ’07 MM, in a project choreographed by Pam Tanowitz.

Paul Hawkshaw, Professor in the Practice of Musicology, had two major publications come out in 2014. Both were published as part of the Bruckner Collected Works Edition.

The first is a two-volume monograph in English with a German and English foreword on Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8, Anton Bruckner. Achte Symphonie C-moll: Fassungen von 1887 und 1890, Revisionsbericht. It was published last August in Vienna

by Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag.

Bruckner Collected Works Edition includes two new publications from Paul Hawkshaw

Klaus Lazika, the director of the annual Bruckner Festival at the Monastery of Saint Florian (Austria), wrote to Hawkshaw, “After 122 years (1892–2014), you are radically changing the world-wide understanding of the Eighth Symphony.” The book also received a warm review in the Bruckner Journal from Dermot Gault, who noted “the report’s vast amount of detail [and] the meticulous listings… which [set] a standard for others to follow. This is a book to be digested at leisure… and one hopes it will receive the attention it deserves.”

The second publication is in both German and English. It contains a facsimile of a manuscript of composition exercises that Bruckner did as a student. “The manuscript disappeared right after he died,” notes Hawkshaw, “and after years of detective work and negotiation, we were only able to bring it to light last year.”

Achte Symphonie C-moll: Fassungen von 1887 und 1890, Revisionsbericht. 2 vols. Anton Bruckner Sämtliche Werke VIII. Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag, 2014.

Das “Kitzler-Studienbuch”: Anton Bruckners Studien in Harmonie- und Instrumentationslehre bei Otto Kitzler (1861-63). Anton Bruckner Sämtliche Werke XXV. Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag, 2014. ||

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Yale Acquires Petryn Collection, Including Amati and Guarneri Violins COLLECTION ALSO INCLUDES TWO VIOLINS OF GERMAN MAKE, THREE BOWS BY FRENCH ARCHETIER FRANÇOIS TOURTE, AND TWELVE BOWS BY OTHER IMPORTANT ARCHETIERS The Yale Collection of Musical Instruments has acquired the Andrew F. Petryn Collection of String Instruments and Bows. The collection of more than twenty objects was received in bequest following Mr. Petryn’s death in October 2013.

Highlights include violins by Italian masters Nicolò Amati and Andrea Guarneri, and three bows by the pre-eminent French archetier François Tourte.

The Guarneri and Amati violins are magnificent examples of the work of two great representatives of the famed Cremonese school of string instrument making. They are in an especially fine state of preservation, and their provenances are well documented over the many generations that have ensued since they left the hands of their makers over four centuries ago.

In addition, the collection also comprises two violins of German make and twelve more bows by important archetiers, among them Jean Adam, Jacques LaFleur, François Nicolas Voirin, James Dodd, and Albert Nürnberger.

Andrew Petryn was born in New Haven in 1918. Precocious as a child in both music and art, he earned his BFA from the Yale School of Art, then studied at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Harvard’s Fogg Museum. Petryn took a conservation post at the Yale Art Gallery and rose to the position of Chief Conservator. He became a pioneer in developing techniques grounded in physics, chemistry, and even electron microscopy.

Petryn continued to play the violin, frequently joining YSM faculty members (including Aldo Parisot and Broadus Erle) in informal chamber music soirées. He developed a keen interest in the history and construction of the violin. A friend of Richard Rephann, former director of the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, Petryn was a charter member of the museum’s Board of Advisors. In 2004 he was named an Honorary Life Member of the Associates of the museum. Prior to this present bequest, he had donated two French bowed string instruments. ||

For more information about Andrew Petryn and this acquisition, visit: collection.yale.edu

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Nkonsonkonson

SAMUEL S. SUGGS WRITES ABOUT THE YALE PERCUSSION GROUP AND YALE CONCERT BAND TOUR OF GHANA

Throughout our tour I encountered assorted meanings of the Ashanti word Nkonsonkonson. To an academic outsider, Nkonsonkonson literally translates to a “chain link.�

One Ghanaian speaker believed the word sparked negative political overtones of bondage. Another focused on the interconnectedness of individual chain links, which creates strength. A collaborative alloy of artists and musicians across cultures and locked in rhythm served as the perfect symbol for our own definition of Nkonsonkonson.

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John Kuubeterzie, second from right, leads a body percussion workshop

T

he first morning in Accra, truck drivers arrived with our instrument rentals.

Many of the village homes have only three walls, so I was not entirely shocked when my double bass rental was dislodged from the moving van naked, without any case. The bridge of the finest double bass in Ghana bent downwards like the fuselage of a fighter jet that had been punched in the nose; and the face of the instrument had been adorned with a red racing stripe stained over botched glue repair. I was fortunate enough to live and perform with the other members of my jazz trio formed at the Yale School of Music, Jonny Allen and Doug Perry.

Although the bass was certainly a questionable piece of furniture, Doug’s promised vibraphone was in fact a xylophone, and Jonny’s only piece of drum set was the snare drum and its plastic case.

Minimalism seemed a constant theme throughout the tour.

Percussion Group a short itinerary update for the following morning stating: “6:00 am, Departure for GTV Breakfast Show. Must be there no later than 7 am.” My friends from YPG are precise time-keepers, but our drivers were not: our bus did not even arrive at the hotel until 7!

On the trip to the TV station, YPG ran through Steve Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood” when suddenly the xylophone fell victim to a sharp left turn, toppling out of the bed of the pickup truck and into a roadside ditch. White paint from the lane markers tattooed the resilient musical roadkill, reminding me of the pale racing stripe on my bass. After we rushed to meet the station’s deadline, our show Good Morning Ghana was delayed over an hour—difficult to conceive after a lifetime of strict half-hour American programming. Perhaps, I realized, my jet-lag was not a symptom of being in a foreign time-zone; Ghana was all the more foreign because I was in a timeless-zone.

Our bandleader and chief cultural diplomat, Thomas C. Duffy, had forwarded me and the Yale

Assuming everything ran in this manner, we nonchalantly headed to the first rehearsal with the Ghanaian 21

National Symphony. The rest of the band, who had slept in, arrived on the dot, and the symphony trickled in on time — but our boxes of music, as well as a few oboes and saxophones held at customs, had still not arrived from the airport.

After some photos and diplomatic repartee, we attempted a rehearsal with the wind section playing from memory. The spotlight fell on the percussion section, which consisted of about eight or nine drummers.

Each Ghanaian piece would begin with the conductor cueing the “concertmaster” drummer for two bars of percussion solo. At one point, a member of the orchestra stepped up the podium and led an AfroCuban arrangement of Beethoven’s Für Elise with a baton/drumstick whose head resembled a troll doll from the 1960s.

From the village streets of Yamoransa to the university campuses of Cape Coast and Legon, Dr. Duffy emphasized that reciprocity was the goal of our tour. We were not missionaries of Western art music. Our purpose was to celebrate the master time-keepers of our

“THE VILLAGE COMMUNITIES WERE OVERJOYED WHEN OUR GUIDE EXPLAINED TO THEM THAT WE WOULD ARCHIVE THE MUSIC OF THEIR VILLAGE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.” Samuel Suggs, bass, and Jonny Allen, drums, play with students from Legon University

culture, study and digitally document endangered traditions of Ghanaian master drummers, and explore the universality of music-making. Unlike the YCB tour of the Baltics in 2013, in which we presented traditional concerts of American wind band repertoire in fine concert halls, each concert in Ghana brought together eclectic styles.

For example, at the University of Legon in the capital city of Accra, the concert was held in an outdoor square set up like a battle of the bands. The Legon brass band in one corner would play a traditional song reminiscent of a New Orleans big band, followed by a student band playing Ghanaian Top 40 hits in another corner. Before YCB performed, an orchestra of bamboo reeds took center stage. Towards the end of the night my jazz trio joined a few Legon students to play a few tunes, including a samba arrangement from the Legend of Zelda.

The climax, for me, was the Yale Percussion Group’s performance of Steve Reich’s “Drumming.” Steve

Reich briefly studied in West Africa until his mother allegedly sent him home after he contracted malaria (a fact which the locals found uproariously humorous). This piece is a series of rhythmic patterns which shift in and out of phase with one another. Imagine a strobe light flashing onto a ceiling fan: at one particular moment, the blades will line up with the light and appear to stand still. The audience was incredibly engaged in this rhythmic game, and when the musical blades stood still and the players locked in, the audience cheered and applauded — a type of participation fabled in contemporary accounts of Mozart and heard today in jazz clubs.

One of the major concerts of the tour was the Nkonsonkonson “Unity” joint concert with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ghana held in the National Theater. After small independent sets, including a performance by YPG’s own Arx Duo using only pocket-sized shakers and toy instruments, the orchestra, concert band, and YPG joined together for the grand finale.

I sneaked between the two colossal 22

bassists in the string section, and a few YSM graduate students filled out our wind section. During an extended section of a drum set concerto performed by Jonny Allen ’13 MM, ’14 AD (which he had performed at the U.S. Embassy using only a single drum and cymbal) the Ghanaian percussion section and YPG started jamming. The two groups antiphonally traded riffs; each time the exchange would get shorter and quicker until it resembled a backand-forth drumming tennis match.

The audience ovations erupted out of the sound. Afterwards Jonny, now a celebrity, was overwhelmed by fans demanding autographs, while Doug Perry ’14 AD took a few moments to introduce the Ghanaian drummers to traditional marimba grip.

Our next adventure took us to the University of Cape Coast. A music professor explained that historically, Ghanaian musicians communicated using talking drums. Each rudimentary stroke and combination became a phonetic symbol for poetic or practical purposes.

Enraptured by the storytelling and time-keeping of the students, the

Drummers and singers from the village of Yamoransa

YPG members and myself sought out formal lessons with the master drummer. The following day, we met our teacher, John Kuubeterzie, on a hidden patio by the ocean. He told us that, regrettably, we had come during a time of the season in which drumming was forbidden outdoors — so he taught us a basic pattern to practice on our bodies. Later in the evening, I caught a few YPG members testing out the pattern in the style of a Steve Reich phasepiece.

Inside the music building the next morning, John and several of his UCC students gave us an official lesson with the drums. After learning each of the patterns individually, like gears in a Swiss watch, the Yale Percussion Group locked in the groove. Before long John was dancing along.

Amidst our construction and service visits to the village of Yamoransa, our media team led expeditions to various remote villages to document local traditions of drumming and dance. The village communities were overjoyed when our guide

explained to them that we would archive the music of their village for generations to come — a particularly heartwarming sentiment for the century-old matriarch who greeted us from behind her windowsill.

Although the dance steps were similar across the board (the music was almost always in triple meter and the feet in double), each village had its own flavor of drumming. This localization reminded me of how organ tunings in Europe during the time of Bach varied from church to church. On these adventures, I had a lengthy discussion about oratorios with a remarkable music director of a church in the city. He boasted that his congregation has performed both passions by Bach and six Handel oratorios; either composer would probably be awestruck that their legacies endure in West Africa.

The final evening concert was held in the very same square where we had been constructing the new technology center and assembling water filtration devices. Under generator-powered stadium lights, we performed Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium” surrounded 23

by hundreds of people from the village, especially young children. In the midst of the molten counterpoint, sudden darkness consumed the entire area. The generators had stopped. But the band played on from memory, without missing a beat. One by one, the musicians in the back row and audience in the front lit up the stands with cellphone lanterns, and an eternity later the stadium lights clunked back on with a roar from the crowd. At the climax of “O Magnum Mysterium” — originally a choral setting about the miracle of co-existence of all things living — the audience again responded with an ovation even though it was not rhythmic dance music. I could not hold back my own tears as cool rain sprinkled over the village as if on cue. The strongest chains are wrought of tiny links. || For more stories on the May 2014 Ghana tour, visit: music.yale.edu/ghana

A Job WITH THE

Philharmonic

YSM ALUMNI HAVE FOUND EMPLOYMENT IN MAJOR ORCHESTRAS AROUND THE GLOBE

In a classical music environment marked by shrinking demand and severe cutbacks, graduates of the Yale School of Music continue to land coveted jobs with important orchestras. We asked four recent YSM alumni — now employed full time with top symphonic ensembles in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Amsterdam — to share their stories and their insights with Music at Yale. What can they tell us about the life of a working musician today and about gaining a foothold in this competitive market?

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“It amazes me to see how my ear has opened up to differences between the New York Philharmonic and other orchestras.”

— Leelanee Sterrett

Before we get to their individual stories, here are a few factors that were shared by these musicians: They wanted these orchestra jobs. Some of their comments: “I have always wanted to be an orchestra musician.” “I think that the joy of playing with an orchestra is underestimated.”

Experience counts. Each of these musicians had a track record working in orchestras, whether at Yale, in festivals, and/or in regional ensembles. These musicians played in ensembles as often as possible. Both of the YSM graduates recently engaged by the New York Philharmonic (one of whom was interviewed for this story) spent a season performing with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra during their time at Yale, in addition to regular work with YSM ensembles.

Dealing with auditions. No one but the judges can say why someone passes an audition, but these alumni have definite thoughts about how they succeeded. One alumna describes herself as “obsessed with auditioning” from her college days, trying out for everything possible throughout her home state and taking nineteen different auditions after coming to YSM, not counting those for festivals and regional jobs. In her case, auditioning became a subject of study, a matter of figuring out empirically what the judges are looking for and how to show it to them.

publics, through teaching, chamber work, popular music, and community outreach, in an enterprising spirit. One is engaged in taking music to underserved audiences far from the concert hall, in places — including homeless shelters — not usually associated with “serious music.” While these four don’t have a pressing need for extra income they engage actively with the world outside.

Leelanee Sterrett ’10 MM

Others have an audition stance that is almost the opposite of this analytical strategy. Rather than strategizing about how to think like judges, these candidates set out to distract themselves from the judges and the judging. “I figured it was hopeless, so I would just try to enjoy myself,” said one individual. Another, reminding himself that he already had one (temporary) position he could count on, figured “I had nothing to lose.” Rather than try to impress anyone, he focused on “making music.” Both of them went in focused on playing for themselves. But, regardless of the mental approach, all four alumni stressed that their training and the experience playing in orchestras made a significant difference in their confidence level and no doubt in their audition performance.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL HORN NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC Before and after graduation from YSM, Leelanee Sterrett took part in nineteen auditions for full-time positions, in addition to others for regional jobs, as well as five or six festival auditions each year. She played four different rounds of auditions just with the New York Philharmonic, before finally securing her present full-time position. During that three-year process, she became a substitute with the orchestra, then held a one-year position, and finally won a steady spot on the roster in June 2013.

“In that last audition,” she says, “experience obviously helped a lot in knowing exactly what I wanted to sound like, and knowing the sound of the orchestra. It was a long process, spread over two months, requiring you to play some longer excerpts, including duets with the principal horn of the orchestra.

No ivory towers. These four working musicians are fully aware of their good fortune, especially given the scarcity of jobs and ensembles like theirs. They also recognize that even the best-established orchestras need to find and grow audiences. In addition to a busy work week of regular rehearsals and concerts, they pursue other activities and other

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“As an orchestra player, you have to pick up things very, very quickly. It’s a good way to get excellent training.”

— Bo Li

“The most helpful part of my studies as YSM was working with Professor [William] Purvis. He knew what I wanted to do — that I was very serious about a place in an orchestra — and he helped me kind of redirect my efforts, toward taking an in-depth approach to make my playing represent me better.

It was not so much about the specific excerpts I would play. He helped me figure out what somebody in an orchestra wants to hear from someone who is auditioning.

“It’s very much a mental process: knowing what your goals are, having a clear sense of what you are going out to do; taking a critical approach, defining aspects of your technique, musicality that needs to be… heard in that situation.”

But if the arduous auditioning is now behind her, hard work is not. “We’re often called the busiest orchestra in the world, going by the number of concerts and rehearsals that we have.”

The New York Philharmonic works from Tuesday through Saturday during regular seasons, normally four rehearsals early in the week and then three to five concerts, with a new program each week. “As a younger player, I’ve worked really hard to keep on top of all the repertoire, a lot of it new to me.

I study scores, listen to a lot of recordings. This is what takes most of my time outside of the rehearsals.

Bo Li ’09 MM CO-PRINCIPAL VIOLA HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC Bo Li found his job online. “I was in Beijing in 2010,” he recalls, having just started as principal viola with the newly founded China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, “when I learned about the Hong Kong opening. I became very interested, and also very curious about the city, and one time I heard a concert by the Hong Kong Philharmonic. I was impressed, and they are very well known in Asia.”

“In rehearsing, it’s all about the length of sound, used to create forward momentum in the sound. Everything has to have weight as well as motion within the phrase. Because of the acoustics in Avery Fisher Hall, it’s necessary to play with stronger articulation in certain passages to find where the notes are starting. Also, the orchestra, especially the brass section, has a tradition of a darkness and depth of sound. It amazes me to see how my ear has opened up to differences between the New York Philharmonic and other orchestras.”

Since moving to Hong Kong in 2011, Bo Li has become adjusted to certain cultural differences. Born in the far north of China, near the border with Russia, he encountered a language barrier in Hong Kong.

“At first I couldn’t understand when people spoke to me. They speak Cantonese, which is very different from Mandarin. I can read it, and I know what it means, but it was a shock hearing it at first. But I like it here,” he says enthusiastically. “It’s quite comfortable.

While living in a notoriously expensive city, Leelanee calls herself fortunate in not having to supplement her base income.

“But I do a little private teaching and I play in a small group, a quartet of women horn players who do original arrangements of pop music. We call ourselves Genghis Barbie, a name representing femininity but also toughness. We are warrior women of the horn, ‘conquering and pillaging’ in a musical sense since 2009. We’ve made recordings and we’re all close friends. It’s great fun, a chance for a change of pace.”

“The city is unusual. You see Chinese people everywhere, but it’s very different from China. The culture is different, and the way people think is not the same either.”

Bo is also impressed with something else. “In Hong Kong a lot of people subscribe to our concerts and buy season tickets.

They come to almost every concert, every week. The local primary and middle schools want students to learn at least one

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“The L.A. Philharmonic is a family to me now… The ensemble is not just a collection of individuals. Something happens where we transcend ourselves.”

— Vijay Gupta

instrument. Most high schools in Hong Kong have their own orchestras. From a very young age, audiences start to know classical music. So the music has often stayed with them a number of years and they’ve been our audience all those years.

“In our string section most of us are Asian. The wind and brass sections have many more Westerners. Russell Bonifede ’08 MM, our co-principal horn player, graduated from Yale.

Russell and I are the only Yale alums here.”

While he was a high school student in Beijing, Bo studied with Wing Ho ’87 MM, a violist who had trained at Yale with Jesse Levine. Wing Ho influenced two important decisions made by Bo: to switch from violin to viola, and to apply to study with Levine at YSM. After Yale, Bo was preparing a performance certificate at Mannes School of Music in New York when he auditioned successfully for his short-lived Beijing job.

Vijay Gupta ’07 MM

“With the Hong Kong Philharmonic,” says Bo, “what I find especially interesting is that we have to understand everything, a whole new program every week. So I get to learn a lot of different pieces, which is a challenge for me with only two days’ rehearsal time. As an orchestra player, you have to pick up things very, very quickly. It’s a good way to get excellent training, I think. And we also get to work with great conductors.

FIRST VIOLIN LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC Robert Vijay Gupta’s time at Yale School of Music was unusual in two ways. The first was his age: seventeen when he matriculated, and a ripe old nineteen when he received his Master of Music degree in violin performance in 2007.

Stranger still was the fact that he expected Yale to be the end of his musical career. “My parents really wanted me to become a doctor,” he reports. “I looked on my studies at Yale as just another two years wasted on music before I settled down.

That’s how I justified it to them.”

“Another advantage is that we play such great music. When I finish playing, I feel something in my soul. That is the magic of music.”

While the orchestra pays moderately well, Bo is always conscious that Hong Kong is a very expensive city. “Most of us do have some other work outside the orchestra. I myself teach private pupils. I find it very interesting. My youngest student is only six years old. Some of us in the orchestra, in our free time, get together to play chamber music informally in someone’s home, and we have dinner together.” Bo also plays occasionally with other Hong Kong orchestras. “You have to be very well prepared, as those groups have even less rehearsal time. It takes a strong sightreading ability and we always try to play well. It’s not about money. It’s your responsibility as a professional musician to play well.”

Because of the environment at Yale and the influence of faculty members, “I totally rediscovered music at YSM and fell in love with it in a way I’d never experienced before. It was such a diverse world of music here. I played baroque viola with the Institute of Sacred Music, took every possible gig that came along, played every possible student recital. I figured this would be my last two years playing my instrument, so I might as well live it up as much as possible.”

He took 22 credits, worked as a T.A. in a theory course, served as head librarian with the Yale Philharmonia, played chamber music and early music. “I just threw myself into everything!”

In his second year, a fellow student told him, “sort of jokingly,” that the Los Angeles Philharmonic was holding auditions.

“Why not try it?”

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“I think that the joy of playing with an orchestra is underestimated.”

— Marc Daniel van Biemen

“The hopelessness of it just seemed to open up my mindset so I was ready to try anything. That perspective was really liberating. I didn’t go into the auditions trying to play it safe.

I wasn’t going to limit myself based on what I thought the committee wanted to hear. I was able to offer something a little more original, more individual. I think, somehow, that came out in the playing.

“The L.A. Philharmonic is a family to me now. It’s such a manifold experience — I mean, first and foremost, just simply playing the music that we play, which is at such a high level.

Like last year’s opening concert with Mahler’s Fifth. The orchestra played it four times at progressively higher and higher levels. This is something that just allows me to really feel I’ve become part of another whole. The ensemble is not just a collection of individuals. Something happens where we transcend ourselves.”

Marc Daniel van Biemen ’10 CERT FIRST VIOLIN ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA

He is equally enthusiastic about community involvement through music. “A group of orchestra musicians started Street Symphony as a nonprofit in 2007. It grew out of a film called The Soloist about Nathaniel Ayers by Steve Lopez, an L.A. Times columnist. Nathaniel was a promising cellist, one of the first black students at Juilliard in the 1970s, who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He was homeless in L.A. for about thirty years.”

For Marc Daniel van Biemen, being hired by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam at age 24 was not just the start of his professional life, but also a homecoming.

Born in The Hague, the violinist had studied for five years in the United States and spent nearly two more years in an internship program with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Members of the L.A. Philharmonic had befriended Ayers and begun inviting him to rehearsals. Gupta now gives him private violin lessons. “When I met him, he was no longer homeless.

The more we learn, the more we know that good therapy and pharmaceuticals are important but the most important is a vibrant community that can hold people together.

Van Biemen considers himself more than fortunate “because I don’t work; I’m a musician. I’m doing what I want.” After two years with the RCO, he finds the work almost always deeply satisfying. “In general, I think that the joy of playing with an orchestra is underestimated in importance. Most people in conservatory want a solo career. And so few achieve that, maybe five percent.

“Since 2011 we’ve played 160 free concerts at shelters, clinics, V.A.s, about 65 in L.A. county jails. The Street Symphony has become this beautiful project, with five different ensembles, three community partners, performing events and playing different genres. We won a YSM alumniVentures grant, as one of the projects they seeded. A lot of YSM alumni who live in L.A. are part of this project, so it’s a great way to make music with people I admire and respect.”

“For me, to be honest, nothing beats being part of this group while playing a great Mahler or Bruckner symphony under one of our conductors: Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, or our new chief, Daniele Gatti. The feeling is indescribable; 120 people all want to make the most beautiful music and give it their all. Rehearsing with our conductors is very inspiring.

Time flies by, you learn a lot — about music, harmony, expression.”

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The full-time position with the RCO has a practical advantage as well. “I can live on my earnings from the orchestra. I play in other groups too, but only for the pleasure of making music on the highest possible level.”

Work Begins on Hendrie Hall

In addition to his regular work, Marc Daniel is concertmaster of the Camerata RCO, a chamber orchestra made up of Concertgebouw regulars, which performs about 45 additional concerts internationally each year.

Less than a year ago, he co-founded the Alma Quartet in Amsterdam, an ensemble that sometimes performs with prominent soloists; a program with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is scheduled for later in 2015.

The School of Music saw significant progress toward the construction of the long-awaited Adams Center for Music Arts. All departments housed in Hendrie Hall have moved to temporary swing spaces, and in January, work began on Hendrie itself. The initial steps include investigative and demolition work.

“A typical week for me,” says Marc Daniel, “includes three full orchestra concerts and easily two or three more performances with the other groups, plus of course lots of rehearsals. On average I play five hours a day. I practiced that much since I was five or six years old, but now a lot of the playing on any day is actual concerts. Performing is what keeps me fit.”

Hendrie Hall has long housed numerous graduate and undergraduate departments, all of which are now ensconced in alternate spaces. The percussion studio, Yale Opera, and the Philharmonia are enjoying temporary facilities at the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle. Shuttle service has increased along Prospect Street to other YSM buildings to make transport easier.

He feels indebted to his violin teacher at Yale, Syoko Aki, with whom he had “an amazing three years.” He also benefited from opportunities to appear as concertmaster or assistant concertmaster with student or festival orchestras in the U.S., including appearances at Yale. If he has a regret about his time at the School of Music, it would be his failure to take advantage of the strong theory program.

“I was not the bright shining student in all respects. I was insecure about theory and never liked it.”

The Glee Club, Yale Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Bands have moved their offices to newly-renovated spaces at 143 Elm Street; the ensembles are rehearsing in Woolsey Hall and Connecticut Hall. The undergraduate voice and early music voice studios are also at 143 Elm Street, as are the trumpet, trombone, and tuba studios.

Instead he tried to round out his education by taking elective courses in Yale’s Arts and Sciences programs, such as introductory psychology, world cinema, an art history seminar “on a level so high I was barely able to keep up.

Still,” he reflects,” I really took away a lot on very different levels. I think I was able to put some of that into my music making as well.”

Hearing now has its offices at 320 Temple Street.

Certain classes have moved to other locations such as Rosenfeld Hall on Grove Street and Founders Hall on Prospect Street.

In a note to the YSM community, Dean Blocker noted, “I am sure that you all join me in my enthusiasm for this significant development in the history of the School.

The Adams Center for Musical Arts will be a stunning complex of grand and unifying spaces and will further enable us to continue attracting the finest talent from around the globe.” ||

“My aim is to be a musician, not just a violinist. It’s good to be open to everything, to become a better musician by living life, by going nuts in some place, experiencing life, because you can translate that experience in life into music.” ||

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O Yale Center Beijing Opens, with Music Yale University inaugurated the Yale Center Beijing with a major conference on October 27 and 28, 2014, featuring conversations on important societal issues in China, the United States, and the world.

The School of Music participated in the conference by providing both music and a panel discussion on the values of music in educating young artists for the world ahead.

The music came in the form of a fanfare for brass quintet, commissioned specially for the occasion and composed by Fay (Feinan) Wang ’10MM, ’12AD. It was performed by musicians from the Central Conservatory of Music at the opening ceremony.

The panel discussion, titled “The Musical Impulse: Unlocking Creativity for the Individual, the Culture, and the Economy,” was moderated by Robert Blocker, Dean of the School. The panelists were: Madame Gao Jianjin, President of the Institute of Music Education at the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China); Klaus Heymann, Chairman of Naxos Records, the world’s leading producer and distributor of classical music; and Wang Cizhao, President of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and a professor of musicology.

“The opening of the Yale Center Beijing signals another chapter in the historic relationship between Yale and China,” said Dean Blocker.

“The School of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music have a longstanding partnership, and other musical alliances in Beijing and indeed throughout China will also benefit from the technological opportunities the Yale Center Beijing offers.” ||

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n May 5, 1939, Ellen Battell Stoeckel, the last direct descendent of the Battell family that had established the first music professorship at Yale, passed away. She left the bulk of her beautiful estate in Norfolk, Connecticut, including the stately family home, Whitehouse, and their magnificent concert hall, the Music Shed, in trust for a summer music program to be operated under the auspices of the Yale School of Music. It was the final generous act of her family’s century-old tradition of supporting the arts and education including generous gifts to Yale, Middlebury College and Tuskegee University, as well as patronage of musicians and artists such as Sibelius, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Maude Powell, Rachmaninov, Reuben Moulthrop, Thomas Hovenden, and many painters from the Hudson Valley School. The Yale Summer School of Music opened its doors in 1941 and has since continued the festival that the Battells had already established as one of America’s leading summer music venues early in the twentieth century.

The 2014 season of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival was dedicated to celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of Ellen’s passing and honoring her achievement as one of America’s leading women patrons of the arts. Starting with the opening gala in June, when Tom Duffy led the wonderful Flipside Jazz Orchestra in big-band music for dancing from the 1930s and 40s, every Main Series concert featured at least one work composed during Ellen’s lifetime.

Dana Astmann contributed an essay, “Women Patrons of the Arts,” to our annual program book, and the Wednesday night In Context talks

included presentations on Ellen Battell Stoeckel, Erick Rossiter (architect of the Music Shed), and Dotha Bushnell Hillyer, another great woman patron in Connecticut.

In 2014 we were especially pleased to welcome the Brentano String Quartet to their first season in residence at Norfolk. They joined us for two weeks of teaching and, among other things, performed the Shostakovich Piano Quintet with Boris Berman. The Artis and Emerson Quartets were with us along with the Leschetizky Trio, the U.S. Coast Guard Band, and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under the inimitable Nicholas McGegan. Main Series concerts also featured Ettore Causa, Peter Frankl, Clive Greensmith, Kikuei Ikeda, Ani Kavafian, Kazuhide Isomura, Frank Morelli, William Purvis, David Shifrin, Richard Stoltzman, Ransom Wilson, Carol Wincenc, and Wei-Yi Yang. And we were pleased to welcome some new artists to Norfolk: violinist Julie Eskar and YSM alumni Mary Phillips ’93 MM and Mihai Marica ’04 CERT, ’08 AD. The heart and soul of the Norfolk Festival is always the student fellows’ Young Artists Performance Series.

This year we were blessed with an extraordinary group of fellows from the Royal Academy in London, University of Vienna, Curtis Institute, Juilliard, Eastman, Rice, Peabody, Cleveland Institute, Colburn and, of course, a number of students from YSM. Martin Bresnick and Benjamin Verdery hosted a talented group of young composers and guitarists in June for an especially fruitful New Music Workshop on chamber music for guitar.

2014 at norfolk

By Paul Hawkshaw, Director

The biggest news of 2014, and perhaps the best tribute we could pay Ellen, is that work has begun on the first phase of the Music Shed restoration. Phase one will include rebuilding the original cupola for cooling and ventilation purposes, as well as a new roof and siding, thus ensuring the long-term preservation of the building by first securing the perimeter. Replacing the cupola, which has been absent for decades, will restore the natural ventilation system of the original building. There is still a long way to go in the fundraising for the entire project that will protect the extraordinary acoustical and aesthetic integrity of the Music Shed while ensuring it is accessible and comfortable for present and future generations. It will also provide a new music studio in place of the nearly defunct Annex at the north end of the building. People can learn more about the restoration and make a contribution on our website: norfolkmusic.org.

Listening to rehearsals for the final choral concert of our 2014 season in the Shed, Simon Carrington’s always wonderful annual program with the Norfolk Festival Chorus and Orchestra, I was struck by the longevity of the Battell Family legacy and their commitment to nurturing musical tradition and providing an

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environment where that tradition can grow and change. In particular I thought how appropriate it was to begin and end the seventy-fifth anniversary season with choral music: Jeffrey Douma’s unforgettable performance with the Yale Choral Artists in June of three brand-new works alongside the Renaissance and Baroque pieces that served as their models; and Simon’s program which, every year, has a new work by a Yale composition student — in 2014, Balint Karosi ’14 MM. Ellen Battell and her husband Carl Stoeckel built the Music Shed in 1906 primarily for choral music.

Now, 108 years later, as we strive to preserve this magnificent concert hall for another century of music lovers, we recall our traditions and recognize the commitment of our patroness to great music. ||

Student and Alumni News

Emma Lou Diemer ’49 BMus, ’50 MM, piano, and Philip Ficsor ’01 MM, violin, gave the opening concert of the Santa Barbara Music Club on October 11, 2014, at the Faulkner Gallery in Santa Barbara. The program included works for violin and piano by Emma Lou Diemer is professor emerita of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ficsor and Diemer have made two CDs of the violin/piano works of Diemer.

Lawrence Jones ’59 MM, piano, retired from the faculty of Brandon University School of Music in 1997, where he had served as Dean from 1987 to 1992. He taught sessionally through 2011, and am teaching again in 2014. His wife, June Jones (nee Dean) ’58 MusB, ’59 MM, died October 29th, 2013.

Bernard Rubenstein ’61 MM writes: “Continuing my love of Latin American, I just returned from a guest conducting a gala concert with the Orquestra Sinfónica del Cusco in Peru. I have been conducting orchestras in Cuba for the past 10 years, most recently at the Camerata Romeu in Havana, and am thrilled that President Obama has begun the process of opening up relations with Cuba.” Rubenstein is also president of the Santa Fe / Holguin (Cuba) Sister City Association, which works toward increased cultural connections between the two countries.

Jane Ira Bloom ’77 MM was named Soprano Saxophonist of the Year for 2014 in the 62nd annual DownBeat Critics Poll, and her album Sixteen

Jane Ira Bloom ’77 MM

Frank Dodge ’80 MM

Sunsets was No. 8 on the list of best jazz albums of the year.

The new choral-theater work Bonhoeffer

by Thomas Lloyd ’79 MM received a grant from New Music USA’s inaugural project grants program. It was one of only 60 new compositions out of a pool of 1,618 proposals. The grant funds a commercial recording by the acclaimed new music choir The Crossing, conducted by its founding director Donald Nally. The Philadelphia Inquirer described the premiere as “a breakthrough for all concerned” of “an important work.”

Elisabeth Adkins ’80 MM, ’81 MMA, ’87 DMA has accepted a position as Professor of Violin at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth after 31 seasons as Associate Concertmaster of the National Symphony. She notes: “The move brings me back to my home state, and closer to my brother, Christopher Adkins ’83 MM, principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Frank Dodge ’80 MM founded Spectrum Concerts Berlin in 1988. The series has built a strong reputation through recordings and the ensemble’s performances in the Berlin Philharmonie. Spectrum Concerts Berlin began its 26th season in April 2014 with a program of chamber music

by Aton Arensky. The performance was broadcast live by Deutschlandradio Kultur and produced for Spectrum’s 13th CD release on the Naxos label. In

Laura Goldfader ’82 MM (L) 32

2005 Spectrum Concerts Berlin-USA, Inc. was established for the purpose of extending the work of the ensemble to audiences in the United States; concert tours to New York and Los Angeles have taken place.

Laura Goldfader ’82 MM, a composer and dramatist, is delighted that her musical comedy The Chocolate Show!

(A Tasty New Musical) had its world premiere off Broadway at the 47th Street Theatre in New York City, where it played February–March, 2014. Laura and her husband, Alan Golub, whom she met at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, co-wrote the musical and are looking forward to many more productions of their joyous theatrical “baby.” They live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where Laura teaches private vinyasa yoga in her spare time. » www.thechocolateshowmusical.com Debra Kanter ’82 MM, clarinet, writes: “I have been retired for six years and am loving it. I was a member of Pacific Symphony for 23 seasons and Opera Pacific for 19 seasons. I also performed on motion picture and TV scores in Los Angeles. I was an applied faculty member at Cal State Northridge, Cal State Fullerton, and Biola College. Now, I spend my time with my husband, Jim, who was also a clarinetist. We love traveling and spoiling our 2 standard poodles, Charley and Rocky (short for Rachmaninoff).”

Susan Merdinger ’85 MM

Seth Josel ’85 MM, ’88 MMA, ’94 DMA

James Mosher ’84 MM, teaches horn at New England Conservatory PreCollege School and at his private studio in Newton, Mass. He writes: “Two of my students are now freshmen at Yale and play in the Yale Symphony: Leah Meyer, who was Principal Horn in the National Youth Orchestra of the USA in tours to Russia, England and throughout the U.S. the past two summers; and Morgan Jackson, who was part of my student horn quartet last summer at the Saarburg International Chamber Music Festival in Germany, where I taught… I never could have imagined when I graduated from YSM that years later I would have students attending Yale. It is a very gratifying feeling!”

Susan Merdinger ’85 MM is a Steinway Artist and the artistic director of Sheridan Music Studio. She released two new CDs for 2014 under the Sheridan Music Studio record label.

The critically-acclaimed Soirée is a solo piano recording featuring works

by Schubert, Brahms, Debussy, and Liszt. Soirée and Merdinger’s Carnival (2013) won silver and bronze medals in the Global Music Awards. The second CD, French Fantasy, is a collaborative production of the Merdinger-Greene Piano Duo, with Steven Greene ’86 MM. The recording comprises three works for piano, four hands by Saint-Saëns, Fauré, and Ravel. This marks the duo’s second full CD. Merdinger and Greene have been performing together since they first met at YSM in 1984. They

Juliana Hall ’87 MM

are married and have raised three children, Stefanie, Sarah and Scott, as professional musicians, who perform together as “The Five Greenes.”

Seth Josel ’85 MM, ’88 MMA, ’94 DMA had his book The Techniques of Guitar Playing published by Bärenreiter Press in August. Co-authored by Ming Tsao, this book joins the Bärenreiter series on contemporary performance techniques. In addition, Josel debuted with the New York Philharmonic in May at their Biennial in a performance of Steven Mackey’s “Dreamhouse.”

His recent recording credits include Henze’s Sinfonia No. 6 with the Berlin Radio Symphony on Wergo; West Coast Soundings, a double CD on Wandelweiser; and both solo and chamber music contributions on Ming Tsao’s portrait CDs for Mode Records and Kairos Records.

Composer Juliana Hall ’87 MM celebrated the first anniversary of her new publishing venture, Juliana Hall Music (ASCAP), which she operates with her husband, cellist David Sims ’87 MMA. Hall and Sims work together on engraving Hall’s works, and Sims creates unique cover art for each new publication before it is printed and issued. Together, they issued nearly 20 compositions in their first year as publishers. » www.julianahallmusic.com Composer Arthur Levering ’88 MM released the CD Parallel Universe on the New World label. The recording

Peter Derheimer ’88 MM with soprano Linda Watson

Melissa Marse ’98 MM 33

includes works for orchestra, string orchestra, large ensemble, small ensemble with voice, and for two pianos.

Peter Derheimer ’88 MM, percussion, writes: “This past June the Teatro Maestranza in Seville completed its first Ring cycle. It was a pleasure and a challenge to finally play the complete timpani parts to Götterdämmerung.

Four and a half hours of music with the best Brünnhilde in the world at the moment, American soprano Linda Watson.” Derheimer is the timpanist of Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla at Teatro Maestranza.

Lee Northcutt ’88 MM was appointed Director of Music for Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC. He administers the church’s entire music program, which requires the oversight of 11 choral and instrumental groups as well as a music staff of eight. Myers Park Presbyterian is a 5000-member congregation and has a long history of a well-established music program.

Mark Evans ’92 MM, cello, has been a member of the National Symphony Orchestra cello section since 1998.

Anthony Gatto ’94 MMA, ’01 DMA writes: “My opera, Wise Blood, part of an opera/exhibition based on the novel by Flannery O’Connor, made in collaboration with media artist Chris Larson, co-commissioned by the Walker Art Center and The Soap Factory in Minneapolis, will premiere in eight shows in June 2015.

Jeremy Grall ’99 MM

Ravi Rajan ’00 MM

Student and Alumni News

Eleonor Sandresky ’95 MMA writes: “Parthenia will premier my new sixmovement work for choreographed viol quartet and baroque harp, entitled ‘Donne Songs Without Words,’ on March 23, 2015 at Picture Ray Studios in NYC. I am also releasing a new EP on Bandcamp of Improvisations, from a live performance of mine in 2014 on the series Musical Ecologies, for solo piano and Wonder Suit.”

Paul Cienniwa ’97 MM, ’98 MMA, ’03 DMA, harpsichord, published the book By Heart: The Art of Memorizing Music. He writes: “The book takes its readers from personal anecdote to practical skills for becoming a successful memorizing musician…

Even if you already have a solid memorization practice, this book will inspire some new or different approaches while also reinforcing your own convictions. Many of the techniques presented are good for any type of practice, even for the nonmemorizing musician. Therefore, this book is also a useful foundational study of how to practice.”

Carrie Campbell ’98 MM, horn was appointed director of the Music School at the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) in Mountain View, Calif.

Carrie has been on the faculty and staff of CSMA for 12 years, as a music theory instructor, coordinator of the music theory program, and as the program coordinator for all Finn Center music classes. During her tenure, the Music Theory and Composition program’s

Inbal Megiddo ’01 MM, ’02 AD

Andrew Scanlon ’03 MM

enrollment tripled to over 300 students.

As Music Program Coordinator, Carrie led the development of a curriculum that takes students from the beginnings of musical understanding to the ability to complete college-level coursework in music theory, history, and composition. She helped design and develop CSMA’s sequential music education curriculum that presents students and their parents with a step-by-step approach to learning and provides appropriate music classes for all students.

Melissa Marse ’98 MM, piano, opened the Santa Fe Pro Musica 2014–15 season at the Lensic Theatre playing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

She also released her second solo CD, Preludes, an eclectic selection of short pieces for solo piano written by a variety of classical composers.

Violinist Duane Padilla ’99 MM was appointed vice chair of the American String Teachers Association’s Eclectic Styles Committee. In 2016, he will take over as chair of the committee. He writes, “The mission of this innovative group is to redefine string education in the United States to include styles beyond classical music. A huge shift in the way we think about and teach string instruments is about to take place. I’m humbled and honored to be part of the group that is leading the way.”

Jeremy Grall ’99 MM was appointed a tenure-track position as Assistant Pro-

Christopher Jennings ’04 MM 34

fessor of Music at Birmingham-Southern College, where he teaches courses in classical guitar and musicology. Prior to this appointment Jeremy was on the faculty at Sam Houston State University, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Nashville State Community College. Jeremy has published numerous articles and reviews on early music, Renaissance and jazz improvisation, and music cognition. He most recently co-authored an article with Dr. Gavin Bidelman entitled “Functional organization for musical consonance and tonal pitch hierarchy in human auditory cortex,” to be published in NeuroImage.

He also presented a conference paper on modal jazz at the Perspectives on Musical Improvisation II at the University of Oxford. Jeremy is a contributing editor for Soundboard, Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America.

Ravi Rajan ’00 MM, trumpet, quips: “I’m not so good at tooting my own horn, but I thought I’d give you an update.” Rajan was named Dean of the Arts at SUNY Purchase in 2012, which has divisions of art, design, music, theatre, dance, and arts management & entrepreneurship. He was also named to the Nominating Committee of the TONY Awards.

Philip Ficsor ’01 MM is now based in Denver. Until 2013 he was on the faculty of Westmont College, Santa Barbara.

With composer and pianist Emma Lou Diemer ’49 BMus, ’50 MM, he has recorded two CDs of Diemer’s works for violin and piano.

Dmitri Atapine ’05 MM, ’06 AD, ’10 DMA

Sarah Kirkland Snider ’05 MM, ’06 AD

Inbal Megiddo ’01 MM, ’02 AD, cello, and Paul Altomari ’03 MM, are happy to announce the birth of their baby boy Adam on April 9, 2014. In addition, Megiddo was promoted to Associate Professor at the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington, where she is also the head of classical performance. In August she organized an international conference on Music and the Holocaust: Recovering Forbidden Voices, where she also performed the Weinberg cello concerto. In August she performed the New Zealand premiere of VillaLobos’ cello concerto. December saw the fourth annual Cellophonia festival, which she directs, and the release of the second volume of her recording of Beethoven’s works for cello and piano with Jian Liu ’13 dma on Rattle Records. Paul continues in his role as principal double bass of Orchestra Wellington and as Academic Manager of the New Zealand School of Music.

Dan Trahey ’02 MM, tuba, with the RET Brass Band of Innsbruck, Austria, won the Austrian Brass Band Championship held in November of 2014. Trahey, the tubist of RET, was recognized as the first American to win the championship. This win qualifies RET to compete for the World Brass Band Championship to be held in Freiburg, Germany in May of 2015.

Christian Van Horn ’02 MM, ’03 AD sings the title role on Sony’s latest release of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Teodor Currentzis. The

Jacob Cooper ’06 MM, ’10 MMA, ’14 DMA

Missy Mazzoli ’06 MM

recording was released in the United States on April 3, 2014.

Paul Altomari ’03 MM is the principal double bass of Orchestra Wellington and also serves as Academic Manager of the New Zealand School of Music.

Organist Andrew Scanlon ’03 MM released a new disc entitled “Solemn and Celebratory” (Raven Recordings, 2013). Featuring music by Cook, Mendelssohn, Bach, Duruflé, Vierne, and others, the CD shows the vitality and flexibility of the C.B. Fisk organ in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Greenville, North Carolina, where Scanlon is the director of music. The Fisk organ is also the primary teaching and performing instrument for organ majors at East Carolina University, where Scanlon is the organ professor and director of the undergraduate and graduate programs in sacred music.

Benjamin Berghorn ’04 MM, trumpet, completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University.

Christopher Jennings ’04 MM recently accepted the call as organist and choirmaster of Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit, New Jersey, the fastest-growing parish in the diocese.

He has also been called to create a new RSCM Chorister Program for children and youth. For the past seven years he has been Associate OrganistChoirmaster at St. James Church, Madison Ave., New York City, directing the choirs for children and youth and accompanying for the professional

Clara Yang ’06 MM, ’07 AD 35

and volunteer adult choirs on the new 96-rank Schoenstein & Co. pipe organ.

Christopher’s recital schedule continues to expand, with venues this year that include Trinity Church, Boston, Cadet Chapel, West Point Military Academy, Holy Trinity Lutheran, NYC, Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, and others. He has appeared several times over the last year on PRI’s radio show Pipedreams and has also appeared as a ‘video clue’ improvising on the organ in Woolsey Hall. He and his husband Brian Harlow ’01 MM, ’05 MMA, ’10 DMA reside in South Orange, NJ. Dmitri Atapine ’05 MM, ’06 AD, ’10 DMA, cello, was selected to join the prestigious CMS Two program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for a 2015–2018 residency. He also, with fellow alumna Hyeyeon Park, piano, released a new recording in April of 2014. » www.atapine.com Sarah Kirkland Snider ’05 MM, ’06 AD was named the winner of the Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award, which the Detroit Symphony Orchestra confers each year upon a female composer. Snider, who was chosen from applicants worldwide, will compose a new work that will be premiered in the 2015–2016 season. In addition to concerts presenting her work, Snider will receive a $10,000 prize and a one-month residency at the Ucross Foundation, an artist’s retreat in northern Wyoming.

Thomas Flippin ’07 MM, ’08 AD (L) Christopher Mallett ’09 MM (R)

Dominick DiOrio ’08 MM, ’12 DMA

Student and Alumni News

Mary Elizabeth Bowden ’06 MM, trumpet, will release her debut album, Radiance, on Summit Records in April 2015. Radiance will feature Bowden’s interpretations of compositions written by modern American composers ranging from Barber to Ludwig and Hallman to Stephenson. Several of the works have not been previously recorded. Bowden, a Yamaha Performing Artist, has recently signed with Cubides Artist Management for international representation. She is also a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra.

Composer Jacob Cooper ’06 MM, ’10 MMA, ’14 DMA saw the release of his debut album Silver Threads on Nonesuch Records. The album comprises a six-song cycle performed by soprano Mellissa Hughes ’06 MM. Jacob is a member of the Sleeping Giant Composers Collective and is also an assistant professor of music at West Chester University.

Ian Howell ’06 MM Voice; writes: “I am pleased to announce that I have been appointed to the voice faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music as the Vocal Pedagogy Director.

I direct both the graduate program in vocal pedagogy and our new Voice and Sound Analysis Laboratory. The voice program offers degrees in vocal performance, vocal performance with a vocal pedagogy concentration, and vocal pedagogy.”

Dawn Wohn ’08 MM, ’09 AD

Raúl García ’09 MM, ’10 AD

Missy Mazzoli ’06 MM was awarded a 2015 Music Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

The FCA awarded a total of fourteen unrestricted grants to artists in all disciplines. Recipients are selected through a confidential nomination process. The awards are intended to provide recipients with the financial means to engage in whatever artistic endeavors they wish to pursue: research and develop ideas, embark on new projects, and complete projects already underway. In addition, Opera America announced the first recipients of Commissioning Grants from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program; the six winners included Opera Philadelphia, for their commission of Mazzoli’s “Breaking the Waves.” » www.missymazzoli.com Violinist Sami Merdinian ’06 MM, ’07 AD, is a co-founder and co-artistic director of New Docta International Music Festival in Cordoba, Argentina, along with cellist Yves Dharamraj ’02 BA, ’03 MM and mezzo-soprano Solange Merdinian. The second annual festival, held September 1–7, 2014, aims “to use classical music and its power of expression to nourish the souls and open the minds of people of all ages and backgrounds; music will break down existing barriers and contribute to a universal humanity and better tomorrow.”

Ian Whitman ’06 MM is currently principal bass for the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and professor of double

Emil Khudyev ’11 MM 36

bass at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. In May, 2015 he will be featured soloist with the KitchenerWaterloo Symphony on its Signature Series at Kitchener’s Centre in the Square in a performance of Eduard Tubin’s Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra. He writes: “For these performances, I will have the opportunity to use a very special instrument formerly owned by Serge Koussevitzky…. This instrument was donated to the International Society of Bassists (ISB) and is occasionally lent to professional musicians for performances; this will mark the first time it has travelled to Canada as part of this program.”

Clara Yang ’06 MM, ’07 AD, piano, has been Assistant Professor of Piano at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since January 2011. Her cello-piano duo album Grieg and Prokofiev with cellist Xiao-Dan Zheng was released by Albany Records in April 2014 and was aired on WCPE 89.7 FM and Women in Music 98.5 FM. Yang performed Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the European Union Youth Orchestra. As a soloist she has performed eight concerts with the North Carolina Symphony since 2011, and has been invited to give recitals as a guest artist at the Beijing Central Conservatory, Shanghai Conservatory, Musical College of the Moscow Conservatory, King’s College in London, and the Liceu and Cervera Conservatories in Barcelona.

Angel Lam ’11 AD

David Radzynski ’12 MM

Guitarists Thomas Flippin ’07 MM, ’08 AD and Christopher Mallett ’09 MM comprise the ensemble Duo Noire, which has just released the premiere recording of Juilliard composer Raymond Lustig’s “Figments” for two guitars.

Marianna Prjevalskaya ’07 MM, ’10 AD won first prize in the New Orleans International Piano Competition.

Cellist Hannah Collins ’08 MM, ’09 AD and percussionist Michael Compitello ’09 MM, ’12 MMA form the duo New Morse Code, which was awarded a 2014 Classical Commissioning Grant from Chamber Music America. The duo will work with composer Christopher Stark on a new piece for cello, percussion, and electronics. Called The Language of Landscapes, Stark’s composition will leverage the unique sonic terrain of cello and percussion. The piece will be premiered in the 2015–2016 season.

Dominick DiOrio ’08 MM, ’12 DMA is a member of the choral conducting faculty at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Also a composer, DiOrio joins forces with librettist Meghan Guidry, music director Lidiya Yankovskaya, stage director Erin Huelskamp, and Juventas New Music Ensemble for the world premiere of “The Little Blue One,” DiOrio’s new English-language opera based on the Italian folktale “Azzurina.” Dominick DiOrio is a longtime Juventas collaborator as both composer and

Alissa Cheung ’13 MM

David Perry ’13 AD

conductor: Juventas premiered DiOrio’s Stabat mater dolorosa in 2011 and recorded the piece for an upcoming CD. DiOrio’s first opera, Klytemnestra, won a HoustonPress award for best composition in 2011.

regularly with the Macondo Chamber Players. One of the most active orchestras in Colombia, the National Symphony Orchestra was founded in 2003, though it has operated under various other names since the 1950s.

Dawn Wohn ’08 MM, ’09 AD has been appointed Assistant Professor of Violin at Ohio University.

The Minnesota Orchestra programmed “Winter Bells” by composer Polina Nazaykinskaya ’10 MM, ’12 AD for its 2014 concert season.

Gregory Anderson ’08 MMA, ’13 DMA continues to perform widely and to record. In the past year he has released a solo album, Bach and Rachmaninoff, as well as his third album as part of the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo, The Art of Bach. » www.gregandersonpiano.com Estelle Choi ’08 MM, cello, writes: “As a member of the Calidore String Quartet, we have been appointed artists-in-residence and visiting faculty at the Stony Brook University. Prizes earned by Calidore include Grand Prizes in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, the Coleman, Yellow Springs, and Chesapeake competitions.

Top prizes earned internationally in the ARD Munich competition and the Hamburg International Chamber Music competition.” » www.calidorestringquartet.com Raúl García ’09 MM, ’10 AD was appointed principal viola of the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia. A native of Colombia, García currently serves on the viola faculties at Fundación Juan N. Corpas and Central University in Bogotá. He also performs

Dexter Kennedy ’14 MM 37

Emil Khudyev ’11 MM, clarinet, was appointed the new Instructor of Clarinet and Chamber Music at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Mich.

Angel Lam ’11 AD, composer, saw the premiere of her piece “Of Days and Nights,” written for two Asian instruments, Zheng and Erhu, and a chamber group of western instruments.

The piece of new live music for dance was written for the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, in collaboration with the faculties of the Department of Contemporary Dance and Chinese Dance. Lam is also working on another commission for live music and dance, for the Centennial Celebration of Peabody Dance of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

David Radzynski ’12 MM won the concertmaster position of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which is conducted by Zubin Mehta. Thirty violinists were invited to compete for the position; Radzynski, one of

Calidore String Quartet

Hermelindo Ruiz ’12 MM, ’13 AD

Student and Alumni News

four finalists, earned the appointment after performing Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto alongside the IPO and maestro Zubin Mehta. He was announced as unanimous winner by the jury after only five minutes of deliberation. “I am still trying to digest all that is happening,” said Radzynski.

“It is such an incredible honor. I would not have succeeded if it weren’t for Ben Sayevich and the incredible support I have received.”

Hermelindo Ruiz ’12 MM, ’13 AD rediscovered the music of Juan Francisco Acosta (1890–1968), one of the Caribbean’s most prolific composers. He was able to study 1,259 compositions that were still uncatalogued and unknown years after the death of this author. Among these are 752 Puerto Rican dances, making Acosta the most prolific composer in this genre. The Puerto Rican dance has been described by Héctor Campos Parsi as “the most complex musical form that has been developed by the popular genius of Latin America.” Ruiz has published a book that includes Acosta’s music scores, information about the life and works of the composer, and a CD of 10 selected dances from the project.

The CD was recorded in arrangements for guitar duos, with the collaboration of guitarists Marco Sartor ’13 MMA, Steffen Besser ’12 MM, and Samuel Diz. Alissa Cheung ’13 MM, violin, writes: “In January 2015, I will be leaving my tenure with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra to join Quatuor Bozzini (QB).

Barbora Kolarova ’14 MM, ’15 AD

Founded in 1999, QB is a new music string quartet based in Montreal, QC and is regularly invited to international festivals, such as Huddersfield (UK) and Klangspuren (Austria). QB also directs its own composer and performer workshops and makes recordings on their own label, Collection QB.” David Perry ’13 AD, clarinet, started a concert series in New Haven in the 2014–2015 season. Called The Second Movement, it is the first that Perry knows of that will combine performance and education in this particular way. In addition to professional performances at New Haven’s English Building Market, each featured ensemble’s performance will be preceded by a brief showcase of local student groups from New Haven, and hopefully, a short coaching from the evening’s featured performer. Perry writes: “It has been my experience, discovered while at YSM, that my work as a teacher has dramatically impacted, for the better, my work as a performer, and I hope to bring this experience to more people!” » secondmovementseries.org Trombonist Kevin Dombrowski ’14 MM was among four American musicians chosen for a cultural exchange with the Sarajevo Philharmonic. The International Cultural Exchange program will take them to BosniaHerzegovina for 10 months to perform with the Sarajevo Philharmonic.

Dombrowski and the three other Americans in the program will perform

Brian Vu ’14 MM, ’15 AD 38

in opera, ballet, and symphonic concerts from September 2014 through July 2015.

Dexter Kennedy ’14 MM won the 2014 Grand Prix de Chartres de Interprétation at the 24th Concours International D’Orgue de Chartres, one of the oldest most prestigious international organ competitions in the world. The Grand Prix carries a cash award of €5,000 as well as at least 30 recital engagements in Europe, including Notre Dame de Paris.

Kennedy is the first American to win the Grand Prix de Chartres since 1996.

He is currently Instructor of Organ at the College of Wooster and Assistant Organist of Christ Church Grosse Pointe (Episcopal).

Violinist Barbora Kolarova ’14 MM, ’15 AD was awarded second prize in the annual New York International Artist Association Competition and performed in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in June of 2014.

Three Yale Opera students were among the winners of the New England Regional Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Mezzo-soprano Leah Hawkins ’15 MM won second place; soprano Alison King ’14 MM and baritone Brian Vu ’14 MM, ’15 AD both took third.

B O A R D

O F

A D V I S O R S

P R O F I L E

Lester Morse ’51BA “One of the things I really love about it is that in addition to meeting wonderful people, you see and hear wonderful talent.”

As a child growing up in Brookline, Mass., Lester Morse ’51 BA preferred baseball to playing the piano. He kept up with his piano lessons by imitating his teacher; “I couldn’t read a note,” he laughs. When a found himself captivated by Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto, a piece from a 1941 film, he convinced his mother to buy the record and then diligently sat down every day to try to learn it by ear.

Today, Morse is a member of the Yale School of Music’s Board of Advisors. He and his wife of 62 years, Dinny Morse, have supported the renovation of Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall as well as the Morse Summer Music Academy, now about to enter its fifth year. The photo above shows the Morses meeting students in the Morse Summer Music Academy.

Serving on the board, he says, is “a whole series of interesting experiences.”

Morse loves the American nonprofit system, considering it one of “many blessings” of living in the United States.

The first board he joined was Carnegie

Hall’s over forty years ago. and now serves on the boards of the Marlboro Festival and The Juilliard School, in addition to YSM. Until recently, Morse also served on the board of the Foreign Policy Association. “I had a greater love of music than I did of foreign policy,” he confesses.

As a Yale undergraduate, Morse took one or two music classes but didn’t join any of the musical ensembles or a cappella singing groups that he felt were “one of the great things about Yale.” After graduating, he attended business school at Harvard (which, while on the Yale campus, he refers to as “the other place”), then served in the Navy. Now married, Morse faced with the decision of how to build his career.

He knew that he didn’t want to go back to school but didn’t know where to start. His father-in-law suggested real estate.

After business school, he learned the real estate business in seven years on the job, then decided: “Maybe it’s time for me to set up my own shop. Which I

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did.” Real estate, he reflects, “puts you in a position to be very lucky.” Though happily retired, he admits that he sometimes “misses the hunt and the search and the negotiation.”

He now devotes most of his time to notfor-profit activities. In addition, he and his wife, Dinny, to travel when he can.

The two have been married for 62 years.

Of serving on the YSM Board of Advisors, Morse says: “One of the things I really love about it is that in addition to meeting wonderful people, you see and hear wonderful talent.”

And that talent, he notes, lies “in the hands of people that [seem] younger and younger every year.”

“It’s a great experience,” he says. ||

Recordings+Publications

Thomas Newman ’77 BA, ’78 MM and Rick Cox released the album 35 Whirlpools Below Sound on Cold Blue Music. The two spent a long time developing the collection of 19 electroacoustic works, which they composed and performed jointly. Newman, a twelve-time Oscar nominee and six-time Grammy winner, and noted new-music composer/performer Rick Cox have been collaborating for 25 years. The music has been called both enigmatic and eclectic, exploring a somewhat improvisational world through its series of sometimes interlinked, sometimes contrasting pieces built of often mysterious and fantastical juxtapositions of sounds.

Composer Arthur Levering ’88 MM released the CD Parallel Universe on the New World label. The recording includes works for orchestra, string orchestra, large ensemble, small ensemble with voice, and for two pianos, performed by a wide range of musicians including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Sequitur.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “The music of Boston composer Arthur Levering features a wonderful blend of rhythmic vitality, instrumental color and expressive urgency… The repertoire here ranges from ambitious orchestral tone poems to intimate chamber works, all of them marked by an inviting combination of delicacy and robustness.… For sheer exquisite charm, it’s hard to top Levering’s ‘Drinking Songs,’ with insinuating vocal melodies set to crystalline accompaniments for two harps and two pianos.

Pianist Robert Satterlee ’89 MMA, ’94 DMA released Frederic Rzewski: Piano Music on the Naxos label. The album includes the piece “Second Hand, or Alone at Last,” written for Satterlee, and “De Profundis,” a piece that Rzewski describes as a “melodramatic

oratorio” for speaking pianist. The New York Times called it an “excellent sampling of Rzewski’s peerlessly strange and inventive music” and included it on its critics’ list of the top classical recordings of 2014.

Michael Nicolella ’91 MM released a double album of his own arrangement of the complete cycle of J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites. The Seattle Times wrote: “Tampering with Bach’s ‘holy writ’ original takes courage as well as skill, and guitarist Michael Nicolella clearly has both....The recorded sound is resonant and clear, setting off Nicolella’s smooth virtuosity and the great freedom of his playing in performances that show the Suites in an entirely new light.” The album was released in September 2014 on Gale Records.

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Craig Hella Johnson ’95 DMA and his ensemble Conspirare won a Grammy in the category of best choral performance for their album The Sacred Spirit of Russia. The album, on Harmonia Mundi, includes selections

by Rachmaninoff, Gretchaninov, Kastalsky, Tchesnokov, and others. The ensemble is based in Austin, Tex. Melissa Marse ’98 MM, piano, released Preludes, an eclectic selection of short pieces for solo piano written by composers from Bach to Scriabin and Albeniz to Gershwin. Reviewer Daniel Felsenfeld wrote, “What is most appealing about a cherry-picked collection of preludes such as this one made by the vibrant, versatile pianist Melissa Marse is that we are allowed multiple windows into the often-quixotic idea of a prelude, from the perspective not only of manifold

impressive classical guitar technique…

The impressive technique displayed by Duo Noire is perfectly suited to Lustig’s delicious compositions.”

Gregory Anderson ’08 MMA, ’13 DMA released his second solo album, featuring Bach’s French Suite in G major and Rachmaninoff’s truly epic Sonata No. 1 in D minor. The Anderson & Roe Duo (Anderson and fellow pianist Elizabeth Joy Roe) released its third album on the Steinway & Sons label, The Art of Bach, in January.

Spinning out from Bach’s only original works for two keyboards — the Concerto in C major and a revised version of the Contrapunctus XIII from The Art of the Fugue appendix — the album offers a portrait of Bach through secular, scholarly, and sacred works.

composers (some tried and true; some newer names) but of a single performer of the single instrument.”

The duo of Inbal Megiddo ’01 MM, ’02 AD, cello, and Jian Liu ’06 MM, ’ 08 MMA, ’13 DMA, piano, released the second volume of their recording of Beethoven’s works for cello and piano on Rattle Records.

Miki Aoki ’02 MM will soon record her third solo CD in Berlin. This CD will feature works by the group of French composers “Les Six” and Satie. The album will include mainly works by Poulenc, who is probably the most known of Les Six group. She writes, “I am very grateful to Radio Berlin Brandenburg and Profil Hänssler for making this recording possible.” Aoki will also be playing with violinist Iskandar Widjaja in Berlin, Essen, and Herdecke, Germany.

The duo of cellist Dmitri Atapine ’05 MM, ’06 AD, ’10 DMA and pianist Hyeyeon Park ’05 MM, ’06 AD released a new recording on Blue Griffin in April of 2014. The album features sonatas for cello and piano by Frank Bridge, Samuel Barber, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Clara Yang ’06 MM, ’07 AD, piano, recorded a duo album with cellist XiaoDan Zheng. Grieg and Prokofiev was released by Albany Records on April 1, 2014.

Thomas Flippin ’07 MM, ’08 AD and Christopher Mallett ’09 MM form the guitar ensemble Duo Noire, which has just released the premiere recording of Raymond Lustig’s “Figments” for two guitars. The blog I Care If You Listen called it “a unique and entrancing album that exists at the unusual intersection of minimalism and 41

Oboist James Austin Smith ’08 MM released the album “Distance” on TwoPianists Records. Along with harpist Bridget Kibbey and pianist Luis Magalhães, Smith plays the Hindemith Oboe Sonata; Elliott Carter’s Trilogy for Oboe and Harp; and pieces by Peteris Vasks, Robert Schumann, and Ernst Krenek. The album also includes J.S. Bach’s Sonata for Flute and Harpsichord in E-flat major, BWV 1031, transcribed for oboe and harp.

The Amphion String Quartet released its debut recording on Nimbus Records last September. Three of the four members of the Amphion Quartet are YSM alumni: violinists Katie Hyun (’09 AD) and David Southorn ’09 MM, ’10 AD, and cellist Mihai Marica ’04 CERT, ’08 AD. The quartet’s violist is Wei-Yang Andy Lin. The album features Wolf’s Italianische Serenade, Grieg’s String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, and Janácek’s String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters.” The New York Times called the recording “excellent,” and Musicweb International wrote, “the playing of the Amphion String Quartet is remarkably mature and displays

Recordings+Publications

impeccable intonation, unity and glorious musicality.” In the finale of the Janácek, “the incisive playing just overflows with vibrancy and spirit.”

Andrew Norman ’09 AD released his inaugural orchestral album, Play, on BMOP/Sound. The album comprises the 2013 piece “Play,” performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project with conductor Gil Rose, along with “Try,” written in 2011. Critic Alex Ross called the title piece “A sprawling, engulfing, furiously unpredictable piece.”

Porter Anderson wrote in Thought Catalog, “A Norman creation of this magnitude—like the people who play it—is thoroughly, eagerly in the present, in your face, on a joyous, deliberate mission.”

Hermelindo Ruiz ’12 MM, ’13 AD, as part of his project rediscovering the music of Juan Francisco Acosta (1890–

1968), published a book that includes Acosta’s music scores and information about his life and works. The book is accompanied by a CD of 10 selected dances from the project, arranged for guitar duo. Guitarists Marco Sartor ’13 MMA and Steffen Besser ’12 MM are featured on the recording.

Stephen Ivany ’14 MM, trombone, announced the release of his first CD, The recording began as a project during his time at the Yale School of Music.

This Shall Be For Music features song cycles by Brahms, Mahler, and Vaughan Williams performed on the trombone.

The works feature the instrument’s (often lesser-known) warmer side, accompanied by Canadian pianist David Chafe. The album has been nominated for the MusicNL classical album of the year, as well as the East Coast Music Award’s classical album of the year.

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Paul Cienniwa ’97 MM, ’98 MMA, ’03 DMA, harpsichord, published By Heart: The Art of Memorizing Music.

The book takes its readers from personal anecdote to practical skills for becoming a successful memorizing musician. For those new to memorization, it provides techniques to get started with the process. Musicians who already have a solid memorization practice can find inspiration and new approaches. Many of the techniques presented are good for any type of practice, even for the non-memorizing musician. The book also serves as a useful study of how to practice.

Aaron Jay Kernis by Leta E. Miller

Honors Dinner, May 4, 2014

Composer Aaron Jay Kernis ’83, who has taught at YSM since 2003, is the subject of a new biography by Leta E. Miller. The book, published by Illinois University Press, is the first survey of Kernis’ life and work; press materials note: “Miller’s analysis addresses not only Kernis’s wide range of subjects but also the eclecticism that has baffled critics, analyzing his dedication to synthesis and the themes consistent in his work.” Leta Miller, a professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is also the author of Music and Politics in San Francisco: From the 1906 Quake to the Second World War. ||

From top: Winners of the Alumni Association Prize with Dean Robert Blocker and Deputy Dean Melvin Chen; Ole Akahoshi ’95 CERT, winner of the Alumni Certificate of Merit, with Dean Blocker; Professor William Purvis and the YSM horn studio; Reena Esmail ’11 MM, ’14 MMA and Benjamin Wallace ’14 MM, winners of the Woods Chandler Memorial Prize, with Christopher Theofanidis and Dean Blocker

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In Memoriam

Ezra Laderman, 90, Composer

Composer Ezra Laderman died February 28, 2015 at the age of 90. His works included twelve string quartets, eleven concertos, and eight symphonies; six dramatic oratorios, music for dance, seven operas, and music for two Academy Award-winning films. In the words of Anthony Tommasini, Laderman’s “kinetic music mixes pungently atonal elements into a harmonic language that is tonally rooted and clearly directed.”

He attended New York City’s High School of Music and Art, where at the age of fifteen he performed his own piano concerto. In 1943 began serving in the United States Army as a radio operator with the 69th Infantry Division. After being present at the Battle of the Bulge and the taking of Leipzig, Laderman wrote his Leipzig Symphony.

After his discharge from the Army in April 1946, Laderman began to study composition, earning his B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1950 and his M.A. from Columbia University in 1952. As Allan Kozinn wrote in the New York Times, Laderman studied “with Stefan Wolpe, who led him away from tonality, and later with Otto Luening and Douglas Moore, who persuaded him to temper his atonal style by indulging his melodic gifts.”

After joining the Yale School of Music community as a composer-in-residence in 1988, Laderman served as Dean from 1989 to 1995. Under his leadership, the Artist Diploma was added to the School’s degree programs in 1993. He stayed on as Professor of Music until his retirement in 2013. He was named Professor Emeritus in 2014.

Ezra Laderman was a leader of numerous professional organizations: he served as president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts composer-librettist program, president of the American Music Center, director of the music program of the National Endowment for the Arts, president of the National Music Council, and board chair of the American Composers Orchestra. He was the recipient of three Guggenheim fellowships and the Rome Prize.

Laderman’s commissions included works for the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Philadelphia Orchestra. He also wrote for such chamber ensembles as the Tokyo, Juilliard, and Vermeer quartets and for soloists Yo-Yo Ma, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Sherrill Milnes, Emanuel Ax, among many others. Albany Records released a nine-volume set called The Music of Ezra Laderman, focusing on his chamber output over many years. Other recordings of Laderman’s music are on the New World, CRI, First Editions, Connoisseur, and RCA Victor labels.

Ezra Laderman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 29, 1924. The son of Polish immigrants, he began improvising at the piano at age four and just a few years later began to compose music. He once wrote, “I hardly knew it then, but I had at a very early age made a giant step to becoming a composer.”

Dean Robert Blocker said: “The loss of Ezra Laderman greatly diminishes our community, but his life and music enlarged us and, indeed, all of humankind.”

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Claude Frank, 89, Pianist

“Those of us who knew him loved him dearly, for he gave to all he touched the extraordinary gifts of his wisdom, wit, artistry, and insatiable passion for beautiful music.”

Dean Robert Blocker

Pianist Claude Frank died December 27 at the age of 89. He was a member of the Yale School of Music faculty from 1973 to 2006, and was named Professor Emeritus in 2007. He was also a longtime member of the faculty of the Yale Summer School of Music/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

In his long and distinguished career as a pianist, Claude Frank appeared with the world’s foremost orchestras and at major festivals, and collaborated with countless chamber ensembles. He often performed with his wife, the late pianist Lilian Kallir, and with his daughter, violinist Pamela Frank. His recording on RCA of the 32 Beethoven sonatas was named one of the year’s ten best by Time Magazine, and High Fidelity and Stereo Review recommended it above other renditions.

Frank was born to a Jewish family in Nuremberg and lived there until the age of 12. His given name at birth was Claus Johannes Frank, the “Johannes” a tribute to Brahms. As Hitler came to power in Germany, Frank joined his father in Brussels, then went to study in Paris. The German occupation of France forced Mr. Frank to leave, and he traveled to Spain. Overheard at the piano, he was invited to perform at a party given by the Brazilian ambassador. The American consul, who was a guest at that party, gave Frank a visa to come to the United States. Once in New York, Frank studied with Artur Schnabel. He became an American citizen in 1944. He gave his recital debut at Town Hall in 1947, and in 1959 he made his New York Philharmonic debut with Leonard Bernstein.

“Those of us who knew him loved him dearly,” said Dean Robert Blocker, “for he gave to all he touched the extraordinary gifts of his wisdom, wit, artistry, and insatiable passion for beautiful music.” Claude Frank was twice the recipient of the Sanford Medal, the highest honor that the Yale School of Music can bestow. On his 80th birthday he was presented with the Stoeckel Teaching Award.

Frank’s repertoire ranged from Bach to Ginastera and Roger Sessions, but his playing was most renowned for his interpretations of the classical literature. He wrote in his autobiography: “The four composers I love most, chronologically, are Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert… Every note by them is holy. I present their music as if they are gifts from God, which of course they are.”

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In Memoriam

Russell Louis Rega ’38 MUS

Richard Rephann, 82, Harpsichordist and Director Emeritus of Collection

Norman F. Leyden ’38 BA, ’39 BMus Joseph Magnus Goodman ’40 MUS Constance Marie Allen ’41 MUS Rita Charlotte Tolomeo ’48 MUS Frank Weichel Drummond ’55 MUS John Warren Henderson ’42 BMus Muriel Port Stevens ’45 BMus David G Garvin ’45 BMus, ’48 UGrd Mary Louise Yoder Hicks ’48 BMus, ’49 MM John Nicholas Huwiler ’49 BMus Anne Parsonnet Lieberson ’50 BMus Ezra G. Sims Jr. ’52 BMus William Core Duffy Jr. ’52 BMus, ’54 MM

Richard Rephann ’64 MusM, harpsichordist and director emeritus of the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, died on December 29 at the age of 82. After receiving his master’s degree as a student of Ralph Kirkpatrick, he joined the School of Music faculty as harpsichord instructor and Assistant Curator of the Collection of Musical Instruments. In 1968, he became Director of the Collection, a post he held for 37 years, while serving as Professor (Adjunct) of Organology and Harpsichord Playing.

During his tenure, the Collection tripled in size, and its home at 15 Hillhouse Avenue was transformed into a facility for conserving, studying, and exhibiting the rich holdings. The Collection also became a valuable resource for various musical curricula in the University. In 1967, Rephann initiated an annual series of concerts presenting music from the Middle Ages to the 20th century; it is now the longest-running series of its kind in this country.

Rephann was presented with the Morris Steinert Award, the museum’s highest honor, upon his retirement in 2006.

William Purvis, the current director of the Collection, said, “During his 42-year tenure, Richard’s staunch advocacy and powerful vision transformed the Collection of Musical Instruments into one of the finest collections of historical instruments in the world. All who knew him valued his incisive intellect and refined taste. He not only transformed and enriched the Collection, but also the lives of everyone who knew him.”

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Patricia L. Bourne ’52 MM Elaine A. Flug ’55 BMus Blaine Butler ’56 BA, ’58 BMus, ’59 MM Robert C. Suderburg Ph.D. ’60 MM Carl Bayard Staplin ’61 MM George Rosenfeld Schermerhorn ’62 MM Egbert M. Ennulat ’63 MM Walter Hekster ’63 MM Joan Kalisch ’64 MM Richard T. Rephann ’64 MM Robert L. Gross ’66 MM Edward A. Sheftel ’68 MM William Thomas McKinley ’69 MMA Mary Anne Louise Salini ’76 MM James M. Bates ’77 MUS Claire Murphy Newbold ’83 MM Lenard C. Bowie ’76 MMA., ’84 DMA

Allen Forte, Music Theorist

William Gill Gridley, Jr., Trustee of Battell Stoeckel Estate in Norfolk

Renowned music theorist and musicologist Allen Forte died October 16 at the age of 87. Forte, the Battell Professor Emeritus of the Theory of Music, was a specialist in 20thcentury atonal music, Schenkerian analysis, and the American popular ballad. He was the author of 12 scholarly books and 100 articles. His book The Structure of Atonal Music has been hailed as one of the most important contributions to music theory in the twentieth century.

William Gill Gridley, Jr., 85, died peacefully after a brief illness on November 29, 2014.

A 1951 graduate of Yale College, he served for twenty years on the board of the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate, home of the Yale Summer School of Music and Art, in Norfolk, Conn.

Gridley was born January 10, 1929 in New York City. After retiring from a career in investment, he taught at the Horace Mann School. His many interests and passions included art, literature, music, geography, the outdoors, and science. An ardent supporter of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and ’70s, he served as Vice Chairman on the board of Tuskegee University for 36 years, and received an honorary degree from the University. In the early 1960s he helped found the Episcopal School in Manhattan, and 1967–1974 he served as treasurer on the Board of The Berkshire Boy Choir. Later, in addition to serving on the board of the Battell Stoeckel Estate, he was on the boards of the Berkshire Choral Institute; the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund, devoted to cancer research; and the Leopold Schepp Foundation, which supports undergraduate and graduate students from all over the world. ||

Forte was born Dec. 23, 1926 in Portland, Oregon. During World War II he served in the American Navy on the U.S.S. General Butner in the Pacific. A graduate of Columbia University, where he earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees, Forte joined the Yale faculty as an instructor in music theory after teaching at the Columbia University Teachers College.

He became a full professor in 1968 and assumed the Battell Professorship in 1991. He was director of graduate studies from 1970 to 1977 and director of undergraduate studies from 1995 to 1996.

Forte was the general editor of the Yale University Press series Composers of the Twentieth Century for more than two decades. He served for seven years as the editor of the Journal of Music Theory, and was on the advisory boards of The Musical Quarterly and Music Analysis. Forte’s papers are housed in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library at Yale.

A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Forte received numerous other honors, including fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Contributors to the YSM Alumni Fund

Mrs. Joan M. Mallory Mrs. Sheila A. Marks Mrs. Marjorie J. McClelland Mrs. Dorothy C. Rice & Mr. David Rice Professor Eckhart Richter & Mrs. Rosemary Richter Mrs. Linda L. Rosdeitcher Prof.. Willie H. Ruff, Jr. Mr. Ronald D. Simone & Madeline Simone Mrs. Gwendolyn H. Stevens & Mr. William Y. Stevens Mrs. Cynthia T. Stuck Mr. Pablo B. Svilokos & Jacqueline Svilokos Dean David W. Sweetkind Professor William F. Toole & Mrs. Bertha Lee Toole Ms. Elaine Troostwyk Toscanini Mr. William W. Ulrich, Jr. & Mrs. Erika Mathilde Ulrich Mrs. Georgene V. Vogt Professor and Mrs. Raymond Vun Kannon

The School of Music is grateful for the generous support of the School’s educational and artistic endeavors.

To make your gift, please visit www.yale.edu/giveMusic 1940s Anonymous Mrs. Josephine C. Del Monaco & Mr. John P. Del Monaco Professor Emma Lou Diemer Mr. Edward F. Farrer* Mrs. Nina Ardito Gambardella & John M. Gambardella, D.V.M. Mrs. Eleanore H. Lange Kard Professor Henry N. Lee, Jr. & Mrs. Jane S. Lee Mrs. Jane S. Lee & Professor Henry N. Lee, Jr. Ms. Marion E. Mansfield Mrs. Mildred McClellan Krebs & Samuel G. McClellan Mrs. Marie B. Nelson Bennett, Ph.D. Mrs. Arleen G. Rowley Professor Julia Schnebly-Black & Mr. Alastair Black Mr. Albert C. Sly & Elizabeth Sly Mrs. Florence G. Smith & Robert L. Smith

1960s Ms. Syoko Aki Erle Judith R. Alstadter, Ph.D. Professor Charles Aschbrenner Mr. Howard N. Bakken & Mrs. Mary Ann Bakken Mr. & Mrs. Raymond P. Bills Mr. George S. Blackburn, Jr. The Rev. Dr. Robert Carpenter & Ms. Martha Elizabeth Gale Professor Joel A. Chadabe & Francoise Chadabe Professor Frank V. Church & Margaret Church Professor Garry E. Clarke & Mrs. Melissa Jane Clarke Professor Carleton C. Clay & Ms. Julia Clay Mr. W. Ritchie Clendenin, Jr. Ms. Charlotte M. Corbridge Dr. Lucy E. Cross Ms. Kunie F. DeVorkin & Prof. David H. DeVorkin Mr. Ralph P. D’Mello Mrs. Sylvia W. Dowd Mr. & Mrs. Ernesto Epistola Mrs. Helen B. Erickson & Prof. John Hilding Erickson Mr. & Mrs. Michael Farny Miss Grace Ann Feldman Professor Brian Fennelly & Jacqueline Lee Fennelly Mr. Jeff Fuller Dr. Daniel M. Graham Mr. John M. Graziano & Dr. Roberta Graziano Mr. Richard F. Green & Elssa Green Professor Eiji Hashimoto & Mrs. Ruth L. Anne Hashimoto

1950s Professor John K. Adams Mrs. Sandra P. Andreucci Mrs. Elena G. Bambach & Mr. George Bambach Mrs. Ellen Powell Bell Prof. Richmond Browne & Ms. Sandra Colby Brown Mr. Charles Burkhart & Marian Burkhart Professor Galen H. Deibler & Deanna D. Deibler Mr. William A. Dresden Professor Leonard F. Felberg & Mrs. Arlette Felberg Ms. Mary G. George & Mr. James Drew Prof. Joanna B. Gillespie & Very Rev. David M. Gillespie Mrs. Linda W. Glasgal & Mr. Ralph Glasgal Mrs. Renee K. Glaubitz Mrs. Norine P. Harris Mr. Edward H. Higbee, Jr. & Mrs. Mary Alice Higbee Professor G. Truett Hollis Dr. Michael M. Horvit & Mrs. Nancy Harris Horvit Mrs. Hannelore H. Howard Mrs. Joyce B. Kelley Mrs. Anne P. Lieberson* Dr. Donald Glenn Loach & Mrs. Anne Richardson Loach Ms. Jo Ann B. Locke Professor Richard W. Lottridge & Jean Lottridge 48

Professor Peter J. Hedrick & Elizabeth Hedrick Prof. & Mrs. William L. Hudson Mr. Thomas F. Johnson & Mrs. Esther Ferrer Mr. W. Marvin Johnson, Jr. & Karla S. Johnson Mr. Richard E. Killmer & Sidney Watrous Killmer Mrs. Linda T. Lienhard & Professor Gustav E. Lienhard Ms. Jane P. Logan & Ian Bernard Professor Vincent F. Luti Dr. Maija M. Lutz & Mr. Peter A. Tassia III Ms. Paige E. Macklin & Mr. William E. Macklin IV Professor Donald Miller, Jr. Mr. Mallory Miller Dr. Robert W. Molison & Mrs. Ann Molison Professor James R. Morris & Judith Morris Miss Joan Maurine Moss & Mr. Anthony Meeker Ms. Patricia Grignet Nott Mr. Peter P. D. Olejar Ms. Elizabeth Sawyer Parisot & Professor Aldo S. Parisot Mrs. Florence Fowler Peacock & James L. Peacock Mr. Gerald M. Rizzer Professor Hildred E. Roach & Mr. James Stafford Professor Werner G. Rose & Mrs. Beverly E. Rose Mr. Bernard Rubenstein & Ann Rubenstein Mr. George R. Schermerhorn* & Eunice Marie Schermerhorn Professor Alvin Shulman & Mrs. Naomi Bossom Mr. Bryan R. Simms & Dr. Charlotte E. Erwin Ms. Rheta R. Smith Professor M. L. Spratlan, Jr. & Professor Melinda K. Spratlan Mr. Haskell L. Thomson & Kay Thomson Mrs. Joyce M. Ucci Mrs. Althea Waites Mrs. Abby N. Wells Professor Donald F. Wheelock & Ms. Anne H. Wheelock Mr. Joseph L. Wilcox & Barbara Wilcox

Mr. Gene Crisafulli Pres. & Mrs. Ronald Crutcher Ms. Sharon Dennison & Mr. Stephen B. Perry Prof. Preethi I. de Silva Ms. Deborah Dewey Mr. Daniel S. Godfrey & Ms. Diana Carol Godfrey Mr. Hall N. Goff Mr. Robert L. Hart & Mrs. Pamela C. Hart Jacquelyn M. Helin & Dr. Robert A. Glick Dr. Janne E. Irvine Mr. Jeffrey J. Jacobsen & Mrs. Marianne K. Jacobsen Mr. David B. Johnson & Mrs. Sheila Holden Johnson Professor Boyd M. Jones II Mr. Richard A. Konzen & Terri Ann Konzen Prof. & Mrs. John H. Langdon Mr. David Lasker Ms. Susan Bell Leon & Mr. Rafael Leon Mr. Anthony M. Lopez Ms. Anita La Fiandra MacDonald & Robert Whitelaw MacDonald Mr. & Mrs. Schmuel Magen Ms. Chouhei Min & William Mullin Mr. William A. Owen III Ms. Susan Poliacik & Mr. Gerald Tarack Prof. & Mrs. Jan Radzynski Mr. & Mrs. William N. Renouf Mr. Dale Thomas Rogers Mr. Donald S. Rosenberg & Ms. Katherine A. Brewster Rogene Russell & Mr. Douglas Howard Ms. Wendy S. Schwartz & Mr. Richard M. Schwartz Mrs. Permelia S. Sears & Dr. David Foster Sears Professor Frank Shaffer, Jr. & Marian Shaffer Ms. Jill Shires Ms. Elizabeth H. Singleton & Mr. Kenneth D. Singleton Mr. Frank A. Spaccarotella & Dawn Spaccarotella Mr. Philip D. Spencer & Ms. Pamela Spencer Ms. Julie Margaret Stoner & Mr. Robert Jacobsen Prof. Michael C. Tusa & Susan Kidwell Ms. Leslie Van Becker Ms. Antoinette C. Van Zabner Mr. John P. Varineau & Gwendolyn Denise Varineau Mr. Allan D. Vogel & Janice Tipton Vogel Ms. Elizabeth Ward Mr. Marvin Warshaw & Carol Warshaw Ms. Barbara M. Westphal Professor Donald R. Zimmer & Teresa Zimmer

1970s Anonymous Mr. Daniel I. Asia & Ms. Carolee T. Asia Professor David B. Baldwin & Mrs. Christine H. Baldwin Ms. Cecylia B. Barczyk & Dr. Charles H. Borowski Mr. Geoffrey W. Barnes & Mrs. Fenton Crawford Barnes Mr. David A. Behnke Mr. Michael C. Borschel & Ms. Audrey Borschel Mr. William B. Brice Ms. M. Susan Brown & Risse J. Rondeau Ms. Nelly Maude Case 49

1980s

Mr. Rodney A. Wynkoop & Mrs. Leigh Joyner Wynkoop Ms. Kyung Hak Yu

Anonymous Dr. Eliot T. Bailen & Ms. Susan Rotholz Mr. James R. Barry & Ms. Karen Barry Dr. M. Teresa Beaman Dr. Jeffrey Evans Brooks & Ms. Maura Brooks Ms. Barbara Peterson Cackler & Mr. Mark Cackler Mr. David Calhoon and Dr. Laurie A. Noll Mr. Wayman L. Chin Mr. Gary Crow-Willard & Dorothy Carol Crow-Willard Mr. Mark Edward Daniel & Ms. Tammy L. Preuss Mr. Steven F. Darsey Mr. Pedro de Alcantara & Ms. Alexis Niki Ms. Kathryn Lee Engelhardt Ms. Pamela Geannelis & W. Bradley Geannelis MD Mr. Richard H. Goering & Eleanor Goering Ms. Brigitte Paetsch Gray & Mr. Edward Gray Mr. Andrew F. Grenci Ms. Maureen Horgan & Mr. John L. Tonry Dr. Marie Jureit-Beamish Dr. John T. King Mr. David M. Kurtz & Mrs. Jennifer Bartels Kurtz Ms. Elizabeth Suh Lane Ms. Genevieve Feiwen Lee Mr. David L. Loucky & Ms. Nancy D. Loucky Mr. Peter M. Marshall & Allison Beth Yulgamore Mr. Grant R. Moss Mr. Stephen B. Perry & Ms. Sharon Dennison Mr. Gregory M. Peterson Mr. Kevin J. Piccini & Ms. Sara F. Piccini Ms. Tammy L. Preuss & Mr. Mark Edward Daniel Mr. Daniel W. Reinker Dr. Melissa Kay Rose & Mr. Daniel E. Schafer Ms. Susan Rotholz & Dr. Eliot T. Bailen Ms. Sally L. Rubin & Mr. Arthur I. Applbaum Dr. Shannon M. Scott Mr. Nicholas Robert Smith Mr. Regan W. Smith & Ms. Carol Smith Ms. Jo-Ann Sternberg Ms. Terri Rae Sundberg Dr. Timothy D. Taylor & Dr. Sherry Beth Ortner Mr. & Mrs. Alexander S. Wilson Ms. Carol Kozak Ward & Seth Ward, Ph.D. Mr. Christopher P. Wilkins & Ms. Anne Adair Wilkins Ms. Mary Diane Willis-Stahl Ms. Julia A. Wolfe & Michael Gordon

1990s Mr. Michael James Ackmann & Ms. Min-jung Kim-Ackmann Mr. Ole Akahoshi Mr. Anthony Joseph Bancroft Dr. Carolyn A. Barber Ms. Julie Anne Bates Mr. Marco E. Beltrami & Mrs. Jill Kathleen Beltrami Mr. Mark Elliot Bergman & Ms. Rachel E. Bergman Ms. Amy Feldman Bernon Ms. Inbal Segev Brener & Mr. Thomas B. Brener Mr. Thomas Russell Brand Ms. Siu-Ying Susan Chan Mr. David James Chrzanowski Dr. Jayson Rodovsky Engquist & Mr. David Winkworth Ms. Alison Eileen Graff & Scott Toby Graff Dr. Barbara J. Hamilton-Primus Mr. Edward Duffield Harsh & Ms. Margaret Kampmeier Ms. Eva Marie Heater Ms. Yeon-Su Kim Ms. Bonjiu Koo Mr. Eduardo Leandro Ms. Seunghee Lee and Mr. Sung K. Kang John R. Mangan and Bronwen MacArthur Ms. Melissa J. Marse Mr. John Scott Marshall Mr. Thomas G. Masse & James M. Perlotto, M.D. Ms. Pamela Getnick Mindell & Dr. David A. Mindell Dr. Peter M. Miyamoto & Ms. Ayako Tsuruta Ms. Jill A. Pellett Levine Ms. Karen D. Peterson and Mr. Ned K. Peterson Ms. Kirsten Peterson Mr & Mrs Benjamin Carey Pool Mr. Kevin M. Puts Ms. Eleanor Sandresky Ms. Karen Schneider-Kirner Dr. Andrew D. Shenton Mr. James W. Sherry Dr. John A. Sichel Mr. Van R. Stiefel & Caroline Stiefel Mr. Chris B. Theofanidis Mr. Ferenc Xavier Vegh, Jr. Mr. Gregory Christopher Wrenn Prof. Wei-Yi Yang 50

2000s

2010s

Anonymous Mr. Orlay Alonso Dr. Gregory N. Anderson Mr. Dmitri Atapine Ms. Laura Catherine Atkinson Mr. Michael Lawrence Barnett Dr. Joel A. Brennan Mrs. Sarah M. Briscoe and Mr. Brandon C. Briscoe Mr. Michael Patrick Compitello Dr. Dominick DiOrio, III Ms. Ariana Scott Falk Mr. Thomas Ronald Flippin Jr. & The Rev. Vicki I. Flippin Ms. Yiming Gao Dr. and Mrs. Richard J. Gard Ms. Mariana I. Gariazzo & Mr. Claudio Gariazzo Mr. Austin Peter Glass Ms. Tina Lee Hadari & Mr. Netta Mordechai Hadari Ms. Claire Elizabeth Happel Mr. Andrew Elliot Henderson & Ms. Mary Wannamaker Huff Mr. Paul Abraham Jacobs Mr. Holland J. Jancaitis Mr. & Mrs. Daniel F. Juarez Dr. Daniel Dixon Kellogg & Ms. Hsing-Ay Hsu Kellogg Dr. Sarita Kit Yee Kwok & Mr. Alexandre Lecarme Mr. Christian Mark Lane Mr. Christopher Matthew Lee & Nora Lee Dr. Joan Jooyeon Lee Ms. Nora Anderson Lewis Mr. Colin D Lynch Mr. Robert M. Manthey Ms. Katherine Mireille Mason Dr. Michael David Mizrahi Mr. & Mrs. John-Michael Muller Mr. Paul Daniel Murphy Prof. Conor R. Nelson Dr. John C. Orfe V Ms. Jeewon Park Ms. Sarah Marie Perkins Mr. Denis Petrunin Mr. Naftali Yitzhak Schindler Mr. Thomas Jared Stellmacher Dr. Laura E. Usiskin Mr. Derrick Li Wang Mr. Yan Ming Alvin Wong Ms. Donna Yoo

Anonymous Mr. Eric Anderson Ms. Samona Rasheed Bryant Mr. Dashon Lateef Burton Ms. Qi Cao Mr. Sean Y. Chen Ms. Alissa B. Cheung Ms. Reena Maria Esmail Mr. Matheus S. Garcia Souza Ms. Lindsay Jane Garritson Mr. Michael J. Gilbertson Mr. Jonathan A. Hammonds Timothy J. Hilgert Mr. Stephen C. Ivany Mr. Oliver F. Jia Ms. Nayeon Kim Ms. Brittany Michele Lasch Ms. Hannah Lash Ms. Jane Mitchell Mr. Paul Gabriel Nemeth Mr. Tian Hui Ng Mr. Alan M. Ohkubo Ms. Anastasia Metla Mr. Ruben Rodriguez Ms. Caroline W. Ross Mr. Steven Edward Soph Mr. Kyle D. Stegall Mr. Samuel S. Suggs Mr. James K. Sutterfield Ms. Heewon Uhm Mr. Kensho Watanabe Ms. Xinyi Xu Ms. Betty Zhou Mr. Senmiao Zhou Mr. Michael A. Zuber Non-Alumni Donors Mr. & Mrs. Warren Eisenberg * Deceased

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Banner bearer Daniel Schlosberg ’10 BA, ’13 MM, ’14 MMA leads the School of Music graduates on the procession to Sprague Hall for Commencement on May 19, 2014.

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Editor Dana Astmann Writers Dana Astmann David J. Baker Kate Gonzales Donna Larcen Michael Yaffe Photography Dana Astmann Matthew Fried Christopher Gardner Christine Gatti Bob Handelman Carl Kaufman Vincent Oneppo Harold Shapiro Photo Editor Monica Ong Reed Design Paul Kazmercyk granitebaydesign.com Additional Thanks Michael Yaffe Music at Yale is a publication of the Yale School of Music P.O. Box 208246 New Haven CT 06520-8246 music.yale.edu musicnews@yale.edu

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