Yale School of Music Viewbook

Why Yale?

Here you’ll find the highest level of performance within a supportive community, surrounded by the unparalleled resources of Yale University.

welcome For over 100 years, we have nurtured successful performers, composers, and cultural leaders. As one of the leading professional music schools in the world, we seek students of extraordinary musical talent to pursue advanced studies with our distinguished faculty.

WATCH our overture video Above: Dashon Burton ’11 M.M., a member of the Grammy Award-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth

The Yale School of Music is part of an international research university that cherishes its academic heritage, values the arts, and embraces innovation and progress.

At Yale you will find an array of libraries, art galleries, historical collections, theaters, and a rich concert life.

I invite you to consider Yale for your graduate studies.

With a bold vision for its future, the School of Music is preparing the next generation of the world’s great artists and cultural leaders.

robert blocker The Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music

Prepare for a professional career.

Nurture your talent and passion to perform at the highest level. Study with our world-renowned faculty. Take courses in any department at Yale. Learn from stellar guest artists and ensembles through coachings and master classes.

Make an impact in the world.

Be versatile, curious, inventive. The liberal arts environment fosters connections that cross disciplines. Develop your leadership skills. Use your art to create change.

Be free to study.

Every student receives a full-tuition scholarship and stipend.

Sean Chen values Yale’s close community and devoted chamber music time. He also enjoys the chance to nurture his interest in computer science.

Sean Chen A.D. 2014 Honors: Annenberg Fellowship, 2015 Third Place at the Cliburn Piano Competition, 2013 DeHaan Classical Fellowship from American Pianists Association, 2013

Sean Chen, piano

WATCH: Alumni spotlight

“Piano seminar is really interesting. Every semester there are different topics, and everyone presents. It seems daunting but it’s really not. There are really great master classes with guest artists and faculty of YSM. It’s the hardest thing to play in front of your peers. If you can do that, you can play in front of the public.”

As the only school of music in an Ivy League institution, YSM is an exciting place for musicians to develop their talent and broaden their intellect.

A musical university The musical environment surrounds you. Take part in concerts at world-class art museums and libraries. Collaborate across disciplines. Yale is a place where music meets the world, from theater and architecture to engineering and medicine.

Limitless Possibilities With unparalleled resources and state-of-the-art facilities, Yale enables you to put your imagination into action. Cutting-edge technology and historical instruments are right at your fingertips.

Opportunities Await Here you have the opportunity to learn from the great musicians of our time. Guest artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Valery Gergiev, and John Adams have come to work with students, as do ensembles like the Emerson, Artis, and Takács string quartets.

Yale regularly brings in the world’s formemost leaders and thinkers for public talks. Recent guests include the former President Jimmy Carter, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and author Zadie Smith.

Above: Clarinetist Paul Cho ’09 M.M., ’10 A.D., one of many Yale alumni in the ensemble Decoda

Perform in New York Every year, the Yale in New York concert series presents YSM students, faculty, and recent alumni in collaborative performances at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Play side-by-side with your professors and with exciting guest conductors in some of the world’s most prestigious venues.

The Greatest Musicians Many of the world’s top performers and composers come to Yale to give master classes, perform, and coach ensembles.

Enjoy numerous opportunities to work with artists beyond the YSM faculty.

Recent visiting artists have included John Adams, Marin Alsop, Emanuel Ax, James Conlon, Leon Fleisher, Valery Gergiev, Richard Goode, Yo-Yo Ma, David Finckel, and Wu Han.

yale in the world

Above: Angélique Kidjo performing at Yale; Yale students in a classroom in Ghana.

Make Connections Yale faculty have extensive networks around the world. They are the artistic directors of festivals such as Bang on a Can, Chamber Music Northwest, and the International Piano Academy in Shanghai. Others are actively involved in Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus, Sejong, Le Train Bleu, Beijing Modern Music Festival, and other leading organizations.

International Performances Yale regularly presents students in recitals and master classes in Europe, Asia, and beyond. Yale Opera students have performed in Ankara, Milan, Paris, and Warsaw. The Yale Percussion Group studied and performed in Ghana. YSM students are prizewinners in numerous competitions around the world.

Clockwise from top: YSM students and faculty perform at Carnegie Hall; composer John Adams conducts the Yale Philharmonia; Valery Gergiev leads an orchestral reading; Yo-Yo Ma rehearses with YSM students.

academics

WATCH: Get an inside look into each of our music studios

Focus on what’s important to you Students take individual lessons and participate in regular studio classes. All performance majors study chamber music throughout their time at Yale and take part in ensembles such as the Yale Philharmonia, Yale Opera, new music, and more.

Deepen your knowledge Students take a variety of classes to broaden their musical knowledge, including music history and Yale’s unique hearing curriculum.

Electives Study a favorite composer or musical era in depth.

Expand your experiences with classes on community engagement. Lay the groundwork for your future with a class in career strategies.

The Yale School of Music offers degrees in performance, conducting, and composition.

Broaden your horizons The University’s entire course catalog is open to you.

YSM students have taken courses in anthropology, studio art, computer science, foreign languages, literature, history, political science, psychology, and countless other subjects.

Degrees master of music * A two-year program for students who hold a bachelor’s degree (or international equivalent) in music or other subject.

master of musical arts ‡ A two-year, performance-oriented degree for students who hold a master’s degree in the same major.

doctor of musical arts

Programs

A distinctive program comprised of a two-year residency followed by a three-year period in which students launch their professional careers. For students who hold a master’s degree.

areas of study

artist diploma

Violin Viola Cello

Double Bass Flute Oboe Clarinet Bassoon Horn Trumpet Trombone Percussion Guitar Harp Piano Organ

Voice: Opera

Voice: Early Music

Orchestral Conducting

Choral Conducting Composition

String Quartet

A two-year program for instrumentalists and singers on the cusp of a major career who hold a minimum of a high school diploma. Enrollment is limited to six total.

certificate in performance A three-year program for a small number of gifted students who do not hold a bachelor’s degree.

b.a./m.m.

An option for undergraduates to complete a B.A. from Yale College and an M.M. from YSM in five years.

quartet fellowship A residency program for exceptional young string quartets * YSM’s primary degree program (approximately 70% of student body)

‡

YSM’s primary post-M.M. program

Yale is the Musical Ivy The entire university embraces music.

Brilliant scholars in the Department of Music teach music history, theory, and ethnomusicology. Students in other disciplines take on musical collaborations. You’ll find music in every corner of campus.

Teaching Opportunities Take advantage of the numerous teaching opportunities in the robust lessons program. Work as a teaching artist in YSM’s large-scale partnership with New Haven’s public schools. Be a teaching assistant with the Yale Band or an academic course.

cultural leaders

Clockwise from left: Music in Schools Initiative; Yale Glee Club; Sō Percussion

Collaborative Creativity Work with colleagues in other arts schools on creative projects. A production of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale brought together faculty and students from YSM and the School of Drama in a side-by-side collaboration that was performed at Carnegie Hall. Many YSM students perform at the Yale Cabaret and in other opportunities across the campus.

Clockwise from top right: The Soldier’s Tale, a collaboration with Yale School of Drama; Louis XVI-style harpsichord by William Hyman, Yale Collection of Musical Instruments; Yale Center for British Art.

resources Yale Collection of Musical Instruments The Yale Collection of Musical Instruments holds nearly 1,000 items, from a Stradivarius violin to a Blanchet harpsichord to a natural trumpet by Sauerle. Many of the instruments and replicas are available for students to borrow, play, and learn from.

Oral History of American Music Oral History of American Music collects audio and video memoirs in the voices of creative musicians. Listen to Aaron Copland describing how Appalachian Spring was named, John Cage on mushrooms and musical form, and Lou Harrison on the influence of Balinese Gamelan on American music.

Gilmore Music Library This beautiful library contains approximately 100,000 scores and parts; 70,000 books; 35,000 recordings; and materials like photographs, archives, and manuscripts. You’ll also have access to the entire Yale University library system, which has over 15 million volumes in media from ancient scrolls to electronic databases.

“There are a lot of resources available on this campus. You really feel the connection to history, all the faculty who have been here and the students that come before. It’s very empowering to feel part of a musical tradition.”

Music and Technology The Center for Studies in Music Technology offers classes and resources to YSM students, both performers and composers.

The Fred Plaut Recording Studio records and live-streams nearly every recital, so family and friends can watch your performances no matter where they are.

Digital Media Center for the Arts Yale’s Digital Media Center for the Arts offers access to cutting-edge digital tools as well as training to use those tools effectively and creatively. Borrow an audio kit for a recording project or shoot a video in the specialized lab.

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library View and even touch papers and manuscripts by Charles Ives, Vladimir Horowitz, Robert Shaw, Virgil Thomson, and Kurt Weill, among many others. Get inside the minds of some of the most influential musicians in history. Bring manuscripts to life in your own performances.

“I love and miss New Haven.

It’s small enough to own, and big enough to have a lot of exciting things happening.

There was no shortage of things to do and resources to take advantage of.”

— Ashley Bathgate

Above: The Grammy-winning New Haven Symphony Orchestra plays on the New Haven Green as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.

life in new haven International Festival of Arts & Ideas A fifteen-day extravaganza of performing arts, lectures, and conversations that takes over theaters and open spaces in New Haven each June.

New Haven Symphony Orchestra Led by William Boughton, the Grammy Award-winning orchestra includes YSM faculty like concertmaster Ani Kavafian and principal clarinet David Shifrin.

Many students are hired to play in the orchestra, which is known for its inventive programming.

Nearby Nature There’s a lot of great hiking nearby at places like East Rock Park or Sleeping Giant, the namesake of an alumni composers’ collective.

Dining New Haven has been named the No. 1 Foodie Town in America and the home of the country’s best pizza.

Bike It With a growing number of bike lanes and Yale’s bikeshare program, New Haven is a great place to explore on two wheels.

“You go to a school like this to be a sponge and soak up as much as you can. I was encouraged to try everything and develop everything.”

Ashley Bathgate M.M. 2007 A.D. 2008 Career: Bang on a Can All-Stars, Metropolis Ensemble, TwoSense Recordings on: Naxos, Nonesuch, Innova, Cantaloupe Music, La-La Land Records, Albany Records

Ashley Bathgate, cello “Mr. Parisot really made me a better cellist and a better musician.

I could say that about many faculty members I worked with when I was here. You form these long-lasting relationships, both with faculty and with the students.”

WATCH: Alumni spotlight

in rehearsal

Top: Valery Gergiev leads the Yale Philharmonia in a public reading in Woolsey Hall.

Bottom row: Student chamber ensembles rehearse around campus.

Brentano Quartet

Close Collaboration The internationally renowned performers on the Yale faculty come together to create Yale’s warm community.

“There is an atmosphere of caring and supporting each other.”

—Melvin Chen, piano faculty and Deputy Dean Boris Berman

“This kind of education is absolutely unparalleled.”

—Ani Kavafian

world class faculty

David Lang

Chamber Music The Brentano String Quartet, the ensemble-in-residence at YSM, anchors the chamber music program, and guest ensembles give master classes. The full roster of performance faculty coaches student chamber ensembles.

Doris Yarick Cross

Mentorship Faculty and students play side-by-side in joint performances, connect students with the professional world, and offer ongoing support outside the studio.

“The School of Music is an incredibly stable and healthy bridge between school and the job market.”

—Stephen Taylor, oboe faculty William Purvis

“Nowadays, you can’t do just one thing: you have to be a good soloist, a good orchestral player, a good teacher; you have to be able to talk to audiences. The whole school tries to help everybody be prepared for what they’re going to find.”

—Ransom Wilson

where are they now?

Chamber music The Academy/Ensemble ACJW CMS Two at Lincoln Center ETHEL Fifth House Ensemble St. Lawrence String Quartet Canadian Brass Orchestras and opera companies Atlanta Opera BBC Scottish Symphony Dallas Symphony Orchestra Hong Kong Philharmonic Los Angeles Philharmonic Metropolitan Opera New York Philharmonic National Symphony Orchestra (Colombia) OpĂŠra de Lyon Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Vienna Staatsoper Awards Annenberg Fellowship, Doris Duke Award, Emmy Award, Fulbright, Gaudeamus Prize, Grammy Award, Pulitzer Prize, and the Rome Prize, among many others

Amphion String Quartet

Founding new ensembles Atlanta Music Project Cantata Profana Decoda Invisible Anatomy Sebastian Players Sleeping Giant Composers Collective SĹ? Percussion Faculty positions Berklee College of Music Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing) Cornell University Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University The Juilliard School Manhattan School of Music Mannes College, The New School for Music McGill University New England Conservatory Princeton University Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Shepherd School of Music, Rice University Stony Brook University State University of New York, Purchase University of North Carolina School of the Arts University of Southern California Sydney Conservatorium

career strategies Yale empowers you to build your career As the music world continually evolves in new directions, our Office of Career Strategies gives you the tools and knowledge to take charge of your growing career. Get career coaching, attend workshops on finance and marketing, and access resources to help you launch and manage your career. Learn the entrepreneurial skills that all of today’s musicians need.

Change the musical landscape Yale School of Music students and graduates have formed countless ensembles, including SĹ? Percussion, Sleeping Giant Composers Collective, the Sebastian Players, the Amphion String Quartet, New Morse Code, and many others.

Clockwise from top left: Vijay Gupta, first violin, L.A. Philharmonic, founding director, Street Symphony; James Austin Smith, International Contemporary Ensemble & CMS Two, faculty, SUNY Purchase & Manhattan School of Music; Andy Akiho, composer, winner of the Rome Prize; Yoobin Son, second flute, New York Phiharmonic

Yale Philharmonia The Philharmonia performs widely, including appearances in recent years at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall.

Repertoire is selected to give students the broadest orchestral experience. Peter Oundjian is a regular guest conductor; other recent visiting conductors include John Adams, James Conlon, Valery Gergiev, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Concerto Competition The annual Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition offers YSM students the opportunity to perform for a panel of distinguished outside judges.

Winners earn a performance with the Yale Philharmonia in the following season. The competition is open to all performers, including vocalists and multiple instruments.

performance opportunities

Chamber Music Student ensembles are featured in concert series such as Lunchtime Chamber Music and Vista. Winners of the annual chamber music competition perform on a major series. Many studios present group recitals, and some have their own ensembles, such as the Yale Cellos and the Yale Percussion Group.

Yale Opera The opera program offers three fully staged productions each year, including one with orchestra in New Haven’s historic Shubert Theater.

Singers also perform in Liederabend and public master classes.

Choral Ensembles All Yale students can audition for Yale Camerata and Yale Schola Cantorum, both under the auspices of the Institute of Sacred Music. The professional ensemble Yale Choral Artists is organized by the School of Music and the Yale Glee Club.

Left page, bottom: the Handsome Dans Trombone Quartet performing as a winner of the Concerto Competition. Top: the Yale Cellos rehearse with Aldo Parisot in Morse Recital Hall.

“I realize now how lucky I was to be treated like a professional while I was at Yale. Those experiences are still very relevant now that I’m in my career.”

Leelanee Sterrett M.M. 2010 Career: Assistant principal horn, New York Philharmonic Previous: The Academy/ Ensemble ACJW; New Haven Symphony Orchestra

Leelanee Sterrett, horn

WATCH: Alumni spotlight

“At Yale, I learned how to be my own teacher. It was so useful to be seeing a lot of great rep in Philharmonia. We played Bruckner 8 and The Rite of Spring and really big pieces that were possible because we had this large school to draw from.”

undergraduate studies Study at the most musical of the Ivies.

For talented musicians, Yale is the obvious choice for its rich performance opportunities and vibrant musical scene. Yale does not offer a Bachelor of Music degree, but one in three Yalies participates in music on campus: playing in ensembles such as the Yale Symphony Orchestra, taking private lessons, singing choral music or a cappella, or taking courses in the Department of Music, the home of music majors. Annual competitions offer concerto and additional recital opportunities. Yale College New Music features original works by student composers. Singers perform in musical theater and opera productions. Even Yale’s president is a musician, playing bass in a bluegrass band.

A liberal arts foundation for a musical career.

Yale College alumni have gone on to enjoy rich musical careers, including Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Sharon Yamada, first violinist in the New York Philharmonic; Misha Amory, violist of the Brentano String Quartet; and composer Augusta Read Thomas, among others.

International Opportunities The Yale Glee Club, Yale Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Concert Band regularly go on tour throughout the world. Recent tours have taken student musicians to places such as Brazil, China, Cuba, Estonia, Ghana, Latvia, Turkey, and South Africa.

Notable Yale College Alumni Marin Alsop Misha Amory Jane Ira Bloom Jonathan Coulton Eliot Fisk Sharon Isbin Charles Ives Rob Kapilow Robert Lopez Charles Neidich Cole Porter Augusta Read Thomas Sam Tsui Sharon Yamada

student life Office of International Students & Scholars The Office of International Students and Scholars aims to make the Yale experience as smooth as possible, helping students negotiate visas, employment, and more. OISS also offers activities and social events to help build community.

“Yale is a place where you make what you want out of your education. Everybody has different interests, and that creates an environment that’s really positive.

There’s always something that’s going to inspire me that I didn’t expect.”

—Benjamin Hoffman ’14 m.m., d.m.a. candidate, violin

Find Your Community Visit the Yale Women’s Center or Office of LGBTQ Resources, or check out the Afro-American Cultural Center, Asian American Cultural Center, La Casa Cultural, or Native American Cultural Center. The Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity also offers support.

McDougal Center for Graduate Student Life The McDougal Center for Graduate Student Life organizes social, arts, cultural, international, sports, spirituality, wellness, and family events for all graduate and professional students and their spouses, partners, and families throughout the year.

“Yale is one of the more well-rounded places in terms of what you’ll learn: it’s not just orchestra, it’s not just chamber music. Everything’s at a fantastically high level. Whatever your niche is, you’re free to pursue it, and you’re likely to find some other people who will too.”

—Fiona Last ’15 m.m., oboe

Embrace Your Spiritual Life Yale has chaplains of several faiths as well as resources including the Slifka Center for Jewish Life, University Lutheran Ministry, Muslim Students Association, Orthodox Christian Fellowship, Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center, International Church at Yale, Buddhist shrine, and many more.

40% 30

International students

Nations represented by student body

Yale: Immerse Yourself 500 75 2,000 1,000 12

Concerts per year

Yale: A Trove of Musical Treasures 100,000 Musical scores 70,000 Books about music 45,000 Pieces of sheet music 35,000 Recordings 425 Subscriptions to music periodicals

215 Students

Performance groups Courses to choose from Historical instruments and replicas Graduate professional schools

by the numbers

Clockwise, from left: At the music library; Yale Collection of Musical Instruments; classes at YSM

2

smallest studio

$0 Tuition

a rc h ive s of Charles Ives • William Walton • Robert Shaw • Kurt Weill Vladimir Horowitz • Cole Porter • Virgil Thomson

m a n us c rip t s by Claude Debussy • Robert Schumann and many, many more

Above right: Roomful of Teeth, comprising many Yale alumni, with their Grammy Award

12 largest studio

how to apply Application Deadline: December 1 All applicants must submit the following: 1. Online application and fee 2. Prescreening recordings Details online 3. Résumé or C.V. 4. Three letters of recommendation 5. Academic transcripts

supplemental materials International students

toefl score

Composition applicants

gre score

DMA applicants

See music.yale.edu/apply/dma for details

ISM applicants (choral conducting, organ, and early music voice)

Institute of Sacred Music application: visit ism.yale.edu/admissions

Approximate number of students: 215 Average number of applications: 1,500 Acceptance rate: 10–11% Audition rate: 30–40%

» music.yale.edu/admissions

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Visit Us We invite you to come see Yale’s beautiful campus. During the year, you may observe rehearsals and master classes, attend concerts, and meet students and faculty. We can help coordinate your visit:

music.yale.edu/admissions-visit Sprague Hall 98 Wall Street New Haven, CT 203 432-4155 gradmusic.admissions@yale.edu

designer Monica Ong Reed editors Dana Astmann Lily Sutton photographers Dana Astmann Dylan Cross Matthew Fried Bob Handelman Robert Lisak Michael Marsland Judy Sirota Rosenthal Harold Shapiro Cover image: Melody Quah ’13 a.d. by Bob Handelman © 2015 by Yale School of Music