Pianist Ryo Yanagitani opens 2013 with Jan. 10 concert

Doctor of Musical Arts recital includes music of Handel, Debussy, Chopin, and more

The Yale School of Music presents a Doctor of Musical Arts recital featuring pianist Ryo Yanagitani on Thursday, January 10, 2013.

The gold medal medal winner of the prestigious San Antonio International Piano Competition in 2009, Yanagitani will play a program featuring music from the Baroque to today. The concert begins at 8 pm at Morse Recital Hall, located in Sprague Hall at 470 College Street, New Haven.

Yanagitani will open the program with Handel‘s Keyboard Suite No. 3 in D minor, HWV 428, followed by Debussy‘s suite Pour le Piano. The first half closes with the evocative Butterflies and Bobcats by the contemporary Canadian composer David L. McIntyre.

The recital concludes with Chopin‘s popular and virtuosic Ballades, a set of four pieces that earned Yanagitani a special prize in the San Antonio Competition.

The concert begins at 8 pm at Morse Recital Hall, located in Sprague Hall (470 College Street, New Haven). The event is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. The Doctor of Musical Arts degree (DMA) is the highest degree awarded by the School of Music. MORE

Published December 21, 2012
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Ashley Smith ’13MM wins 2012 Freedman Fellowship for Classical Music

The Music Council of Australia and the Freedman Foundation named Ashley Smith ’13MM the winner of the 2012 Freedman Fellowship for Classical Music by the Music Council of Australia.

Roland Peelman, Artistic Director of the Song Company, commented: “Ashley is a very gifted musician – articulate, musical, and committed. The judges were impressed by his commitment to extending the repertoire imaginatively. He has an impressive international network and will be terrific ambassador for new Australian music.”

Smith commented: “My Fellowship is for new music, new audiences and new composers. It means so much to me – I wish to contribute to contemporary music that is living and breathing.”

Australian clarinetist Ashley Smith was the 2010 Symphony International Young Performer Award winner. He is a student of David Shifrin at the Yale School of Music, and last year, was one of the winners of the School’s Chamber Music Competition.

Judging for the Freedman Fellowship took place at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The judges were Karl Kramer, recently appointed as the new dean of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music; Roland Peelman, artistic director of The Song Company; and Goetz Richter, a leading violinist and educator.

Smith’s project is to workshop the performance of the clarinet works of Jorg Widmann, Magnus Lindberg, and Jukka Tiensuu alongside the composers and to present a recital tour in Finland, the United States, and Australia.

Published December 21, 2012
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“Visionary” pianist Radu Lupu makes rare New Haven appearance Jan. 17

Recital features masterworks by Franck, Schubert, and Debussy

The Horowitz Piano Series at the Yale School of Music presents a recital by the Radu Lupu on Thursday, January 17.

Critics describe Lupu in otherworldly terms: he is “a mystic” who “communes with the score on his own terms” (Washington Post). The Guardian writes: “There is a visionary quality to this playing – ecstatic, deeply affecting, and peerless.”

In this recital, Lupu will perform music by Franz Schubert, César Franck, and Claude Debussy. The concert opens with Franck’s Prelude, Chorale, and Fugue, a masterpiece of the piano repertoire whose three movements are thematically interconnected.

Next will be Schubert’s Four Impromptus, Op. 142, which are often said to resemble a four-movement sonata. After intermission, Lupu will close the evening with Book Two of Debussy’s Préludes, written one hundred years ago in 1912–1913.

The concert takes place in the excellent acoustic of Morse Recital Hall, which is located in Sprague Memorial Hall at 470 College Street. The event is part of the Horowitz Piano Series, which is directed by Boris Berman.

Tickets to this performance are $20–$30, $10–15 with student ID. Sampler packages offer discounts of up to 20% from regular ticket prices. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit music.yale.edu or call the Yale School of Music concert office at 203 432-4158. MORE

Published December 18, 2012
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Dec. 20 concert features music of composer Douglas Fisk

Doctor of Musical Arts recital includes music for string quartet, wind quintet, and more

The Yale School of Music presents a Doctor of Musical Arts recital featuring the music of Douglas Fisk on Thursday, December 20, 2012. The program, which features a variety of Fisk’s solo, vocal, and chamber works, begins at 8 pm at Morse Recital Hall, located in Sprague Hall (470 College Street, New Haven).

The concert opens with Banjo and Shadows (2009), a cycle of cycle of five songs for baritone and piano using texts by the poet Carl Sandburg. Next is Impromptu for solo marimba (2007), which Fisk says was inspired by how Schubert’s impromptus “explore diverse musical textures while maintaining proportion and nuance of expression.” Refuge for string quartet closes the first half of the concert.

The second half of the program features three instrumental pieces inspired by poetry. Yes for solo double bass is based on the eponymous poem by William Stafford. The flute-and-marimba duet a kind of singing is based on the poem “Faint Music” by Robert Hass. The concert concludes with Fisk’s Woodwind Quintet, written in 2011, whose fourth movement references Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese.”

The recital is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. MORE

Published December 13, 2012
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Music in Schools hosts Honors Ensemble auditions Jan. 9-12

All-City Honors Orchestra marks debut season, joining band and chorus programs

NHPS student musicians

NHPS student brass musicians

The Music in Schools Initiative is pleased to announce auditions for the 2013 All-City Honors Ensembles, which will take place January 9–12. The ensembles are open for audition to all New Haven Public School students in 5th through 12th grades.

This year will mark the debut season of the All-City Honors Orchestra. This program grows out of a collaboration between the Yale School of Music and the New Haven Public Schools, in partnership with Music Haven, the Neighborhood Music School, and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will be led by Netta Hadari ’99MM, ’00AD of Music Haven.

Dr. Thomas C. Duffy returns to lead the All-City Honors Band for its third season. He will be joined by NHPS teachers Olivia Malin ’07MM, Daniel Kinsman, and Mindy Hartfiel.

For its fourth season, the All-City Honors Chorus will be led by NHPS teachers Jonathan Berryman and Meaghan Sheehan. Lead Teacher Ruben Rodriguez ’11MM supervises all Ensembles.

Students chosen for the All-City Honors Ensembles are expected to maintain membership in their school music ensembles, if available. Full details and audition requirements for all groups can be found here. The Honors Ensembles will join to perform a final concert together on Saturday, May 11, at 4 pm in Sprague Hall. Additional concerts for each group will be announced.

Published December 13, 2012
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YSM announces 2013 Symposium on Music in Schools

Nominations for Distinguished Music Educators accepted through Friday, Dec. 14

Symposium teachers

Teachers participate in a break-out session at the 2011 Symposium on Music in Schools.

The Yale School of Music is pleased to announce the fourth biennial Symposium on Music in Schools for June 6-9, 2013. Supported by the Yale College Class of 1957, the Symposium is a program of the Music in Schools Initiative.

This event honors fifty teachers from throughout the United States for their outstanding accomplishments teaching music in public schools. Teachers participate in a variety of discussions and workshops, and receive Yale Distinguished Music Educator Awards at the closing banquet.

The nominations process closes on Friday, December 14. All current teachers of music in United States public schools are eligible for nomination. Teachers may be nominated by a school district representative (superintendent, principal, music/arts supervisor, etc.) or a member of the Yale College Class of 1957. Nominated teachers are invited to complete an application including a personal statement.

Applications will be reviewed by a panel of music professionals, and fifty teachers will be chosen to attend the Symposium, all expenses paid. Award recipients will be notified by March 8, 2013. Teachers will stay in Yale housing and eat in Yale dining halls, as well as attend workshops in Yale classrooms and lecture halls. New Haven Public School music teachers and members of the Class of 1957 will also participate in the Symposium.

The theme of the 2013 Symposium is “The Role of Music in School Reform.” Information on past Distinguished Music Educators can be found here.

Published December 11, 2012
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YSM students participate in YSD’s Sunday in the Park with George

“Anything you do, let it come from you, then it will be new. Give us more to see.”

Students from the Yale School of Drama, Yale School of Music, and Yale College join forces in the School of Drama’s production of Sunday in the Park with George. Dan Schlosberg ’13MM has orchestrated the score and served as music director, and several additional School of Music students are performing in the orchestra.

Sunday in the Park with George features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. This production is directed by Ethan Heard. Performances take place December 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20 at 8 pm at the University Theatre (222 York Street, New Haven). Tickets are available here.

School of Music students and alumni playing in the orchestra are flutists Anouvong Liensavanh and Ginevra Petrucci; clarinetists Ashley Smith and Gleb Kanasevich; violinist Victor Fournelle-Blain; violist Colin Brookes; and percussionist Jonathan Allen.

In 1884, George Seurat painted a masterpiece by holding fast to his personal vision and disregarding everything (and everybody) else. Celebrated as a genius today, he died alone, without having ever sold a single canvas. A century later, another artist named George is adrift, despite great success. Accomplished and desired, he’s lost touch with his inspiration—why, he wonders, does he make art at all? In today’s culture of success and celebrity, Sondheim and Lapine’s landmark musical poses a fundamental question about the “art of making art”: how can an artist both stay true to himself and share his vision with the world?

Students from the Yale School of Drama, Yale School of Music, and Yale College join forces to bring this Pulitzer Prize-winning musical to life. With lush, new orchestrations performed by a nine-piece orchestra, this production embodies the agony and ecstasy of making art.

Published December 10, 2012
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Jasper String Quartet returns to Yale for Dec. 11 concert with pianist Wei-Yi Yang

Program features music by Mendelssohn, Ligeti, and Schumann

The Oneppo Chamber Music Series at the Yale School of Music presents the Jasper String Quartet on Tuesday, December 11 at 8 pm in Morse Recital Hall. The program will feature string quartets by Mendelssohn and Ligeti, as well as Schumann’s majestic piano quintet with faculty pianist Wei-Yi Yang.

The concert opens with Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80. One of composer’s last major works, this piece was written in the shadow of the death of his sister, Fanny.

In Ligeti’s String Quartet No. 1, subtitled “Metamorphoses nocturnes,” variations of the opening motif progress throughout the piece while exploring different textures and tone colors.

After intermission, pianist Wei-Yi Yang will join the ensemble for Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44. The piece, which showcases both conversational passages among the five instruments as well as passages setting the piano against the strings, helped establish the piano quintet as a serious genre.

The Jasper String Quartet was the Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence at the Yale School of Music 2008–2010, studying with the Tokyo String Quartet. The members of the quartet are J Frevogel and Sae Chonabayashi, violins; Sam Quintal, viola; and Rachel Henderson Freivogel, cello. MORE

Published December 10, 2012
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In memoriam: Dave Brubeck, 91

On December 5 the music world, and in particular American music, lost one of its great artists. Dave Brubeck‘s distinctive voice changed the landscape of jazz in this country and beyond.

Dave Brubeck, front left, with Aldo Parisot and the Yale Cellos in 2004.

One of Brubeck’s lifelong friendships was with Aldo Parisot, Professor of Cello of Yale and one of Yale’s longest-serving faculty members. This relationship began when they lived down the street from each other in Wilton, Connecticut when both were starting their careers. “Dave was an artist who always cared deeply that the music touched its listeners. And his technical skill, even in recent days, was amazing,” Professor Parisot commented. “Our friendship, through many years, was very special to me, and one of the great moments of my career was commissioning him to write some pieces that the Yale Cellos recorded several years ago.” Those pieces are on the disc Cello, Celli!, recorded in Morse Recital Hall and released by Naxos in 2004. Professor Parisot added, “It was very special to me personally, and emphasized Dave’s trust in the Yale School of Music, when he sent his son Matthew to study here. Matt graduated from Yale College and the School of Music and is a terrific musician.”

From left to right: Aldo Parisot, Dave Brubeck, and Robert Blocker

Robert Blocker, Dean of the Yale School of Music, said: “The School of Music celebrates the life of Dave Brubeck, his artistic accomplishments, and the many ways in which he became a musical ambassador for our nation. We will miss him, but his music will be with us in future generations.” Brubeck was also a regular guest at the Yale Summer School of Music/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Norfolk, Connecticut, where audiences always looked forward to his performances. Most recently, the Dave Brubeck Quartet headlined a gala celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the Music Shed in 2006. MORE

Published December 7, 2012
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Free Lunchtime Chamber Music concert Dec. 12

The Yale School of Music will present the final Lunchtime Chamber Music concert of the semester on Wednesday, December 12. The concert begins at 12:30 pm at Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall (470 College St., New Haven). The program includes chamber music by Handel, Brahms, Schubert, Poulenc, Bartók, and more.

This free event features a colorful variety of ensembles composed of graduate musicians who have come from around the world to study at the Yale School of Music. Violinist Wendy Sharp is director of the chamber music program.

The concert is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. For more information, call the Yale School of Music concert office at 203 432-4158 or visit music.yale.edu.

About Student Chamber Music at YSM

The Yale School of Music is unique in that all performance faculty coach chamber music, and all students are involved in chamber music for their entire tenure at the School. Ensembles come together each semester and receive weekly coachings from distinguished faculty and guest artists. Chamber groups often perform in the Lunchtime Chamber Music concerts, which take place at both Morse Recital Hall and the Center for British Art, and in the Vista series, in which performances are enhanced by spoken commentary on the music. Students also take part in the annual chamber music competition, whose winners are featured in an annual Chamber Music Society concert.

Published December 6, 2012
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