News > Concerts + Events
Back to News Browse
Concerts + Events

Convocation welcomes new students, honors guests

convo-13-adams

At the School of Music's annual Convocation on September 9, Dean Robert Blocker announced that the music complex centered around the renovated and expanded Hendrie Hall will be known as the Adams Center for Musical Arts when it opens in 2016. Stephen '59BA and Denise Adams, benefactors of the School, were present to receive a framed architectural rendering of the future music center.

Convocation opens the academic year with the matriculation of the new students. Peter Salovey, in his first year as Yale's president, installed the incoming class.

Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, received the Samuel Simons Sanford Award, the School of Music’s most prestigious honor. Under Gelb’s leadership, the Met in 2006 began broadcasting selected performances live in high definition around the world; these broadcasts came to the Yale campus in 2010, thanks to a gift from Frederick Iseman ’74BA. It was announced at Convocation that Iseman has expanded his gift to include Met Opera On Demand, an online streaming library of past Met performances.

convo-13-gelb-rb-salovey

Gelb quoted Dmitri Shostakovich telling a young Rostropovich to be a "soldier of music" and said, "I have spent my life attempting to connect music with a broader audience. In this, I consider myself to be a soldier of music, and I hope that you will think of yourselves as soldiers of music, too, since the struggle to keep classical music popular can only be won with new generations of musical soldiers joining the battle."

Dean Blocker gave an address titled "Rediscovering Wonder," saying to the assembled students, "I want to think about wonder with you — acknowledging its presence, reclaiming its power, and sharing its joy. In some measure and fashion, a sense of wonder binds us to art, and we are called to ensure the birthright of wonder for a troubled world that so desperately needs artistic bridges of understanding."

convo-13-ypg

The evening concluded with performances by Yale School of Music students, faculty, and alumni. Recent Edson Scheid '13CERT performed a selection of Paganini Caprices for Solo Violin. Three members of the Yale Percussion Group—Jonathan Allen '13MM, Garrett Arney '14AD, and Mari Yoshinaga '14MM—performed Glockenliebe, a piece for three glockenspiels by new faculty member Hannah Lash. Pianist Sean Chen '14AD closed the evening with a performance of Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp major, Op. 30.

Update 9/13/2013: Videos from Convocation are now available.

CONVOCATION VIDEOS