At Convocation, students welcomed and celebrated
On Thursday, September 3, students, families, friends, and faculty gathered in Morse Recital Hall to mark the beginning of the 2026–2027 academic year at the School’s annual Convocation celebration.
The evening began with a welcome address by José García-León, the Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music, who outlined five ideas for the year ahead: resilience in changing times, the value of failure, commitment and purpose, gratitude and community, and the journey ahead. Addressing the rapid shifts facing artists today, he invoked Duke Ellington’s observation that "a problem is a chance for you to do your best." He encouraged students to view mistakes not as a sign of not belonging, but as evidence of pursuing demanding work, quoting Samuel Beckett’s call to "fail better" as a framework for refining artistic standards.
Turning to purpose, Dean García-León emphasized that while technique and knowledge are essential, purpose provides direction. Citing choreographer Martha Graham’s belief in a unique "vitality, a life force, a quickening" translated through every artist, he urged students to discover and rigorously cultivate their individual path. He highlighted community as something actively created through curiosity, kindness, and mutual support, reminding students that their time at Yale serves as a portal where mastery is not a final arrival, but "the ability to hear more clearly how much remains possible."
The evening’s program showcased the extraordinary talent of the YSM community across a diverse range of repertoire. The New Horizon Brass — featuring trumpet players Jon Michael Taylor ’27MMA and Terri Rauschenbach ’27MM, horn player Aidan Lewis ’27MM, trombonist Will Roberts ’26MM ’27MMA, and tubist Mikal Martin ’27MM — performed Kevin Day’s Fantasia III. Pianists Mohamed Shams and Min Young Kang paired up for Mozart’s Sonata for Piano Four-Hands in D major. Clarinetist Romie de Guises-Langlois ’06MM ’07AD, accompanied by Shams on piano, performed Gabriel Pierné’s Canzonetta, Op. 19, alongside "Contradanza" and "Vals Venezolano" from Paquito D’Rivera’s Two Pieces for Clarinet and Piano. As is tradition, the evening’s musical program concluded with Schubert’s An die Musik, performed by de Guises-Langlois and Kang.
Following the ceremony, the Yale Percussion Group accompanied attendees to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library for a reception.
