Live performances by YSM students reframe artwork at University Art Gallery

Call it kismet or an artist’s intuition, but when trumpet player Terri Rauschenbach ’27MM was choosing repertoire to complement paintings at the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG), she had no idea about the connections she was bringing to light. 

Edwin Austin Abbey’s Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the Lady Ann features a somber scene in muted colors, depicting a funeral in which the villainous Duke brazenly attempts to woo the Lady Anne, the widow of a man he has recently stabbed to death. 

Rauschenbach chose to pair this painting with Matthew Hindson’s Funeral Oration for solo trumpet, after several visits going back and forth between the museum and Yale’s Gilmore Music Library. 

“The trumpet can play commandingly or very tenderly, but in every style, it remains a straightforward instrument. It’s not hiding anything. It faces you head-on,” Rauschenbach explains. “And this part of the gallery is full of portraits; you’re always faced by someone very directly. I felt like the trumpet made sense in this space.” 

Unbeknownst to her at the time, there were more layers connecting the music and the painting she selected.  While Abbey’s piece — which takes pride of place in the room it occupies — depicts a funeral scene from Shakespeare’s Richard III, Hindson’s trumpet solo brought mourning into a museum, too, as it was premiered at a funeral held in an art gallery. 

“It was a crazy coincidence,” Rauschenbach says.  

This interdisciplinary pairing project didn’t come about spontaneously, but was prompted by the YUAG’s Gallery+ series, which provides a space for artists, musicians, performers, writers and creatives from the Yale and New Haven community to make connections across disciplines. This could be improvisational jazz in front of Alexander Calder sculptures, poetry-writing workshops inspired by Man Ray, or a cappella folk songs tied to American art. The possibilities are endless, making it a magnet for students stretch their imaginations. 

Gallery+ Musical Resonances, the most recent iteration in this program series, took place on November 6 and featured percussionist Jessie Chiang ’24MM ’25MMA, flutist Jolie Fitch ’26MM, pianist Alan Liu ’30DMA, guitarist Brandon Wong ’25MM ’26MMA, and Rauschenbach. While each had a different approach to pairing music and art, they were united by a desire to make the most of their time at YSM and the unique opportunities available on Yale’s campus. 

“People see the collection differently, they experience the museum differently when they’re listening to music,” says Molleen Theodore, the Jane and Gerald Katcher Curator of Programs at the YUAG. 

And the benefits go beyond visitor experience, as Theodore explains:  “It can also be an educational experience for our collaborators, as they consider the unique factors of performing in the gallery spaces of a museum, from meetings with the Registrar and Security, to thinking about how sound will carry, and where the audience will be situated.” 

“This YUAG and YSM partnership leans into the vibration of arts in dialogue, revealing the unique dimensions in visual and musical work, and in the experience of the practitioner and beholder,” says Adriana Zabala, YSM’s Assistant Dean of Collaborative Arts. “It's one of the innumerable ways in which our creativity expands beyond the applied studio and looks to deepen both our students' collaborative and professional nimbleness as well as our collective connection to the rich artistic offerings on campus at Yale.” 

It’s this expansion beyond the studio that appealed to Brandon Wong, who shaped his program around works by Salvador Dalí, Mark Rothko, and Benin masks. “I came to the realization that Yale has so many resources, and I need to utilize them as much as possible while I’m here,” he says. “My time here has been very, very fruitful as far as performance opportunities. I’ve worked with violinists and double bassists, but I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. This felt like a collaboration with the Yale community as a whole.” 

The sentiment is echoed by Jolie Fitch, who performed in a flute and piano duo with Alan Liu.  

“I’ve been trying to put myself out there and do things I’m uncomfortable with and just see what happens,” she says. 

In their program, Fitch and Liu explored themes of continuity and cultural preservation — how techniques used in the past are embedded in artistic production today. They paired pieces like Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances with art inspired by textiles — such as El Anatsui’s Society Woman's Cloth in the contemporary art gallery. 

The opportunity to participate in Gallery+ came at the perfect time for Fitch, who left her decision to dedicate her life to music unexamined until recently. “I made that decision when I was really young. I started working hard with my head down, without fully taking in all that the artistic world had to offer,” she recalls. “Being creative scared me. Having a voice terrified me.”  

But something clicked in the last year, upon arrival to campus. “Yale has been crucial in my development towards realizing that my voice has worth and that it’s not going to get any easier to use if I don’t exercise it now,” says Fitch.  

Her participation in interdisciplinary and collaborative projects like Gallery+ and community-focused programs like YSM’s Music in Schools Initiative helped her unlock a new uninhibitedness. While the contours of her spring recital are not set, as Fitch looks ahead, she’s thinking beyond repertoire — to projections and animations, to electronics and dramatic lighting — to showcase her creativity.  

Rauschenbach relates, having worked in traditional orchestra settings before returning to school. “Playing in an orchestra is beautiful in its own right, but you don’t have much control: you have little choice in who you work with, what you play, and, at times, even how you play it,” she says. “I felt sapped of my creativity. I had no outlet for it, and I couldn’t imagine moving through my whole career like that.” 

At YSM, Rauschenbach found the creative license she craved; and through Gallery+, the outlet she needed.  

This is exactly the ethos behind the series explains Lily Waterton, the YUAG’s Jock Reynolds Fellow in Public Programs: “We ask musicians to approach the artwork in a very personal way. We’re not asking them to become art historians; we’re interested in them applying their own creative lens to the program.” 

“Not only does the School let students walk new trails or try different things — it encourages it,” Rauschenbach says. “Arriving at YSM I knew I wanted something more for myself, but I wasn’t exactly sure what it was. This project helped me begin to realize what artistic fulfillment looks like for me. It’s expanded my thinking in the most positive way.”