School Notes: School of Music
September/October 2017

Oratorio receives world premiere

A new oratorio by School of Music faculty composer Martin Bresnick was premiered at Yale this summer as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and was also performed at the Yale Summer School of Music / Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Whitman, Melville, Dickinson—Passions of Bloom, which celebrates the work of Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, and distinguished literary critic Harold Bloom, the Sterling Professor of the Humanities and English at Yale, was performed by the Yale Choral Artists and members of the Yale Philharmonia, led by YSM professor of choral conducting Jeffrey Douma. The performances featured YSM faculty tenor James Taylor and numerous YSM alumni, including sopranos Sherezade Panthaki ’11MusAD, Megan Chartrand ’13MusM, and Sarah Yanovitch ’15MusM; mezzo-soprano Katherine Maroney ’06MusM; tenors Colin Britt ’10MusM, Gene Stenger ’15MusM, and Steven Soph ’12MusM; and bass-baritone Paul Tipton ’10MusM.

Yale hosts sixth Symposium on Music in Schools

The School of Music hosted its sixth Symposium on Music in Schools, an event at which participants discussed “how to ensure that every child in every city in America has access to an active music life,” YSM associate dean Michael Yaffe said. Among the participants were public-school and university teachers and administrators, foundation leaders, music-education scholars, and public-policy experts who worked, Yaffe said, to craft a declaration designed to “encourage the creation of ecosystems” that support the goal of guaranteeing children in city schools the same opportunities their suburban counterparts enjoy. The symposium included the presentation of Distinguished Music Educator Awards to ten public-school music teachers.

Admissions director will retain alumni affairs role

Donna Yoo ’09MusM has been appointed director of admissions and alumni affairs at the School of Music. Yoo previously served as director of communications and alumni affairs and brings the latter set of responsibilities to her new role.