School Notes: School of Music
March/April 2025

Renowned conductor to join faculty

Norwegian choral and orchestral conductor Grete Pedersen will join the faculty of the Institute of Sacred Music as professor in the practice of conducting and principal conductor of the Yale Schola Cantorum, effective January 1, 2026. 

Pedersen’s extensive experience includes 30 years on the conducting faculty at Norwegian Academy of Music, 35 years as artistic director of the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, and 20 years leading the Oslo Chamber Choir, of which she was founding conductor. She has made numerous recordings with various ensembles and has earned prestigious accolades and awards over her career. Working alongside the directors of the Yale Glee Club, the Yale Choral Artists, and the Yale Camerata, Pedersen will focus her time at Yale on oratorio and early music, as well as contemporary repertoire. 

Alumnus discovers unknown Chopin waltz

Robinson McClellan ’11DMA, a composer and curator at the Morgan Library and Museum, has found and authenticated a previously unknown waltz in A minor as the work of Frédéric Chopin. The manuscript, which was discovered in a stack of materials donated to the museum in 2019, is on a piece of paper the size of an index card. While debate continues about whether it is Chopin’s work, McClellan and others —including a leading Chopin authority at the University of Pennsylvania—have identified several distinctive features of Chopin’s handwriting on the manuscript and are convinced of its authenticity.