School Notes: School of Music
September/October 2012

Diverse summer at Norfolk Festival

The 2012 season at Norfolk opened with a gala cabaret concert featuring guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli. All proceeds went toward the Music Shed Restoration Fund; earlier this year, the Festival received $1 million in 2:1 matching funds to support the restoration of the 106-year-old Music Shed. The festival also featured all of Beethoven’s string quartets, performed by the Artis, Keller, Tokyo, and Vistula Quartets. The Hungarian percussion ensemble Amadinda gave the opening concert of the New Music Workshop, which focused on music for percussion and piano. The summer concluded with the choral conducting workshop, led by Simon Carrington.

College alumnus named deputy dean

Melvin Chen ’91 has been appointed associate professor of piano (adjunct) and deputy dean at the Yale School of Music. Since graduating from Yale in 1991, Chen has served on the University Council Committee on Music and currently serves on the university’s Honorary Degrees Committee. Dean Blocker commented: “Melvin Chen’s longstanding relationship with Yale College and the School of Music, his international profile as an artist, and his successful tenure as associate dean at Bard College make him ideally suited for his work as the new deputy dean in the School of Music.”

Yale in New York brings alumni together

The critically acclaimed Yale in New York concert series continues with four concerts in 2012–13. In October, the series toasts the Tokyo String Quartet’s long residence at Yale. The quartet will perform with faculty colleague Ettore Causa, viola, and the Jasper String Quartet, which was the school’s graduate quartet-in-residence from 2008 to 2010. Alumni and students will perform alongside faculty in music for string orchestra, including a world premiere by Matthew Barnson ’12MusAD. A Mozart celebration will include the string trioMozart en Route by faculty composer Aaron Jay Kernis ’83Mus. The season closes with a tribute to composer Paul Hindemith, who served on the School of Music faculty from 1940 to 1953. Yale in New York concerts bring together alumni, faculty, and students while providing a focal point for New York–area alumni to reconnect with their peers.