School Notes: School of Music
July/August 2010

Acclaimed composer conducts School of Music students

Composer Krzysztof Penderecki spent the last week of April at the School of Music—where he served on the faculty in the 1970s—working with current students and faculty on three concerts of his music. The first, which opened with an interview of Penderecki by Dean Robert Blocker, featured solo and chamber works. For the other two concerts Penderecki conducted the Yale Philharmonia, first in Woolsey Hall and then in a performance at Carnegie Hall that earned critical acclaim. The orchestral program ranged from the groundbreaking Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1960) to the New Haven and New York premieres of the Horn Concerto (2008). Faculty artist William Purvis was the soloist in the concerto, while faculty violinist Syoko Aki performed the 1967 Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra. The program closed with the Symphony No. 4, of which the New York Times wrote: “All sections of the orchestra had a chance to shine in this piece, a kind of concerto for orchestra, and they did, with Mr. Penderecki leading a tightly wrought, polished, and dramatic interpretation.”

Ensembles bring home prizes in major competitions

The Charis Piano Trio—Helen Kim ’11MusM, violin; Yoon Hee Ko ’10MusM, cello; and Jeong-ah Ryu ’10MusM, piano—won the Coleman-Barstow Prize for Strings (the top prize in the strings division) at the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. The trio was coached by cellist Ole Akahoshi ’95CertPF, a member of the Yale School of Music faculty.

In the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, one of the most prestigious events of its kind, the Amphion String Quartet won first place in the piano and strings division as well as the Audience Prize. The members of the Amphion String Quartet are Katie Hyun ’09ArtA, violin; Mihai Marica ’04CertPF, ’08ArtA, cello; and David Southorn ’09MusM, ’10ArtA, violin; as well as violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin, a DMA candidate at Stony Brook University.

School of Music honorees

At the school’s annual honors dinner May 1, the composer Bruce MacCombie received the Cultural Leadership Citation. In addition to serving on the Yale faculty in the 1970s, MacCombie has held major positions at G. Schirmer, Juilliard, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Alumni Certificate of Merit was awarded to baritone Richard Lalli ’08MusAM, ’86MusAD, who has taught at Yale since 1982 and is the artistic director of the Yale Baroque Opera Project. Mitch Leigh ’51MusB, ’52MusM, received the Ian Mininberg ’34 Distinguished Service Award. Best known for composing the musical Man of La Mancha (1965), Leigh was instrumental in the renovation of what is now called Abby and Mitch Leigh Hall. Dean Blocker awarded the Sanford Medal, the School of Music’s highest honor, to Elzbieta Penderecki. The president of Poland’s Ludwig van Beethoven Association, she has cofounded the European Mozart Foundation and initiated the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival and numerous other festivals. She is married to the composer Krzysztof Penderecki.