School Notes: School of Music
January/February 2008

Hendrie Hall next in line for renovation

Planning for the renovation and enlargement of Hendrie Hall is well under way. As the fourth phase of the strategic plan to make Yale's music facilities second to none, the renovation of Hendrie will be much more than a facelift. In addition to more-comfortable spaces for the current tenants of the building -- Yale Band, Glee Club, Opera, Philharmonia, and some faculty -- the renovation calls for an addition that will include a large orchestral rehearsal hall (it will double as a high-tech performance space), a student lounge that can also be used for receptions, and an enlarged percussion studio. Alums who remember rehearsing in Hendrie will appreciate another feature of the renovation: elevators. Construction will begin this May and is expected to take two years.

Ives concert wins praise

The second "Yale at Carnegie" concert, an evening of songs by Charles Ives, continued the string of successful School of Music concerts in that historic venue. The October 29 program in Weill Recital Hall, featuring School of Music alumni and student singers with faculty pianists, moved New York Times critic Bernard Holland to praise both the composer and the performers. "Hearing the songs in one sitting erased any image of the iconoclastic amateur. Poise and confidence are everywhere in this music. . . . The quality of singing was astonishing for such relatively young people, with consistently elegant technique and an unforced delivery, all well calculated to this small hall." The series continues on February 4 in Carnegie's Zankel Hall, with a program of mixed wind, string, and piano chamber music featuring eight of the school's artist faculty, four alumni, and seven current students.

Yale pianists win abroad

Three Yale pianists placed in the top tier of major international competitions this fall. Marianna Prjevalskaya ’07MusM was the third-place winner in the Seventh International Ignacz Paderewski Competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland, long regarded one of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world. Forty-four pianists from 20 countries, selected from 150 candidates, took part in the competition, which took place November 4-18. Ms. Prjevalskaya is a postgraduate teaching fellow at the Yale School of Music. Two School of Music pianists were among the top prizewinners in one of South America's most important competitions, the 34th International Music Competition in Vina del Mar, Chile. Each year, the competition alternates among five musical disciplines (piano, voice, guitar, violin, and violoncello); this was the year for piano. Ryo Yanagitani ’08MusAM won second prize, and Jose Menor ’07ArtA came in third.