School of music

School Notes: School of Music
January/February 2016

José García-Léon | http://music.yale.edu

Russian ballerina holds residency

Uliana Lopatkina, the highly celebrated prima ballerina at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, visited the School of Music in October for a residency sponsored by Frederick Iseman ’75. The highlight was a performance, “Three Legends of Russian Ballet,” a tribute to Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova, and Maya Plisetskaya. Lopatkina, partnering with Andrey Ermakov, performed highlights from the repertoire of each of those three legends. Other events included an open conversation with Yale faculty members Emily Coates ’06, ’11MA, and Christopher Theofanidis ’97MusAD. 

YSM launches mobile app and video

The school launched a new mobile app last October, making its first foray into native digital publishing. With the app, the School of Music can create publications that audiences not only read but also hear and watch. The app also incorporates the school’s live streaming. Embedded in the app is YSM’s new cinematic admissions video, The Music Makers, featuring a number of YSM faculty, students, and alumni working in different cross-sections of the music profession. 

France honors Yale composer

Composer and YSM faculty member David Lang ’89MusAD was awarded the insignia of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. Bénédicte de Montlaur, the French embassy’s cultural counselor, presented the award, which was created in 1957 to recognize those who have contributed to the furthering of French art.

Alumni win international competitions

Pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin ’13MusM won silver at the prestigious 17th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland. He also won the Krystian Zimerman prize for the best performance of a sonata. Last September, he released a CD on the Analekta label featuring works by Chopin.

Bassist Samuel Suggs ’14MusM, a DMA candidate at YSM, won first prize at the 2015 International Society of Bassists (ISB) Competition. When Suggs was named New Artist of the Month by the publication Musical America, he was said to have “wooed the judges not only on the strength of his playing, but also with creative programming that managed to adhere to the competition requirements while drawing unexpected connections between works.”

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