CLASSICAL MOVEMENTS PRESENTS YALE GLEE CLUB
on CONCERT TOUR of MEXICO

DR. JEFFREY DOUMA CONDUCTS 4 PERFORMANCES: MEXICO CITY, GUANAJUATO, PUEBLA

MARCH 9—18, 2018

 

From March 9—18, 2018, Classical Movements will present two exhilarating performances from the oldest musical organization at Yale University, the Dr. Jeffrey Douma-led Yale Glee Club (YGC), on their four-concert tour of Mexico.

Celebrating their 157th season with truly collaborative performances in Mexico City, Guanajuato and Puebla, the storied ensemble’s touring program showcases the breadth and artistry of YGC’s repertoire: early polyphonic motets, masterpieces of the choral canon, brand-new works for choir, beloved African-American spirituals, as well as international folk songs gleaned from their six-content performance history.  

In addition, the Yale Glee Club will perform a newly commissioned piece by acclaimed Mexican composer and conductor Rodrigo Cadet titled “Verde Embeleso de la Vida Humana,” an expert setting of a poem by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, O.S.H. 

As Jeffrey Douma, himself, notes:

“We look forward to what promises to be a historic tour to Mexico in March. We will be collaborating in joint concerts with many local choirs, including an exchange with Ojala Niños. We plan to take part in a service project with Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, bringing funds collected at our Harvard concert to aid the organization. Our collaboration with Staccato Coro Universitario in Mexico City will be reciprocal; we have invited them to perform at Yale in June at the third Yale International Choral Festival.”

SCHEDULE:

Mexico City, MEXICO | Universidad Panamericana, Auditorio in Mixcoac

Date:               Saturday, March 10

Time:              7:00 pm

Tickets:           FREE

Host:               Schola Cantorum (Director: Rodrigo Michelet Cadet)

 

Mexico City, MEXICO | Festival del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México, Anfiteatro Simon Bolivar

Date:               Sunday, March 11

Time:              5:00 pm

Tickets:           $50

Host:               Staccato Coro Universitario (Director: Marco Antonio Ugalde)

 

Guanajuato, MEXICO | Universidad de Guanajuato, Teatro Principal

Date:               Wednesday, March 14

Time:              8:00 pm

Tickets:           FREE

Host:               Coro del Departamento de Música de la Universidad de Guanajuato (Director: Dr. Ramón Alvarado)

 

Puebla, MEXICO | Teatro de Ciudad de Puebla

Date:               Friday, March 16

Time:              7:30 pm

Tickets:           FREE

Host:               Coro de Cámara de la Universidad de las Américas Puebla (Director: Mtra. Gisela Crespo)

 

PROGRAM:

Gaudeamus igitur – Traditional student song

I. Schicksalslied, Op. 54 (version for piano four-hands) – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

II. Folk traditions of North America

O Holy Lord – Traditional spiritual, arr. Nathaniel Dett

Xtoles – Traditional Mayan, arr. Jorge Cózatl

Tenting Tonight – American civil war song, arr. Jeffrey Douma

I Can Tell the World – Traditional spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan

Hallelujah – Traditional sacred harp, arr. Shawn Kirchner

III. New music

Parable of Choices – Julian David Bryson
Winner, 2017 Emerging Composers Competition

Verde Embeleso de la Vida Humana – Rodrigo Cadet (b. 1983)
Composed for the 2017-18 Yale Glee Club

She Walks in Beauty – Ēriks Ešenvalds (b. 1977)
Composed for the 2017-16 Yale Glee Club

IV. Inspired by world sacred traditions

Indodana – Traditional isiXhosa, arr. Barrett/Schmitt

Poem of Praise – Florence Beatrice Price (1887-1953)

Hamavdil – Traditional Sephardic melody, arr. Oedean Partos

Bar Xizam – Abbie Betinis (b. 1980)

V. Selections by Yale Glee Club Chamber Singers

VI. Songs of Yale

Listen to maestro Douma conduct YGC in Bright Sheng’s A Porter’s Song,
commissioned by Classical Movements’ Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program.

BIOGRAPHIES:

From its earliest days as a group of 13 men from the Class of 1863 to its current incarnation as an 80-voice chorus of women and men, the Yale Glee Club, Yale’s principal undergraduate mixed chorus and oldest musical organization, has represented the best in collegiate choral music. During its recent 150th anniversary season, the club’s performances received rave reviews in the national press, from the New York Times to the Washington Post. The students who sing in the Yale Glee Club might be majors in music or engineering, English or political science, philosophy or mathematics. They are drawn together by a love of singing and a common understanding that raising one’s voice with others to create something beautiful is one of the noblest human pursuits. YGC’s repertoire embraces a broad spectrum of choral music, from the 16th century to the present, including Renaissance motets, contemporary choral works, world music, folk music, spirituals and traditional Yale songs. Committed to the creation of new music, the club presents frequent premieres of newly commissioned works and sponsors two annual competitions for young composers.  They have recently been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition, WQXR’s “The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle” and BBC Radio 3’s “The Choir.” The great choral masterworks are also an important part of the YGC’s repertoire: the Verdi Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, Orff Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem, Bernstein Chichester Psalms, Britten War Requiem and Cantata Misericordium, Rossini Stabat Mater, Fauré Requiem, Haydn Missa in Tempore Belli, Missa in Angustiis and Die Schöpfung, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem and Nänie, Mendelssohn Elijah, Penderecki Credo, Aaron Jay Kernis Symphony of Meditations, choral symphonies of Mahler and Beethoven.

One of the most traveled choruses in the world, the Yale Glee Club has performed in every major city in the United States and embarked on its first overseas tour in 1928. It has since appeared before enthusiastic audiences throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Historically a leading advocate of international choral exchange, YGC has hosted countless guest ensembles at Yale and at New York’s Lincoln Center, in conjunction with its own international festivals. In 2012, the club carried this tradition forward with the first Yale International Choral Festival in New Haven, and in June of 2015, presented the second incarnation of the festival, hosting choirs from Singapore, Sweden, Cuba and Israel, along with the Yale Alumni Chorus and Yale Choral Artists. YGC has appeared under the baton of many distinguished guest conductors, from Leopold Stokowski to Robert Shaw. Recent collaborations have included performances under the direction of Matthew Halls, Sir David Willcocks, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir Neville Marriner, Dale Warland, Nicholas McGegan, Stefan Parkman, Simon Carrington, Erwin Ortner, David Hill and Helmuth Rilling. The Yale Glee Club has had only seven directors in its 156-year history and is currently led by Jeffrey Douma. Previous directors include Marshall Bartholomew (1921-53), who first brought the group to international prominence and expanded the club’s repertoire beyond college songs to a broader range of great choral repertoire; Fenno Heath (1953-92), under whose inspired leadership YGC made the transition from male chorus to mixed chorus; and most recently David Connell (1992-02), whose vision helped carry the best traditions of this ensemble into the 21st century. In all its years, the Yale Glee Club has had only six previous directors: Gustave J. Stoeckel (1861-73); Thomas G. Shepard (1873–1905); G. Frank Goodale 1889 (1905–21); Marshall Bartholomew ’09 (1921–53); Fenno F. Heath, Jr. ’50 (1953–92); David H. Connell DMA ‘91 (1992–02).

Since the fall of 2003, Jeffrey Douma has served as Director of the Yale Glee Club, hailed under his direction by the New York Times as “one of the best collegiate singing ensembles, and one of the most adventurous.” He also serves as Professor of Conducting at the Yale School of Music, where he teaches in the graduate choral program, as founding Director of the Yale Choral Artists and as Artistic Director of the Yale International Choral Festival. Douma has appeared as guest conductor with choruses and orchestras on six continents, including the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore’s Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic Choir, Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Solistas de la Habana, Istanbul’s Tekfen Philharmonic, Norway’s Edvard Grieg Kor, Symphony Choir of Johannesburg, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and the Central Conservatory’s EOS Orchestra in Beijing, as well as the Yale Philharmonia and Yale Symphony Orchestras. He also currently serves as Musical Director of the Yale Alumni Chorus, which he has lead on eight international tours. He served for five years as Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut, where performances ranged from Bach’s St. John Passion with baroque orchestra to Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum. Choirs under his direction have performed in Leipzig’s Neue Gewandhaus, Dvorak Hall in Prague, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Notre Dame de Paris, Singapore’s Esplanade, Argentina’s Teatro Colon, Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall, and he has prepared choruses for performances under such eminent conductors as William Christie, Valery Gergiev, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir David Willcocks, Dale Warland, Krzysztof Penderecki, Nicholas McGegan and Helmuth Rilling.

Dr. Douma has presented at state, divisional and national conventions of ACDA and NCCO, and the Yale Glee Club has appeared as a featured ensemble at the 2009 NCCO National Conference and the 2012 ACDA Eastern Division Convention. Active with musicians of all ages, Douma served for four years on the conducting faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, America’s premier training ground for high school age musicians, conducting the Concert Choir, Women’s Choir and Festival Choir. He frequently serves as clinician for festivals and honor choirs. Recent engagements include conducting masterclasses at the China International Chorus Festival, University of Michigan School of Music, Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Hochschule der Künste in Zurich, and the Berlin Radio Choir’s International Masterclass. In January and February 2017, he will be in residence at Luther College as Visiting Conductor of the internationally-renowned Nordic Choir. In April 2017, he will be in residence at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing. An advocate of new music, Douma established the Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition and Fenno Heath Award, and he has premiered new works by such composers as Jennifer Higdon, Dominick Argento, Bright Sheng, Ned Rorem, Jan Sandström, Ted Hearne, Hannah Lash, Theodore Morrison, Rene Clausen, Lewis Spratlan and James Macmillan. He also serves as editor of the Yale Glee Club New Classics Choral Series, published by Boosey & Hawkes. His original compositions are published by G. Schirmer and Boosey & Hawkes. A tenor, Douma has appeared as an ensemble member and soloist with many of the nation’s leading professional choirs, including the Dale Warland Singers, Bella Voce of Chicago, Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, and Robert Shaw Festival Singers. In the spring of 2003, Douma was one of only two North American conductors invited to compete for the first Eric Ericson Award, the premier international competition for choral conductors. Prior to his appointment at Yale, he served as Director of Choral Activities at Carroll College and also taught on the conducting faculties of Smith College and St. Cloud State University. Douma earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of Michigan. He lives in Hamden, with his wife, pianist and conductor Erika Schroth, and their two children, Sofia and Will.

ABOUT CLASSICAL MOVEMENTS:
Moving the Music, Changing the World

The premier concert tour company for the world’s great orchestras and choirs, Classical Movements creates meaningful cultural experiences through music in 145 countries. An industry leader for over a quarter-century, Classical Movements organizes more than 60 tours every year, producing some 200 concerts every season. Producer of two international choral festivals—Ihlombe! in South Africa and Serenade! in Washington, D.C.—and the Prague Summer Nights: Young Artists Music Festival, in addition, Classical Movements’ Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program has commissioned over 50 works from Grammy, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning composers. Winner of Americans for the Arts’ BCA10: Best Businesses Partnering with the Arts Award, since its founding in 1992, as a truly global company, Classical Movements remains committed to facilitating cultural diplomacy across the world—promoting peace through the medium of music.

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