Happy Holidays, from the YGC

Written by Rachel Wilf, '12

What better way to celebrate the end of classes than with a holiday trip to that (other) haven of food and song, the Yale Club of New York?

Miles Canaday, Claire Donnelley, and
Miriam Lauter at the Yale Club of New York

 After the end of term, the Glee Club comes together to sing one last concert of our tour repertoire before heading home for break. This year, we encircled our audience in the Yale Club’s President’s room to perform Josquin des Prez’s 24-voice canon, “Qui Habitat.” We also performed selections from Howell’s Requiem, Jeff’s moving arrangements of “On My Journey Home” and “All the Pretty Little Horses,” traditional Yale songs, and several Christmas carols. It’s a special joy to share this music with our audience at this point in term, when we have each reacquainted ourselves with the Football medley and fallen in love with certain notes and melodies in our repertoire.  As usual, our official concert in the Yale Club was only the beginning of an evening of song. After the concert, we walked across the street to Grand Central and sang carols to passersby from the Vanderbilt Avenue steps. We finished by singing “Wassail” as we hurried to our New Haven-bound Metro-North train. In keeping with my favorite Glee Club tradition, we treated the train ride home as a time to celebrate by singing with friends, old and new. 

Carolling in Grand Central

Every year I look forward to the Glee Club’s end of term concert at the Yale Club, and this year was no exception. I would like to extend a note of thanks to all those who make this concert so fantastic every year:

Thank you to our Yale Professors, who make us appreciate the last day of term that much more by scheduling exams and papers during the last week of class.

Thank you to our families, friends, and all the lovely Yale alums in our audience for your enthusiasm and energy. There’s nothing quite like singing Bright College Years to an audience with handkerchiefs at the ready.

Thank you to the wonderful chefs at the Yale Club for temporarily making dining hall food a distant memory.

Thank you to the stage crew in the President’s room for adding only one extra platform to our stage this year. Nothing brings the group together like forced physical proximity!

Thank you to the audience that collected in Grand Central for encouraging us to keep singing after we were kicked off the steps.

And thank you, Metro-North conductors past and present, for letting us sing and be merry all the way back to New Haven.

This Yale Club concert was my last with the Glee Club. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to sing with the group for an extra term, and to have befriended many of our wonderful new members. I wish them luck with the wonderful, joyous ride that is membership in the Glee Club!