The Yale Glee Club Blog

This post is by Sarah Dewey MC '10 and Mary Schnoor CC '10, our domestic tour managers. This year's domestic tour will be to the Pacific Northwest from January 1-9. Well, it goes without saying that this year's winter tour will be the best experience of many Glee Clubbers' lives. All hubris aside, though, it's looking to be a great time. This is mostly because of the generosity and excitement of the local alums and contacts we've made throughout the Pacific Northwest. Everyone has been very generous with his or her time, efforts, performance space, and even couches. Our itinerary is as follows: Seattle, WA Astoria, OR Portland, OR Eugene, OR Chico, CA San Francisco, CA Currently, we have concerts slated for every city except Portland, where we anticipate a workshop with the soprano Dawn Upshaw ! This workshop is one of our two outreach events, since we will be working with the Pacific Youth Choirs , of which Glee Clubbers Daniel Cruse '11 and Rob Will...

This post is by Bram Wayman SY '09, the winner of the 2008 Fenno Heath Award for the composition of a new Yale song . His piece, "Through Eden," was premiered this past Friday at the Yale/Princeton Glee Club Concert. Composing, rehearsing, and performing "Through Eden" has been a fulfilling musical experience for me. I'm often happiest when the music I'm writing is rooted in something personally compelling, and "Through Eden" is no exception. The text I used, an excerpt from the traditional Commencement speech by Dean (now Provost) Salovey, has always struck me, especially at last year's Commencement, when I knew I would be next. The feeling I got from that text was the sense of incredulous wonder that I figure I'll feel when I take my last look at Yale, and the rush of empowerment from knowing I'm a part of it all. This overwhelming sentiment was a far cry from the nuts and bolts of the composition itself, which I wanted to structu...

The 148th Yale Glee Club kicked off its concert season yesterday in front of a large and enthusiastic audience in Woolsey Hall. The program, shared with the Yale Symphony Orchestra and Yale Concert Band, included works by Grieg and Pärt, arrangements by Roland Carter and Jeff Douma, and, of course, a set of Yale songs. It already feels like this year's Glee Club has been together a long time; in addition to nearly two months of rehearsals, we've gone on retreat in northwest Connecticut, picked apples and baked apple pies, and celebrated Octoberfest in (nearly) authentic German style. But Parents' Weekend is the first time we take the stage as a group, and the opening note of "Gaudeamus igitur" is the first sound we present to the public. There's always a little thrill accompanying that first note, a sense that, with the first breath we take together, we're launching a season that will take us beautiful and unexpected places. Last night was no exception....