Yale School of Music Opens with YALE IN NEW YORK with THE LEGACY OF PAUL HINDEMIETH, 11/22

Yale School of Music opens the 2013-14 season of YALE IN NEW YORK with THE LEGACY OF PAUL HINDEMIETH on Friday, November 22, 2013 at 7:30pmat Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.

At once an innovative composer and theorist and a passionate educator, Paul Hindemith(1895-1963) served on the Yale School of Music faculty from 1940-53 and left behind a spirit of invention and exploration that remains at the heart of Yale's program. The Legacy of Paul Hindemith commemorates sixty years since the composer's stay in New Haven and fifty years since his passing, with a program focusing on composers, faculty, and students who have felt this profound influence.

The Legacy of Paul Hindemith is a follow-up to last season's Yale in New York concert, "Hindemith: Master and Prankster," which showcased the humorous side of the composer's early works. This fall's program features several Hindemith compositions from diverse chapters of his life. His quartet for four horns, written at Yale, will be introduced by jazz horn pioneer Willie Ruff ('53BM, '54MM), who studied under Hindemith and performed in the composition's first read-through. Two earlier works from the celebrated Opus 24 will be heard as well: Kleine Kammermusik for wind quintet, and the jazz-influenced Kammermusik No. 1 written for flute, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, harmonium, piano, string quartet, and percussion.

In addition, the program features compositions from several of Hindemith's former students:

Alvin Etler (1913-1973), who joined the YSM faculty in 1942 as conductor of the Yale Bands, shared many artistic values with Hindemith; these values reached beyond pure musical aesthetic and advocated for a social relevance central to composition.

Lukas Foss (1922-2009) studied with Hindemith at Tanglewood in the summer of 1939 and then followed Hindemith to Yale, where he studied for one year. Foss also received an honorary degree from Yale in 1991.

Mitch Leigh ('51BM, '52MM) also embraced his teacher's philosophy of Gebrauchsmusik, or music within a broader context, as evidenced by his celebrated work as a theatrical composer for such productions as Man of La Mancha. Leigh has also enjoyed great success as a jingle-writer (ex: "Nobody Doesn't Like Sara Lee"); his latest project is planning a major housing development in New Jersey for artists and "nice people."

Mel Powell ('52BM) (1923-1998) was a jazz pianist prodigy who worked extensively with Benny Goodman. He was a serious composition student of Hindemith's at Yale (and classmate of Willie Ruff, who will speak at this concert). Powell was the founding dean of the music department of the California Institute of the Arts.

Yehudi Wyner ('50BA, '52BM, '53MM), yet another of Hindemith's students who has since enjoyed a fruitful career-and taught at the Yale School of Music from 1963-77-contributes to the program a piece written earlier this year entitled Concordance for piano and strings, which The Boston Globe called an "eloquently contemplative new work." Wyner will play the piano part in his own piece.

Committed to upholding both the innovations of the past and the possibilities of the future,The Legacy of Paul Hindemith connects this spirit of invention across generations.

Tickets at $20-$35 can be purchased at the Carnegie Hall box office (57th Street and 7th Ave.), by calling CarnegieCharge at 212/247-7800, or at www.carnegiehall.org. Student and senior discounts are available.

Program & Players

Paul Hindemith:
Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24, No. 2
Jacob Mende-Fridkis, flute
Timothy Gocklin, oboe
Kevin Schaffter, clarinet
John Searcy, bassoon
Philip Browne, horn
Alvin Etler
Suite for Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet
Isabel Gleicher, flute
Kemp Jernigan, oboe
Eric Anderson, clarinet
Mel Powell
Woodwind Quintet
Christina Hughes, flute
Hsuan-Fong Chen, oboe
Joshua Anderson, clarinet
Darren Hicks, bassoon
Craig Hubbard, horn

Yehudi Wyner
Concordance for piano and strings (2013) - New York Premiere
Wendy Sharp, violin *
Isabella Mensz, viola
Jurrian Van Der Zanden, cello
Yehudi Wyner, piano

Paul Hindemith
Sonata for Four Horns
William Eisenberg, horn
Patrick Jankowski, horn
William Purvis, horn *
Zachary Quortrup, horn
Lukas Foss
Three American Pieces for violin and piano
Wendy Sharp, violin *
Henry Kramer, piano

Mitch Leigh
The Impossible Dream
Brian Vu, baritone
Pianist TBA

Paul Hindemith
Kammermusik No. 1, Op. 24
William Purvis, conducting *
Violin 1: Benjamin Hoffman
Violin 2: Seul-A Lee
Viola: Xinyi Xu
Cello: Jia Cao
Bass: Gregory Vartian-Foss
Flute: Isabel Gleicher
Clarinet: Eric Anderson
Bassoon: Libby Garrett
Trumpet: Jean Laurenz
Percussion: Jonny Allen and Guggi Videnov
Piano: Henry Kramer
Harmonium: Michael Noble

* Yale School of Music faculty (everyone else is a student or alumni)

Additional Yale in New York Concerts

A SOLDIER'S TALE

A collaboration with YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA
Sunday, April 6, 2014, 7:30 pm
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall

Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 8:00 pm
Preview Performance, Sprague Hall at Yale University

This fully staged new production commemorates the 100th anniversary
of the outbreak of World War I with a new translation of
Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat by Liz Diamond

To post a comment, you must register and login.