School Notes: School of Music
November/December 2006

Jazz forever at Yale

Mitch Leigh ’52MusM, best known as the Tony Award-winning composer of Man of La Mancha, thrilled the audience at the School of Music's annual convocation on September 7 with the announcement that he has endowed a professorship in jazz at the school. The Willie Ruff Professorship in Jazz Studies honors Leigh's classmate and friend, who serves on the school's faculty as professor of music and as director of the Duke Ellington Fellowship Program. Leigh said that it gave him pleasure not only to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of Willie Ruff, but also to establish a chair in jazz at Yale, a goal he has had for many years. "Willie and I go back a long way -- we have a lot in common -- and I am proud to be among Willie's friends and admirers. You're so lucky to have him here, and now you will have jazz at Yale in Willie's name, deservedly so, forever."

Musical commemoration of the Hungarian Revolution

On October 15 in Carnegie Hall's Stern auditorium, Yale School of Music performers were an important part of a concert that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The Philharmonia Orchestra under Shinik Hahm appeared with renowned Hungarian soloists, including Viktoria Vizin, mezzo-soprano; Andras Molnar, tenor; and Yale piano professor Peter Frankl. Frankl, who performed Liszt's second piano concerto, received the Hungarian Order of Merit on his 70th birthday last year. On its own, the orchestra played Kodaly's Dances from Galanta.

Martin Bresnick's 60th birthday celebrated at Carnegie Hall

The School of Music will honor the birthday of Martin Bresnick, who has served on the composition faculty since 1981, with a concert on December 9 in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. The Essential Martin Bresnick: A 60th Birthday Retrospective will feature six of his pieces -- played in chronological order -- that cover Bresnick's work from 1973 to 2002. They range in scale from his solo piano work with DVD projection, For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise, and his 1997 Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano, to pieces for larger ensembles. Longer works on the program include Grace, his concerto for two marimbas and chamber orchestra, and B.'s Garlands for eight cellos, which Bresnick will conduct. Performers include his Yale faculty colleagues David Shifrin, Jesse Levine, Robert Van Sice, Shinik Hahm, Marguerite Brooks, and Ransom Wilson; current students; and his wife, the pianist Lisa Moore.