Works by Yale alumnus and composer Charles Ives will be performed, discussed and put on public display during a three-day festival/conference being held on campus Friday-Sunday, April 3-5.
The festival, which marks the centenary of Ives' graduation from Yale College in the spring of 1898, will include concerts, recitals, lectures, discussions and manuscript displays. The event is hosted by two professors of music, Robert Morgan and Allen Forte, and is being produced by visiting professor James Sinclair.
"We're proud to be celebrating Yale's most outstanding composer," says Sinclair. "Prominent American scholars in musicology will be joining with our Yale faculty to examine aspects of Ives' music and life. [See related story.] His leading biographers will be here. Among the music that we will hear is some of Ives' most charming and accessible, including masterpieces and curiosities. The Whiffenpoofs will be letting us hear music composed on this campus 100 years ago for their precursors. I think audiences will be able to appreciate all sides of Ives' remarkable output."
The composer's works will be featured in the four concerts highlighting the Ives festival/conference. A schedule follows:
Friday, April 3, 8 p.m. -- A performance of orchestral songs, choral works and "Symphony No. 3." Sinclair will direct Orchestra New England in the program, which will also feature soprano Amy Justman '00, baritone Theodore Huffman '99 and the Whiffenpoofs of 1998. The concert will be held in Battell Chapel, corner of Elm and College streets. Admission to this concert is free with registration for the Ives conference, but individual tickets may also be purchased at $15 ($5 students). To order individual tickets, call 432-2985.
Saturday, April 4, 2 p.m. -- Sinclair will conduct Yale musicians and members of the Yale Bands in a performance of "Four Songs" for brass quintet, "Largo for Clarinet, Violin and Piano," "A Set of Three Short Pieces," "String Quartet No. 1," "March: Intercollegiate," "Scherzo: The Seer," "Runaway Horse on Main Street," "General William Booth Enters Heaven," "March: Omega Lambda Chi" and "March: Here's to Good Old Yale." The concert will be held in Sudler Recital Hall, Rm. 201, W.L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St.: Admission is free, and the public is welcome.
Saturday, April 4, 8 p.m. -- The Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale -- with Lawrence Leighton Smith, conductor; Denis Segond, conducting fellow; and Aude Richard, clarinet -- will perform Ives' "Three Places in New England" and "Central Park in the Dark"; Weber's clarinet concerto; and Copland's "Symphony No.3" in Woolsey Hall, corner of College and Grove streets. Admission is free, and the public is invited.
Sunday, April 5, 2 p.m. -- "Music by Ives -- Inspired by Yale" will be performed. The program will include "Calcium Light Night," "The Celestial Railroad," "Violin Sonata No. 4" and "Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano." The concert will be held in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St. The concert is free and open to the public.
In conjunction with the celebration, the Yale Symphony Orchestra will perform the new critical edition of Ives' "Symphony No. 1," composed in part as a senior thesis at Yale, on Saturday, April 25, at 8 p.m. in Woolsey Hall. Tickets to this performance are $5 ($3 for students). For more information, call 432-4140.
The festival/conference will include a keynote address by Peter Burkholder, president of the Charles Ives Society and professor of music at Indiana University; a talk by David Porter, editor for the Charles Ives Society; a panel discussion on "Ives at Yale"; and sessions titled "Performing Ives/Ives Performing," "Lectures on Ive's Songs" and "Mining the Oral History Project."
A registration fee of $95 includes all sessions, program materials, musical performances, coffee breaks and a Sunday luncheon. Questions about the schedule, registration, accommodations and travel should be directed to Yale Conference Services at 432-0465. Information on the concerts is available by calling 432-4158.
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