The Esoterics: Light & Truth – a joint concert with the Yale Glee Club
In person: $15-$20 advance, $20-$25 at door
Stream: $10
Discounts available to students/seniors/etc.
Karen Siegel — Despertar
Rex Isenberg — If we have wisdom
Christopher Theofanidis — Messages to myself ("III. Kirsten"; setting of 'November prayer' by Amy Beth Kirsten)
Aaron Jay Kernis — The wheel of time, the dance ("II. Returning")
Reena Esmail — Tuttarana
André J. Thomas — Selected works
Ismael Huerta — Selected works
Nilo Alcala — Selected works
Randall Thompson — Selected works
Shireen Abu-Khader — Selected works
Shruthi Rajasekar — Selected works (world premiere commission TBA)
Henry Durand / Karl Wilhelm — Bright college years (Yale alma mater)
Kevin Puts — If I were a swan
Eric Banks — Voices (setting of poetry by Constantine Cavafy)
For the first concert of its 31st season, The Esoterics is excited to welcome the Yale Glee Club to the Pacific Northwest. With concerts in both Seattle (March 9) and Tacoma (March 10), the choruses will each sing a set of their own music, and then combine forces, forming an ensemble of more than 100 voices! This concert is especially meaningful for The Esoterics' founding director Eric Banks; not only did he sing in YGC when he was in college, but he also served as the group's assistant conductor in his senior year. Working with YGC inspired him to move to Seattle after his Yale graduation to study choral conducting at the University of Washington.
Eric has maintained a close tie over the years with YGC and its current director, Jeffrey Douma. This relationship has resulted in Eric's creation of two different choral works for the ensemble, including a setting of Constantine Cavafy, with the title Voices. Eric composed this piece in 2008, in memory of his professor and mentor Fenno Heath, who served as the conductor of YGC for over 50 years. Voices will be sung by the combined choruses of The Esoterics and the Yale Glee Club at the end of the concert.
In the first half of this concert, The Esoterics will present six choral pieces by Yale composers. Some of you might recognize Rex Isenberg's name from our "Villains and Heroes"concert last spring, Chris Theofanidis and Aaron Kernis from our Intimas recording, Karen Siegel from winning our POLYPHONOS competition, Reena Esmail from pieces in our 2019 concert "Vulnerability", or Caroline Shaw from her Pulitzer Prize.
In the second half of the concert, the Yale Glee Club will perform a selection of their tour pieces, including works by André Thomas, Ismael Huerta, Nilo Alcala, Randall Thompson, Shireen Abu-Khader, as well as a world-premiere commission by Shruthi Rajarsekar, as well as a few traditional "college songs," including the Yale alma mater, Bright college years.
As promised, the concert will close with the combined choir of 100 voices, performing two works: If I were a swan (2012) by Kevin Puts, and Voices (2008) by Eric Banks.
For those who are curious about the title of the concert, "light and truth" is just a translation of the motto of Yale University: "lux et veritas." The Esoterics are truly honored to host one of the most celebrated undergraduate choral ensembles in the world, and we hope that you all will join us for this unforgettable concert!
About Yale Glee Club
From its earliest days as a group of thirteen men from the Class of 1863 to its current incarnation as a 85-voice all-gender chorus, the Yale Glee Club, Yale's principal undergraduate mixed chorus and oldest musical organization, has represented the best in collegiate choral music.
In recent seasons, the Glee Club's performances have received rave reviews in the national press, from The New York Times ("One of the best collegiate singing ensembles, and one of the most adventurous…an exciting, beautifully sung concert at Carnegie Hall") to The Washington Post ("Under the direction of Jeffrey Douma, the sopranos—indeed, all the voices—sang as one voice, with flawless intonation…their treacherous semitones and contrapuntal subtleties became otherworldly, transcendent even").
The students who sing in the Yale Glee Club might be majors in music or biology, English or political science, philosophy or mathematics. They are drawn together by a love of singing and a common understanding that raising one's voice with others to create something beautiful is one of the noblest human pursuits.
The Glee Club's repertoire embraces a broad spectrum of music from the 16th Century to the present, including motets, contemporary works, music from folk traditions throughout the world, and traditional Yale songs. Committed to the creation of new music, the Glee Club presents frequent premieres of newly commissioned works and sponsors two annual competitions for young composers. They have been featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, WQXR's The Choral Mix, and BBC Radio 3's The Choir.
Choral orchestral masterworks are also an important part of the Glee Club’s repertoire; recent performances include the Verdi Requiem, Mozart Requiem; Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms; Shaw's Music in Common Time; Orff's Carmina Burana; Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem; Bernstein's Chichester Psalms; Britten's War Requiem and Cantata Misericordium; Fauré's Requiem; Haydn's Missa in Tempore Belli, Missa in angustiis, and The Creation; Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, Nänie, and Schicksalied; Mendelssohn's Elijah; Penderecki's Credo; Aaron Jay Kernis' Symphony of Meditations; Purrington's Words for Departure; and choral symphonies of Mahler and Beethoven.
One of the most traveled choruses in the world, the Yale Glee Club has performed in every major city in the United States and embarked on its first overseas tour in 1928. It has since appeared before enthusiastic audiences throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa.
Historically a leading advocate of international choral exchange, the Glee Club has hosted countless guest ensembles at Yale and at New York's Lincoln Center in conjunction with its own international festivals. In 2012, the Glee Club carried this tradition forward with the first Yale International Choral Festival in New Haven, and in June of 2018 presented the third incarnation of the festival, hosting choirs from Sri Lanka, Mexico, Germany, and New York City, along with the Yale Alumni Chorus and Yale Choral Artists.
The Glee Club has appeared under the baton of many distinguished guest conductors from Leopold Stokowski to Sir David Willcocks to Robert Shaw. Recent collaborations have included performances under the direction of Marin Alsop, Grete Pedersen, Matthew Halls, Sir Neville Marriner, Dale Warland, Nicholas McGegan, Stefan Parkman, Simon Carrington, Erwin Ortner, David Hill, Craig Hella Johnson, and Helmuth Rilling.
The Yale Glee Club has had only seven directors in its 162-year history and is currently led by Jeffrey Douma. Previous directors include Marshall Bartholomew (1921-1953), who first brought the group to international prominence and who expanded the Glee Club's repertoire beyond college songs to a broader range of great choral repertoire; Fenno Heath (1953-1992), under whose inspired leadership the Glee Club made the transition from TTBB chorus to mixed chorus; and most recently David Connell (1992-2002), whose vision helped carry the best traditions of this ensemble into the Twenty-First Century.
https://gleeclub.yalecollege.yale.edu/