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Press Kit
Director, Yale Alumni Chorus
Douma led the Yale Alumni Chorus on its 2004 Gift of Song Tour to South America and on the 2006 Traditions Tour to England and Freedom Tour to The Netherlands. He has appeared as guest conductor with ensembles on five continents, including the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Bahian Symphony Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic Choir, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Choirs under his direction have performed in Leipzig’s Neue Gewandhaus, Dvorak Hall in Prague, Argentina’s Teatro Colon, Sydney Town Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, and Carnegie Hall, and he has prepared choruses for performances under such eminent conductors as Valery Gergiev, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir David Willcocks, Shinik Hahm, Anton Nanut, Constantine Orbellian, Toshiyuki Shimada, and Krzysztof Penderecki. Active with musicians at all levels, Douma served for four years on the conducting faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, America’s premier training ground for high school age musicians, conducting the Concert Choir, Women’s Choir, and Festival Choir, and frequently serves as clinician for festivals and honor choirs. An advocate of new music, Douma has established the Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition and Fenno Heath Award, and has premiered new works with the Glee Club by such composers as Dominick Argento, Lee Hoiby, and James Macmillan. He also serves as editor of the Yale Glee Club New Classics Choral Series, published by Boosey & Hawkes. A tenor, Douma has appeared as an ensemble member and frequent soloist with the nation’s leading professional choirs, including the Dale Warland Singers, Bella Voce of Chicago, the Arcadia Players, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus under Helmuth Rilling, and the Robert Shaw Festival Singers under the late maestro Robert Shaw. In the spring of 2003, Douma was one of only two North American conductors invited to compete for the first Eric Ericson Award, a new international competition for choral conductors, advancing to the semifinal round in October 2003, and appearing in Uppsala and Stockholm as conductor with four of Sweden’s leading choirs. Jeffrey Douma earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from Concordia College, nationally renowned for its choral music program. He holds both the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Choral Conducting from the University of Michigan. In all its years, the Yale Glee Club has had only six previous directors: Gustave J. Stoeckel (1861-1873), Thomas G. Shepard (1873-1905), G. Frank Goodale 1889 (1905-1921), Marshall Bartholomew ’09 (1921-1953), Fenno F. Heath, Jr. ’50 (1953-1992), David H. Connell DMA ’91 (1992-2002).
President, Yale Alumni Chorus Foundation
Sharon was born in Asia and raised in England, where she first sang in the choir at Marlborough College. After moving to the United States, she received her B.S. in Applied Mathematics at Yale University in 1982. While there, she directed the women’s a cappella groups The New Blue and Whim ‘n’ Rhythm. After receiving her M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1986, she worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co, as a consultant in Eastern Europe, and in strategy for a multi-national consumer goods company. She has also written a mystery novel set in the financial services industry and currently sits on the Board of Governors for the Association of Yale Alumni, as well as serving as the Head of the U.S. Old Marlburian Club. She lives in New York with her husband and three sons. Click on a link to download a photo
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Jeffrey Douma became Director of the Yale Glee Club and Assistant Professor of Choral Music at the Yale School of Music in the fall of 2003. Prior to his appointment at Yale he taught at Carroll College, where he was Director of Choral Activities, and also served on the conducting faculties of Smith College and St. Cloud State University.
Sharon Agar took over as President of the Yale Alumni Chorus Foundation in 2006. She served as Vice President when the Foundation first began in 2003 and co-produced the England & Wales portion of the Yale Alumni Chorus Tercentennial Tour in 2001.
