Yale Alumni Chorus Press Release

Contact: M. Tracey Ober, Chair, Communications, +1 646-228-8177 or tracey@yalealumnichorus.org.

Yale Festival Chorus to Close Gergiev “Freedom” Festival in Holland

New Haven, CT, September 5, 2006 – The Yale Festival Chorus, a group comprised of members of the Yale Alumni Chorus, graduate voice and conducting students from the Yale School of Music and Institute for Sacred Music, and singing colleagues from Cambridge University (Cambridge University Musical Society), will perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Schoenberg’s “A Survivor from Warsaw” with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Valery Gergiev at the Gergiev “Freedom” Festival’s closing concert in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on September 17, 2006.

The Yale Alumni Chorus, which received the invitation to sing in the Festival in June 2005, set up the Yale Festival Chorus to meet the challenge of this demanding music and high-profile event. The Alumni Chorus also organized a week-long “Freedom Tour” in Holland with performances in The Hague for the U.S. Ambassador and in Leiden for an exchange concert with Collegium Musicum of Leiden University. This touring chorus of Yale alumni consists of 108 singers ranging in age from 26 to 86, who are residents of 22 U.S. States as well as Italy, Britain, and the Cayman Islands.

On Thursday, September 14, the Yale Alumni Chorus will perform in the Kloosterkerk in The Hague at the invitation of U.S. Ambassador to The Netherlands, Roland Arnall. Ambassador Arnall has named the occasion: “The Power of Song” and the program will reflect the “Freedom” theme of the tour, which was inspired by the Gergiev Festival. For more information on the Gergiev Festival visit www.gergievfestival.com.

The Yale Alumni Chorus and Cambridge University Musical Society will perform a joint concert in Leiden’s historic Pieterskerk (founded 1410) with Collegium Musicum, the choral and instrumental performing organization of the great university which bears the city’s name, on Saturday, September 16, at 8 p.m. The program, also focused on the theme of “Freedom”, will contain pieces performed separately and several performed by the three choruses together. Admission is open to the public and donations accepted at the door with proceeds to benefit the church.

“The Yale Alumni Chorus has always believed in the power of song to change lives and build relations among people of diverse backgrounds,” said Sherry Agar, Yale Alumni Chorus President. “We feel there is no better way for freedom to find its voice than by joining with singers from other nations to create music together.”

The Chorus is conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Douma, who is director of the Yale Festival Chorus and also conducts the undergraduate Yale Glee Club at Yale University, where he is Assistant Professor in the Yale School of Music. A 1994 graduate of Concordia College in Minnesota, Douma received his Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan. He studied conducting with Gustav Meier, Jerry Blackstone, Theodore Morrison, and René Clausen. Stephanie Gregory rejoins the Yale Alumni Chorus on their Freedom Tour 2006 as Assistant Director and soprano. She received her Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from Yale University and has been singing increasingly significant roles in opera internationally, including “Violetta” in “La Traviata” in Rome last summer. Gregory also directs the Shoreline Community Chorale in Connecticut. 

The Yale Alumni Chorus was organized in 1997 by a group of former Yale Glee Club members who wanted to continue singing and fostering international understanding through musical tours. They embarked on a concert tour to China in 1998 and have continued to perform internationally with leading orchestras and conductors in the world’s finest venues in Russia (twice), Britain (twice), Brazil, Argentina, and Chile as well as in the U.S. They plan a tour to South Africa for summer, 2007. The set up a Foundation in 2003 with the mission to promote harmony through choral music both at home and abroad; encourage the creation of new choral music; and develop and fund creative musical outreach programs to enrich people’s lives. For more information on the Yale Alumni Chorus: www.yalealumnichorus.org.