Choirs from around the world to converge at Yale

The second Yale International Choral Festival — an event produced in collaboration with the Yale School of Music, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and the Yale Alumni Chorus — will take place June 16-20.Hosted by the Yale Glee Club, the festival will feature renowned choirs from around the world who will gather for five days of singing, learning, and exploring the connections that choral music fosters between people. Each evening there will be a formal concert in Yale’s Sprague Hall, and each day will be filled with lectures, workshops, and master classes led by visiting conductors and Yale faculty, including the first Eric Ericson International Choral Centre Conducting 21C master class offered outside of Stockholm, Sweden.Ensembles in this year’s festival will include Sweden’s Voces Nordicae, Cuba’s Entrevoces, the National University of Singapore Choir, and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, along with the Yale Choral Artists and the Yale Alumni Chorus.”We could not be more excited to host four of the world’s truly extraordinary choruses here at Yale,” said Jeffrey Douma, director of Yale Glee Club and Yale Choral Artists. “No matter where you are from, singing together creates connections as few things can, and we are looking forward to seeing what happens in this latest chapter in Yale’s long history of international choral exchange.”A symposium titled “Choirs Transforming Lives” on June 16 will explore the ways in which people throughout the United States and the world are using choral music to create positive social change, promote mental well-being, and foster community. The symposium was organized in association with the International Federation for Choral Music’s Conductors Without Borders network and the American Choral Directors Association’s International Conductors Exchange Program.Visit the Yale International Choral Festival’s website to register for festival events.The schedule of public events includes concerts by the following artists: Yale Choral Artists, 8 p.m. on June 16; YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus, 5 p.m. on June 17; Entrevoces, 8 p.m. on June 17; Voces Nordicae, 8 p.m. on June 18; and the National University of Singapore Choir, 5 p.m. on June 19. Tickets are $45 in advance; $50 on the day of the show. The concerts will take place in Morse Recital Hall, Sprague Hall, 470 College St.The final event of the International Choral Festival is a free gala concert at 6 p.m. on June 20 in Woolsey Hall, corner of College and Grove streets. The concert will feature all four of the international visiting ensembles and the Yale Alumni Chorus. Each international choir will perform a brief set on its own, and perform one piece from its home country with the Yale Alumni Chorus. The Alumni Chorus will also perform Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” on the 50th anniversary of this work’s premiere. The concert will conclude with all choirs singing a new piece composed for the festival by Timothy Laciano ’15, a four-year member of the Yale Glee Club.