Former Music School dean Ezra Laderman's final work, 'Voices,' to debut Oct. 15

“Voices,” the last completed work by the late Ezra Laderman, a former dean of the Yale School of Music, will have its world premiere at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15 at Morse Recital Hall, corner of College and Wall streets. The performance is free and open to the public.

“Voices” is based on Dante’s “Inferno,” and former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky, who worked closely with Laderman on the piece, will read from the work’s libretto at the Oct. 15 performance. Pinsky is the author of a 1956 translation of the “Inferno,” which tells of the 14^th-century poet’s journey through hell.

The program will feature the Argus Quartet, soprano Nola Richardson (as Beatrice), tenor Gene Stenger (as Dante), and baritone Isaac Bray (as the poet’s guide, Virgil).

Ezra Laderman joined the YSM community as a composer-in-residence in 1988 and the following year became the School’s Dean, a position he held until 1995, after which he served as a professor of music until his retirement in 2014. He died in 2015.

His works included 12 string quartets, 11 concertos, and 8 symphonies; 6 dramatic oratorios, music for dance, 7 operas, and music for two Academy Award-winning films.