Music at Yale enjoys a level of participation and excellence that is unrivaled among American universities. The School of Music stands at the center of this activity, with students and faculty presenting more than two hundred public concerts and recitals every year. Although there are numerous extracurricular music groups of all types throughout the campus, the curricular study and performance of music is centered at the School of Music, the Department of Music, and the Institute of Sacred Music.
The School of Music
The Yale School of Music is a graduate-professional school for students of exceptional ability who, by reason of their musical and intellectual aptitude, are qualified to do graduate work at this university. At Yale, students selected from all parts of the world are brought together to study with a distinguished faculty. In addition to receiving professional training in music, students are encouraged to participate in the rich intellectual life of the entire university and to develop and pursue interests in areas outside of their majors. While these intellectual pursuits are not, and should not be, formulated as a program of prescribed courses, the expansion of one’s comprehension and perception beyond mechanical craft is a basic premise of the school’s educational philosophy. School of Music programs are designed to develop students’ potentials in their special field to the highest levels of excellence while extending their intellectual horizons beyond that area of specialization.
One of the most important training activities at the school is chamber music, which is closely supervised by faculty coaches. There are also frequent opportunities for solo, small ensemble, orchestral, choral, and other types of performances. Because of this unique training, many graduates of the Yale School of Music hold positions on university faculties, in major symphony orchestras, and in leading opera companies. Others are now performing as concert artists or have found careers in various aspects of commercial music and music administration.
The school limits its enrollment to two hundred graduate students and maintains a student-faculty ratio of approximately three-to-one, providing a distinctive educational environment for gifted artists.
Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/
Yale Summer School of Music
Nestled in northwest Connecticut’s pastoral Litchfield Hills, the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate in the village of Norfolk has hosted the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/Yale Summer School of Music since 1941. The festival’s three renowned programs are the Chamber Music Session, the New Music Workshop, and the Chamber Choir and Choral Conducting Workshop. The admissions process is highly competitive, as these programs are among the most selective summer music offerings in the world. Accepted fellows (instrumentalists, composers, and singers) receive a scholarship covering the full cost of tuition, housing, and meals. At Norfolk, fellows participate in an intensive program of coachings, master classes, and performances.
Summertime school and festival concerts are presented from June through August in the Music Shed, which was built in 1906. The Music Shed’s stunning acoustics have complemented the artistry of such renowned musicians as Fritz Kreisler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jean Sibelius, and, more recently, the Brentano, Dover, Emerson, Guarneri, and Tokyo string quartets.
Chamber Music Session fellows have ample opportunity to perform on the weekly Emerging Artist Showcase series and alongside their faculty mentors and festival guest artists on the Friday and Saturday series. The Emerging Artist Showcase has developed a strong following, attracting area residents as well as people who travel many miles to hear concerts.
All school and festival performances are professionally recorded, and fellows from each session may obtain video and audio downloads of their work. Festival concerts are livestreamed and frequently broadcast nationally on public radio.
Alumni of the Norfolk program who have enjoyed successful careers in music include Alan Gilbert, Richard Stoltzman, Frederica von Stade, Pamela Frank, the Claremont and Eroica trios, So¯ Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, and the Alexander, Calder, Cassatt, Cavani, Jasper, Miró, St. Lawrence, Shanghai, and Ying string quartets, among many others. Recent Norfolk alumni have also won many of the most prestigious chamber music prizes including the Young Artists, Naumburg, Fischoff, M-Prize, and Banff competitions.
Applications for the New Music Workshop and the Chamber Music Session are due by Thursday, January 9, 2025. Applications for the Chamber Choir and Choral Conducting Workshop are due by Thursday, March 13, 2025. Admission is extremely competitive and is based on an audition video and, most important, a subsequent live audition. Applications and further information may be obtained at https://norfolk.yale.edu or by email, norfolk@yale.edu.
Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments
The Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments, formerly known as The Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, is committed to fostering an understanding and appreciation of musical instruments from all cultures and all periods. One of the foremost institutions of its kind, it acquires, preserves, and exhibits musical instruments from antiquity to the present, featuring restored examples in demonstrations and live performances.
The collection also serves as a laboratory for historical, artistic, and innovative exploration and education in the arts and sciences. It is a renowned study and research collection for scholars, musicians, and instrument makers, and a world-class museum that engages the public in the fascinating history of musical instruments through exhibits, publications, concerts, and outreach initiatives.
Established in 1900, when local piano dealer Morris Steinert presented a portion of his personal instrument collection to the university, the collection has since steadily grown in quality and reputation through the acquisition of individual instrument donations and notable private collections belonging to Belle Skinner, Emil Herrmann, Robyna Neilson Ketchum, Jacques Français, Ivan Herman, Lawrence S. Wilkinson, Albert Steinert, Andrew Petryn, Craig Kridel, and Adolph “Bud” Herseth. Today, it comprises more than 1200 instruments, the majority of which document the history of the western art music tradition.
At present, the Richardsonian Romanesque building that houses the collection at 15 Hillhouse Avenue is undergoing a major renovation with a scheduled re-open date of the fall of 2025 in celebration of the collection’s 125th anniversary. For further information about the museum and its holdings, please visit http://music.yale.edu/collection.
The Department of Music
The Department of Music works as a partner with the School of Music to provide a basic education in music to Yale students. Whereas the School of Music is primarily concerned with graduate students who wish to become performers, conductors, and composers, the Department of Music teaches undergraduates in Yale College, providing instruction in music theory, music history, and music appreciation for music majors and nonmajors alike. At the same time, the department offers graduate programs in music theory, ethnomusicology, and musicology leading to the Ph.D. degree. There is also a joint Ph.D. with African American Studies. Students interested in these programs may apply directly to the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, https://gsas.yale.edu/admission. Graduate courses, all conducted as seminars, are taught by a distinguished faculty. With the consent of their advisers and the instructor of the course, students in the School of Music are welcome to enroll in both undergraduate and graduate courses offered by the department. Similarly, students enrolled in the department will often be found at the school taking lessons, playing chamber music, or taking courses in conducting, music history, or composition. The department sponsors the Yale Collegium Musicum, the Yale Baroque Opera Project, the Yale Bach Society, and the Yale Symphony Orchestra, as extracurricular musical activities. The Friends of Music at Yale supports undergraduate musical activities including the Cynthia W. Dixon Memorial Fund, which provides scholarships for undergraduate music lessons. Further information may be obtained at https://yalemusic.yale.edu.
Yale Institute of Sacred Music
The Yale Institute of Sacred Music, an interdisciplinary graduate center, educates leaders who foster, explore, and engage with the sacred through music, worship, and the arts in Christian communities, diverse religious traditions, and public life. Partnering with the Yale School of Music and Yale Divinity School, as well as other academic and professional units at Yale, the institute prepares its students for careers in church music and other sacred music, pastoral ministry, performance, and scholarship. The institute’s curriculum integrates the study and practice of music and the arts with religion. With a core focus on Christian sacred music, the institute builds bridges among disciplines and vocations and makes creative space for scholarship, performance, and practice.
Music students who wish to pursue graduate work in programs in choral conducting, organ, composition, or voice (early music, oratorio, and chamber ensemble vocal track) must apply for and be accepted into one of the degree programs of the School of Music: M.M., M.M.A., or D.M.A. Institute students must be admitted to either the Yale School of Music or Yale Divinity School (or both), from which they receive their degrees. Students pursuing music degrees receive rigorous conservatory training and will typically go on to careers in church music, public performance, or teaching.
The Institute of Sacred Music was established in 1973 by a gift from the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller Foundation of Columbus, Indiana. The chairman of the board of the foundation, Mrs. Robert S. Tangeman, described the institute as a place where “the function of music and the arts in Christianity will receive new strength through the preparation and training of individual musicians, ministers, and teachers who understand their calling in broad Christian terms and not exclusively within the limits of their disciplines.”
At the heart of the institute’s program is the weekly Colloquium, a lively interdisciplinary course attended by all ISM faculty and students. Faculty and guest speakers lecture on topics pertinent to the primary fields represented in the ISM: worship, music, and the arts. In their final year, students present a project that is the culmination of work done with another ISM student outside their own discipline. In Colloquium, students and faculty explore the ways in which music and the arts function within diverse Christian liturgical practices as well as the place of the sacred arts within the worship practices of other religious traditions. The institute serves to promote the understanding of biblical texts as proclaimed in community and the unique sense of identity the arts provide for worshipers in a variety of faith traditions.
More information regarding the institute may be found online at https://ism.yale.edu; or its bulletin may be obtained online at https://bulletin.yale.edu or by phoning 203.432.9753 or by emailing ism.admissions@yale.edu.