“Everyone has a Christmas album, but this one, for sure, is distinctive, different, and delightful. And a worthy successor to Ellington and Strayhorn.” — Richard J Salvucci, All About Jazz
“The Pan American Nutcracker Suite is an aural tour de force, an all-encompassing, immersive sound experience.” — music writer Ken Micallef
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. Program TBA.
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. Season opener, featuring music of the masters of the tenor sax. Charts by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Frank Foster, George Coleman, and more.
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Feat. Jennifer Jolley’s “Dust” for brass quintet and wind ensemble, Seraph Brass, guest artists.
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Program TBA.
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. “Symphony No. 4” (David Maslanka); Yale Band commission “The Pursuit of Happiness” (Jim Colonna), inspired by the work of Dr. Laurie Santos (the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale University). Other music: “Country Band March” (Charles Ives) and “Stride”(Kevin Day).
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Yale’s wind symphony opens its season with music by composers and soloists from Venezuela and Mexico:
● “Fuga con Pajarillo.” Composer Aldemaro Romero combined a pajarillo (a waltz-like Venezuelan dance) with a complex fugue (a form of musical imitation, like a round) to create this exhilarating piece that features a break for traditional Venezuelan instruments (including bass and maracas) and virtuosic cadenzas for harp and cuatro (guitar). Guest artist Hector Molina, cuatro.
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Celebratory music and Yale songs on the eve of Yale’s Commencement. Outdoors on the Old Campus (chairs provided).
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. Celebrating American drummer and composer Max Roach (1924-2007) and his commitment to championing equality and social justice through music.
The program will feature two movements of his avant-garde jazz album and vocal-instrumental suite “We Insist!” (subtitled Max Roach’s “Freedom Now Suite”) on themes related to the Civil Rights Movement. Both movements were orchestrated and arranged specifically for the YJE Big Band by Michael Philip Mossman.
Director of Bands Thomas C. Duffy celebrated his 40th year at Yale in 2022. Yale Bands alumni and friends mounted a fundraising campaign to honor him by naming an annual concert after him. Beginning in 2023 the Band’s April concert was titled “The Thomas C. Duffy Yale Concert Band Spring Concert,” as will be each subsequent Yale Concert Band Spring Concert, in perpetuity.
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Program:
