José García-León, Dean
ysm ensembles
Yale Percussion Group
Robert van Sice, Director
Friday, March 1, 2024 | 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
From Piazolla to Pléïades
Astor Piazzolla
1921–1992 arr. Garth Neustadter
Alejandro Viñao b. 1951
Le Grand Tango (1982)
Iannis Xenakis
1922–2001
Xenakis
Xenakis
Water (2013)
I. Edge of a Tide (Filo de Marea)
II. Through the wild rain (a través de la lluvia salvaje)
III. Todos los ríos El río (All the rivers The river) intermission
Rebonds B (1989)
Michael Yeung, percussion
Rebonds A (1987)
Makana Medeiros, percussion
Pléïades (1978)
I. Claviers
II. Peaux
As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.
Artist Profiles
Yale Percussion Group
Chad Beebe ’25MMA
Jessie Chiang ’24MM
Makana Medeiros ’23MM ’24MMA
Mingyu Son ’24MM
Han Xia ’25MM
Michael Yeung ’22MM ’23MMA ’24AD
Founded in 1997 by Robert van Sice, the Yale Percussion Group has been called “something truly extraordinary” by the legendary American composer Steve Reich. The ensemble is composed of young percussion artists who have come from around the world to study at the Yale School of Music. The unique breadth of the Yale percussion program has allowed its graduates to make an impact on multiple parts of the musical landscape. Solo, chamber music, orchestral percussion, and didactics all play equal roles in their percussion education. Former members of YPG have gone on play concertos with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, recitals in London, Vienna, New York, and Shanghai among many others, as well as performing as regular members of Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center and Camerata Pacifica in California. In the orchestral realm, alumni have gone on to join the ranks of numerous orchestras including the Oslo Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony. Perhaps the the most significant imprint of the Yale percussion program has been in the pedagogical sphere where alumni serve on the faculties of Curtis Institute of Music, Peabody Institute,
University of Miami, Vanderbilt, Michigan State, Arizona State, Princeton, SUNY Stony Brook, University of Michigan, Baylor, Cal Arts, and numerous others in America, Europe, and Asia. Two of the world’s leading percussion quartets— Sō Percussion and Sandbox Percussion—were formed at Yale. As well, the only solo percussionists to ever win the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Young Concert Artist Competition were both graduates of Yale.
Robert van Sice, director
Robert van Sice is considered one of the world’s foremost performers of contemporary music for marimba, having premiered more than 100 works for the instrument. Four of the seminal works in the marimba repertoire were written for him: Peter Klatzow’s Dances of Earth and Fire, Alejandro Viñao’s Estudios de Frontera, Martin Bresnick’s double marimba concerto, Grace, and James Wood’s Spirit Festival with Lamentations, which introduced the newly-developed quarter-tone marimba. In his varied performing career, van Sice has given recitals in more than 30 countries, appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras, and been featured by many of Europe’s most important radio houses.
Van Sice is also one of the world’s most respected percussion teachers whose students are playing in symphony orchestras and contemporary chamber ensembles, winning competitions, and maintaining solo careers around the
world. In addition to his work teaching graduate-level percussionists at the Yale School of Music, he is on the faculties of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Previously, he headed Europe’s first diploma program for solo marimba players at the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands. Van Sice has given more than 400 master classes in 25 countries and often serves on the juries of international competitions including serving as the president of the jury for the ARD Competition in Munich. He has released six CDs on the labels Etcetera Records, Mode Records, and New World Records. For the past 30 years, van Sice has collaborated with the Adams Corporation in the Netherlands in designing a series of marimbas and mallets that bear his name.
Upcoming Events at YSM
mar 3 Kyung Yu, violin
Faculty Artist Series
3 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
mar 5 Tafelmusik
Oneppo Chamber Music Series
7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Tickets start at $31, Yale faculty/staff start at $23, Students $14
mar 6
Lunchtime Chamber Music
12:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
mar 7
David Sanford, guest composer
New Music New Haven
7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
mar 8 Yale Voxtet: Italia and Germania Institute of Sacred Music
7:30 p.m. | Marquand Chapel
Free admission
mar 26
Vista: Chamber Music
YSM Ensembles
7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
yale school of music box office
Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College Street, New Haven, CT 06511 203 432–4158 | music-tickets.yale.edu
Connect with us
wshu 91.1 fm is the media sponsor of the Yale School of Music.
If you do not intend to save your program, please recycle it in the baskets at the exit doors.
yalemusic
@yalemusic
@yale.music YaleSchoolofMusicOfficial