Yale Musicians & Composers
Robert Carl: composer and chair of composition at the Hartt School.
Jack Glatzer (BA 1960) concert violinist.
Walter Hekster (M.Mus 1963) composer, clarinetist, conductor.
Lisa Hopkins: opera singer. Tony award winner.
Johann Sebastian Paetsch (MM 1987) musician and cellist.
Andre Raphel: conductor of the Wheeling symphony orchestra
Chad Shelton (MA 1997) operatic tenor
Jack Glatzer (BA 1960) concert violinist.
Walter Hekster (M.Mus 1963) composer, clarinetist, conductor.
Lisa Hopkins: opera singer. Tony award winner.
Johann Sebastian Paetsch (MM 1987) musician and cellist.
Andre Raphel: conductor of the Wheeling symphony orchestra
Chad Shelton (MA 1997) operatic tenor
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- Composer
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Adam Guettel was born on 16 December 1964 in New York, New York, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Jack: The Last Kennedy Film (1993), Arguing the World (1997) and New Year's Day (1989).BA 1987; Tony Award winning composer/lyricist.- Composer
- Music Department
Ranidu Lankage is a Sinhalese R&B and hip hop artist who raised the international profile of Sinhalese RnB/pop. Lankage is the first Sinhalese artist to be played on BBC Radio 1 and the creator of the first Sinhalese single to be played on MTV and channel V and Z music India. He is a graduate in Economics from Yale University.BA 2005; Sinhalese R&B and Hip Hop artist.- Music Department
Carter Brey is known for Vision (2018), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) and Live from Lincoln Center (1976).principal cellist for the New York Philharmonic.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
BA 1992; musician, internet celebrity known for his song, "Code Monkey."- Music Department
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Marin Alsop is known for Great Performances (1971), The Better Angels (2014) and The Conductor (2021).studied at Yale (1973-1975) before transferred to Juilliard; conductor an music director for Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.- Music Department
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Charles Ives was born on 20 October 1874 in Danbury, Connecticut, USA. He was a composer, known for Run Lola Run (1998), The Thin Red Line (1998) and Neruda (2016). He was married to Harmony Twitchell. He died on 19 May 1954 in New York City, New York, USA.BA 1898; composer, classical music.- Composer
- Music Department
- Producer
Composer, arranger and producer Mitch Leigh was a graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree and wrote many musical commercial themes. He was awarded honors from the American Television Commercial Festival and the Venice International Advertising Film Festival. He founded Music Makers, Inc. and served as its president and creative director, and also as president of Sound Makers, Inc. He contributed instrumental music to the Broadway productions "Too Good to Be True" and "Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory", and he wrote the stage score for "Man of LaMancha", for which he composed "The Impossible Dream". Joining ASCAP in 1964, his chief musical collaborator was Joe Darion.BA 1951; M.Mus. 1952; composer, producer of "Man of La Mancha, composed "To Dream the Impossible Dream."- Writer
- Music Department
MA 1972; conductor, leading figure in classical music television.- Soundtrack
George Lewis was born on 13 July 1900 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He died on 31 December 1968 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.BA 1974; trombonist and composer.- Composer
- Music Department
- Writer
Robert Lopez is the Tony®-, Grammy®-, Emmy®- and Oscar®- winning co-creator of the worldwide smash-hit Broadway musicals "Avenue Q" and "The Book of Mormon." Together with his wife and collaborator Kristen Anderson-Lopez, he co-wrote songs for the feature films "Winnie the Pooh (2011)" and "Frozen (2013)", as well as "Finding Nemo: The Musical," a beloved fixture in Disney's Animal Kingdom since 2006.
He shared two Emmy® Awards for his music for Nickelodeon's Wonder Pets! (2006) and an Emmy® nomination for his work on the musical episode of Scrubs (2001). His work has been featured on South Park (1997), The Simpsons (1989) and Phineas and Ferb (2007)," as well as 3rd & Bird (2008) and Johnny and the Sprites (2005)." He has won Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Lucille Lortel, Frederick Loewe and Edward Kleban awards.
Lopez, a Yale College graduate, lives in Brooklyn with his wife and their two daughters.BA 1997; co-creator of the musical, "Avenue Q;" and "The Book of Mormon," and winner of 3 Tony Awards.- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Alvin Lucier was born on 14 May 1931 in Nashua, New Hampshire, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Enter the Void (2009), Cry Dr. Chicago (1971) and Circles (1969). He was married to Mary Lucier and Wendy Stokes. He died on 1 December 2021 in Middletown, Connecticut, USA.experimental composer- Actor
- Producer
- Composer
Pras Michel was born on 19 October 1972. He is an actor and producer, known for Mystery Men (1999), Bulworth (1998) and Turn It Up (2000).Grammy award winner rapper, member of the Fugees.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Douglas Moore was born on 10 August 1893 in Cutchogue, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Live from Lincoln Center (1976), Youth Gets a Break (1941) and Arias and Arabesques (1962). He died on 25 July 1969 in Greenport, long Island, New York, USA.BA 1915; BM 1917; composer- Art Department
- Production Designer
- Art Director
MFA 1997; scenic designer; Tony Award for "The Pillowman."- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Cole Porter was born June 9, 1891, at Peru, Indiana, the son of pharmacist Samuel Fenwick Porter and Kate Cole. Cole was raised on a 750-acre fruit ranch. Kate Cole married Samuel Porter in 1884 and had two children, Louis and Rachel, who both died in infancy. Porter's grandfather, J.G. Cole, was a multi-millionaire who made his fortune in the coal and western timber business. His mother introduced him to the violin and the piano. Cole started riding horses at age six and began to studying piano at eight at Indiana's Marion Conservatory. By age ten, he had begun to compose songs, and his first song was entitled "Song of the Birds".
He attended Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1905, an elite private school from which he graduated in 1909 as class valedictorian. That summer he toured Europe as a graduation present from his grandfather. That fall, he entered Yale University and lived in a single room at Garland's Lodging House at 242 York Street in New Haven, CT, and became a member of the Freshman Glee Club. In 1910, he published his first song, "Bridget McGuire". While at Yale, he wrote football fight songs including the "Yale Bulldog Song" and "Bingo Eli Yale," which was introduced at a Yale dining hall dinner concert. Classmates include poet Archibald Macleish, Bill Crocker of San Francisco banking family and actor Monty Woolley. Dean Acheson, later to be U.S. Secretary of State, lived in the same dorm with Porter and was a good friend of Porter. In his senior year he was president of the University Glee club and a football cheerleader.
Porter graduated from Yale in 1913 with a BA degree. He attended Harvard Law school from 1913 to 1914 and the Harvard School of Music from 1915 to 1916. In 1917 he went to France and distributed foodstuffs to war-ravaged villages. In April 1918 he joined the 32nd Field Artillery Regiment and worked with the Bureau of the Military Attache of the US. During this time he met the woman who would become his wife, Linda Lee Thomas, a wealthy Kentucky divorcée, at a breakfast reception at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. He did not, as is often rumored, join the French Foreign Legion at this time, nor receive a commission in the French army and see combat as an officer.
In 1919 he rented an apartment in Paris, enrolled in a school specializing in music composition and studied with Vincent D'indy. On December 18, 1919, married Linda Lee Thomas, honeymooning in the south of France. This was a "professional" marriage, as Cole was, in fact, gay. Linda had been previously married to a newspaper publisher and was described as a beautiful woman who was one of the most celebrated hostesses in Europe. The Porters made their home on the Rue Monsieur in Paris, where their parties were renowned as long and brilliant. They hired the Monte Carlo Ballet for one of their affairs; once, on a whim, they transported all of their guests to the French Riviera.
In 1923 they moved to Venice, Italy, where they lived in the Rezzonico Palace, the former home of poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. They built an extravagant floating night club that would accommodate up to 100 guests. They conducted elaborate games including treasure hunts through the canals and arranged spectacular balls.
Porter's first play on Broadway featured a former ballet dancer, actor Clifton Webb. He collaborated with E. Ray Goetz, the brother-in-law of Irving Berlin, on several Broadway plays, as Goetz was an established producer and lyricist.
His ballad "Love For Sale" was introduced on December 8, 1930, in a revue that starred Jimmy Durante and was introduced by Kathryn Crawford. Walter Winchell, the newspaper columnist and radio personality, promoted the song, which was later banned by many radio stations because of its content. In 1934, his hit "Anything Goes" appeared on Broadway. During the show's hectic rehearsal Porter once asked the stage doorman what he thought the show should be called. The doorman responded that nothing seemed to go right, with so many things being taken out and then put back in, that "Anything Goes" might be a good title. Porter liked it, and kept it. In 1936, while preparing for "Red, Hot and Blue" with Bob Hope and Jimmy Durante, Ethel Merman was hired to do stenographic work to help Porter in rewriting scripts of the show. He later said she was the best stenographers he ever had.
Porter wrote such classic songs as "Let's Do It" in 1928, "You Do Something To Me" in 1929, "Love For Sale" in 1930, "What Is This Thing Called Love?" in 1929, "Night and Day" in 1932, "I Get A Kick Out Of You" in 1934, "Begin the Beguine" in 1935, "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in 1938, "Don't Fence Me In" in 1944, "I Love Paris" in 1953, "I've Got You Under My Skin", In the Still of The Night", "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To", "True Love", "Just One Of Those Things", "Anything Goes", "From This Moment On", "You're The Top", "Easy to Love" and many, many more.
On October 24, 1937, taking a break from a re-write of what would be his weakest musical, "You Never Know", visiting as a guest at a countess' home, Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, New York, he was badly injured in a fall while horseback-riding. Both of his legs were smashed and he suffered a nerve injury. He was hospitalized for two years, confined to a wheelchair for five years and endured over 30 operations to save his legs over the next 20 years. During his recuperation he wrote a number of Broadway musicals.
On August 3, 1952, his beloved mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage. His wife, Linda, died of cancer on May 20, 1954. On April 3, 1958, he sustained his 33rd operation, and still suffering from chronic pain, his right leg was amputated. He refused to wear an artificial limb and lived as a virtual recluse in his apartment at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. He sought refuge in alcohol, sleep, self-pity and sank into despair. He even refused to attend a "Salute to Cole Porter" at the Metropolitan Opera on May 15, 1960, and the commencement exercises at Yale University in June of 1960 when he was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, or his 70th birthday party arranged by his friends at the Orpheum Theater in New York City in June 1962.
After what appeared to be a successful kidney stone operation at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica, California, he died very unexpectedly on October 15, 1964. His funeral instructions were that he have no funeral or memorial service and he was buried adjacent to his mother and wife in Peru, Indiana.BA 1913; composer- Actor
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Kurt Hugo Schneider is known for College Musical (2014), Epic Patty Cake Song: I'll Think of You (2014) and Just a Dream (2010).BA 2010; YouTube sensation, music producer, film director.- Actor
- Composer
- Director
Samuel Tsui grew up in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, across the street from Kurt Schneider his partner in the YouTube business. Sam and Kurt both went to Wissahickon high school Sam graduated in 2007 and Kurt in 2006 then both Sam and Kurt went to Yale university for college, which is when they first started collaborating on music. Sam graduated in 2011, majoring in ancient Greek mythology and Kurt in 2012 majoring in mathematics both then moved to West Hollywood California to further there music carer. Sam has collaborated with many talented people such as Max Schneider, Megan Nicole, Christina Grimmie and Elle winter.they have become pretty well known Sam and Kurt were featured on Ellen , Oprah , The Bonnie hunt show and the ABC World news. Sam and Kurt's video The Michael Jackson medley features Sam "cloned" six times making it appear as if there were six of him with Kurt Schneider on the far left side beat boxing making up an extraordinary video you can see all Sam and Kurt's videos on their YouTube channels TheSamTsui and KurtHugoSchendier.BA 2011; Youtube sensation singer.- Actor
- Producer
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Rudy Vallee started his career as a saxophone player and singer and later became a bandleader. In the 1920s and early '30s he had a hit radio program, The Fleishmann's Yeast Hour (although his explosive, ego-driven personality made his cast and crew hate him). In the early 1930s he was ranked with the likes of Bing Crosby and the tragic Russ Columbo in the Hit Parade. A huge hit on radio in 1933 with his program, initially known as 'The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour,' Vallee was considered a slavedriver by his staff. He was known to instigate fist fights with virtually anyone who got on his nerves. During his show's run he slugged photographers, threw sheet music at pianists' heads, and socked hecklers in their noses. While audiences loved him, most of his staff hated him. As a very popular star in nightclubs, on records, and in movies, he helped other singers, such as Alice Faye--who was his band singer for a while--and Frances Langford to start their careers. In his early movies he often played the romantic lead, but later he switched to stuffy and comic parts. He also appeared on Broadway. The mid-'60s Broadway hit "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" was filmed in 1967 with him in his original Broadway role.BA 1927; singer, actor, bandleader, entertainer.- Producer
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- Composer
Maury Yeston is a composer, lyricist, author and teacher, and moves easily between the worlds of theater, film, and academia, writing concert music, Broadway shows, and holding teaching posts as a respected musicologist.
In addition to winning his second Tony Award for Best Score for Broadway's "Titanic" (which won five Tonys including Best Musical), Yeston won a Tony Award and two Drama Desk Awards for his music and lyrics to Broadway's "Nine" (based on Fellini's "8 ½"). That production won four additional Tonys, including Best Musical. The Broadway revival of Nine, starring Antonio Banderas, won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. Yeston's contribution to the score for Broadway's "Grand Hotel" was nominated for a Tony and two Drama Desk Awards, and the Donmar Warehouse London production of this show won the Olivier Award. His score for "Phantom" has received national and international acclaim and is currently in production across America and Europe and Japan.
The film adaptation of "Nine", directed by Rob Marshall features Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Dame Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Fergie, and Sophia Loren, with a screenplay by Anthony Minghella and Michael Tolkin, and was nominated for 5 Golden Globes and 4 Academy Awards. Yeston was nominated for a Critics Choice and Golden Globe for Best Original Song ("Cinema Italiano") and an Academy Award for Best Original Song ("Take It All").
Yeston's music and lyrics cover a wide variety of styles, from his Cello Concerto (premiered by Yo Yo Ma) to the concert album "Goya-A Life In Song," (featuring Placido Domingo and Gloria Estefan). The song "Till I Loved You," from the "Goya" album became a Top 40 hit for Barbra Streisand. Yeston was commissioned by Carnegie Hall to write the modern classical crossover "December Songs", a song cycle, for its centennial celebration. Commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he composed "An American Cantata - 2000 Voices" - a choral symphony in three movements for the National Symphony Orchestra and 2000 singers, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and premiered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in July of 2000.
Twice nominated for a Grammy Award, Yeston's recordings include cast albums of Nine, Titanic, Phantom, Grand Hotel, Death Takes A Holiday, The Maury Yeston Songbook, December Songs, Goya, the Film Soundtrack of Nine, "If I Tell You" -- Laura Osnes, Songs of Maury Yeston", and "Tom Sawyer -- A Ballet in Three Acts". Yeston also wrote the incidental music to the Broadway 2009 hit revival of "The Royal Family", directed by Doug Hughes, and to the legendary Off Broadway premiere of "Cloud 9", directed by Tommy Tune.
New Works Mounted for the New York stage, produced by the Roundabout Theatre, was Yeston-penned musical "Death Takes A Holiday", with a Book by Peter Stone and Thomas Meehan. The show was cited by Time Magazine as #4 in their Top Ten list of plays and musicals of 2011 and was nominated for 11 Drama Desk Awards for the 2011-12 season (covering Broadway and Off-Broadway), including Best Musical, Best Music and Best Lyrics. October 2011 saw the premiere of Yeston's new full-length Ballet - "Tom Sawyer" -- A Ballet in Three Acts", a symphonic work commissioned for the Kansas City Ballet to inaugurate Kansas City's new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Alastair Macaulay's NY Times rave review declared "this is the first all-new, entirely American three-act ballet: it is based on an American literary classic, has an original score by an American composer and was given its premiere by an American choreographer and company." A 2-CD recording of the entire three-act 1 hour 35 minute work, performed by The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, was released by PS Classics in August 2013. Also in July 2013 the European premiere of the small Ensemble "Titanic" opened to rave reviews at the Southwark Playhouse in London, winning Broadwayworld UK's Award for Best Regional Production of a Musical in the UK, Whatsonstage Best Regional Production of a Musical, and swept the Offie Awards in four categories including Best Musical Production.
Yeston holds a PhD. from Yale University and BA and MA degrees from both Yale and Clare College, Cambridge University. He is the author of "The Stratification of Musical Rhythm" (Yale Press) - a seminal music theory text noted for its groundbreaking innovation in the theory of rhythm. He was Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Music Studies at Yale for eight years and has been Director of the BMI Music Theatre Advanced Workshop in New York City for over twenty years.
He is a lifetime member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild, and on the Board of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, The Kleban Foundation and The Kurt Weill Foundation. He also serves on the editorial boards of Musical Quarterly and the advisory board of the Yale University Press Broadway Series. Yeston was a Kayden Visiting Artist at Harvard University in 1998, received The Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center Creative Arts Award in New York as Artist of The Year, and was The Encompass Opera's Lifetime Achievement Honoree in 2009. In 2012 he received the distinction of being named an Honorary Ambassador of The Society of Composers & Lyricists.BA 1967, Ph.D. 1974; lyricist, composer, Tony Awards for "Nine" and "Titanic."- Actor
- Soundtrack
Foster MacKenzie III was born on 9 July 1944. He is an actor, known for Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979) and The Drew Carey Show (1995).aka Root Boy Slim (BA 1967) lyricist, blues musician.- Actor
- Director
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David Longstreth is known for Things Heard & Seen (2021), Baywatch (2017) and Mistress America (2015).songwriter, singer, guitarist, for Dirty Projectors.- Writer
- Producer
Luther Davis was born on 29 August 1916 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963), Daughter of the Mind (1969) and Kismet (1955). He was married to Jennifer Bassey. He died on 29 July 2008 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.BA from Yale- Sound Department
Eric Banks is known for The Voice That Was Louder Than Before (2016).BA 1990 composer