This beautiful text by contemporary poet Annie Finch is a love song describing the most beautiful and intimate images of love - warm hands, gentlest sounds, touches and hours. The text is set apart and isolated in sound, marked by gentle silences until halfway through the piece when the voices finally merge together, remaining that way - finally united, until the very end.

Arranger: Dale Trumbore

This beloved American folk lullaby incorporates the repeated word hush-a-bye throughout the arrangement, creating a sweet and calming effect as the melody weaves in and out between the different vocal lines. Simple and straightforward, the setting imparts a quiet note of sadness and longing. Duration: ca. 2:40. Recorded by the Yale Glee Club, Jeffrey Douma, conductor.

Arranger: Jeffrey Douma

Amanecer (Dawn) from Visions del llano (Visions of the Plains), a suite of two pieces that expresses the composer's memories of the Venezuelan Plains, represents one of the most magical moments of that part of the world. The music depicts the rising of the sun that warms up everything and awakens the diverse life in the plains. Duration: ca. 5:45.

Arranger: Cristian Grases

This middle movement is rhythmic, dissonant and angry, expressing a release from the pain of death. When paired with the other two Weep You No More and Come, Heavy Sleep, this wonderful piece of programmatic writing is a lesson in musical emotion. Duration: ca. 4:00. Performed by Musica Sacra, Kent Trittle, conductor.

Arranger: Michael Gilbertson

Written as a dear friend lay dying at a young age, this movement, along with the other two from the set (Weep You No More and Burst Forth, My Tears) call on the singers to represent their deepest feelings of grief, anger, love and finally, rest. Using long sustained pallets of harmonic color and the dynamics of a whisper, this powerfully emotional piece will surely touch both singer and audience. Duration: ca. 6:00. Performed by Musica Sacra, Kent Trittle, conductor.

Arranger: Michael Gilbertson

Vividly capturing the imagery of Matthew Arnold's poetry, this work was commissioned by the Yale Glee Club. With piano.

Composer: Dominick Argento

Fiesta (Party) from Visiones del llano (Visions of the Plains), a suite of two pieces that expresses the composer's memories of the Venezuelan Plains, is intended to be a representation of the typical folkloric instruments of the area (cuatro, shakers, and Venezuelan harp). The text is onomatopoeic of their sounds while the combination and juxtapositions of 6/8 and 3/4 meters are characteristic of the music. Duration: ca.2:40.

Arranger: Cristian Grases

Written for Jeffrey Douma and the Yale Glee Club, Stephen Feigenbaum has created a piece that is at the same time classically contemporary and jazzy, light hearted and sad, insightful and fully transparent. Duration: ca. 5 minutes.

Arranger: Stephen Feigenbaum

Using the sturdy but lilting Shaker tune, Jeffrey Douma has crafted a beautiful a cappella setting appropriate for any good high school or college choir. With a text that is as important today as it was when it was written, Wherever I am called, whatever I can do, shall be done in the name of the good and true, - this can be a powerful learning experience for all involved.

Arranger: Jeffrey Douma

Winner of the 2004 Emerging Composer Competition awarded by the Yale Glee Club, this work is a setting of the Latin antiphon by Hildegard von Bingen. Alternating between joy and reflection, this buoyant work will be a concert showpiece.

Arranger: Jocelyn Hagen | Composer: Hildegard von Bingen

Though it sounds very much like a folk song, Lorena was actually composed in 1856. It became extremely popular during the Civil War, when it was a favorite of both Confederate and Union soldiers who longed to be reunited with their sweethearts. This setting is scored for SATB divisi a cappella and was first sung by the Yale Glee Club, Jeffrey Douma director.

Arranger: Jeffrey Douma

This motet was commissioned by the Yale Glee Club with a text from the Gospel according to St John, chapter 8:10-11 where Jesus tells the woman taken in adultery to go and sin no more. This 6-minute a cappella motet is distinguished by its full vocal textures and deep emotion-filled expression.

Arranger: James MacMillan

One of the fresh young voices among American composers, Dominick DiOrio pulls apart Henry Purcell's song Thou Knowest, Lord, The Secrets of Our Hearts and weaves in his own original music to the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem Henry Purcell. Together, with Hopkins text and Purcells music, we are given a fresh context with which to examine both of these men and their artistic voices. For advanced choirs. Duration: ca. 5 minutes.

Arranger: Dominick DiOrio | Composer: Henry Purcell

One of the fresh young voices among American composers, Dominick DiOrio pulls apart Henry Purcell's song Thou Knowest, Lord, The Secrets of Our Hearts and weaves in his own original music to the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem Henry Purcell. Together, with Hopkins text and Purcells music, we are given a fresh context with which to examine both of these men and their artistic voices. For advanced choirs. Duration: ca. 5 minutes.

Arranger: Dominick DiOrio | Composer: Henry Purcell

Here is a sturdy setting of a Sacred Harp tune that is ideal for a concert or set of American music. Intended to be sung with a direct, clear and bright vocal style and a steady and intense underlying rhythm, this setting from the Yale Glee Club series builds throughout in a single continuous crescendo. Duration: ca. 2:00. Recorded by the Yale Glee Club, Jeffrey Douma, conductor.

Arranger: Jeffrey Douma

This arrangement of the beloved folk song was first premiered by the Yale Glee Club in the fall of 2006, and has since become an audience favorite. Probably referring to the Red River that flows north between Minnesota and North Dakota into Lake Winnipeg, the sentiment expressed by the text is immediately understood by anyone who has had to bid farewell too soon to a loved one.

Arranger: Jeffrey Douma

The text of The Dark Hills by Edwin Arlington Robinson offers a beautiful picture of evening settling on the hills, or of the quiet that comes at that moment just before dark falls completely over the land. As the choir sings of hope for the end of all wars, the oboe weaves in and out of the texture, creating a voice of the ages.

Arranger: Jenni Brandon

American composer and conductor, Theodore Morrison, has set this lovely William Butler Yeats' poem filled with Irish musical quotes. As an opera composer, Morrison has a strong grasp on the emotional impact made possible through programmatic music and he uses this in effective ways in this piece. The virtuosic nature of the horn part and advanced choral music require an accomplished ensemble, but the results will be impressive!

Arranger: Theodore Morrison

Ned Rorem has been described as The world's best composer of art songs, and these two contrasting and compelling works for chorus affirm this description. Dirge poignantly expresses the pain of unquiet love, while Live with Me, creates a somewhat playful mood. In 12/8, the vocals dance above the flowing sixteenth note arpeggios in the piano. Duration: ca. 3:30.

Arranger: Ned Rorem

Voices, written in memory of Fenno Heath (1926-2008) who served as the conductor of the Yale Glee Club for almost 40 years, is based on a poem by Greek poet Cavafy, best known for his poetic recreations of classic images of ancient Greece. This moving a cappella work uses both Greek (IPA pronunciation provided) and English texts. Duration: ca. 5:00. Performed by Yale Glee Club, Jeffrey Douma, conductor.

Composer: Eric Banks

Winner of the 2009 Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition, this elegant work offers an Old English text with peaceful imagery conveying a sense of compassion, and a haunting, sensitive melody that flows effortlessly from voice to voice. Duration: ca. 4:00.

Arranger: Michael Gilbertson

Arranger: Marshall Bartholomew

Written for the inauguration ceremony of Yale University's 23rd President, this is especially appropriate for a convocation, commencement, or any academic ceremony. Who is wise is answered in the first section of music: One who learns from all.

Arranger: Jeffrey Douma

Written in May 2005, when the composer was living in the Netherlands, this piece is a set of four songs for a cappella chorus. Each movement addresses one direction of the wind, implying one season of the year--from the gentle spring breezes of the Easterly Wind to the blustery winter gales of the Westerly Wind.

Arranger: Caroline Mallonee

Zephyr Rounds was the winner of the 2007 Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition. The asymmetry of the 13/8 time signature creates a bustling feeling of perpetual motion, blossoming into a thick texture of contrapuntal exchanges and melodic hocket between voices. The result is an infectious rhythmic energy unusual in a piece for a cappella chorus. Duration: ca. 5:50.

Arranger: Robert Vuichard