School Notes: School of Music
November/December 2025

Music education program receives multi-year funding

At this summer’s Symposium on Music in Schools, Alexis Roderick Joel, cochair of the Joel Foundation, announced a three-year pledge to support the Music in Schools Initiative—a commitment that will enable the program to more than double the number of New Haven public schools it serves by 2028. The initiative is originally enabled by a gift from the Yale College Class of 1957.

YSM honors jazz artist

At the first concert of the 2025–26 Yale School of Music Ellington Jazz Series, New Haven native and internationally acclaimed jazz pianist Christian Sands was awarded the Ellington Medal for his contributions to the jazz genre. Previous medal recipients have included Marian Anderson, Eubie Blake, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. 

Collection of Musical Instruments celebrates 125th anniversary

The Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments celebrated the 125th anniversary of its founding in 2025. In September, a special event showed off the results of a multi-year renovation project. Guests, including Yale president Maurie McInnis ’96PhD and provost Scott Strobel, were treated to a special concert on period instruments. The collection is expected to reopen to the public in fall 2026.