Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415 to tour Italy with Haydn's Creation
Photo by Harold Shapiro
From May 25-31, 2026, principal conductor Grete Pedersen will lead Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415 in a tour of five Italian cities, performing Franz Joseph Haydn’s The Creation. This oratorio masterpiece by Haydn depicts and celebrates the creation of the world as narrated in the Book of Genesis. The performances will be sung in German. Click on the links below for details for each concert.
May 25: Teatro Verdi Trieste, Trieste
May 26: Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Brescia
May 37: Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice
May 29: St Peter’s Basilica, Perugia
May 31: Chiesa di San Paolo entro le Mura (St Paul’s Within the Walls), Rome
Yale Schola Cantorum is a chamber choir that performs sacred music from the sixteenth century to the present day in concert settings and choral services around the world. It is sponsored by Yale Institute of Sacred Music and led by new principal conductor Grete Pedersen. Masaaki Suzuki is the ensemble’s principal guest conductor. Open by audition to students from all departments and professional schools across Yale University, the choir has a special interest in historically informed performance practice, often in collaboration with instrumentalists from Juilliard415.
Since its founding in 2009, Juilliard415, the school’s principal period-instrument ensemble, has made significant contributions to musical life in New York and beyond, bringing major figures in the field of early music to lead performances of both rare and canonical works by composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. With its frequent musical collaborator the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, the ensemble has performed throughout Scandinavia, Italy, Japan, Southeast Asia, the U.K., and India.
Photo by Harold Shapiro
Grete Pedersen is principal conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum and professor in the practice of conducting at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music. Formerly of the Norwegian Academy of Music, she led the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir for 35 years as artistic director, earning numerous awards and an acclaimed discography. A leading advocate of historically informed performance, Pedersen regularly conducts prominent baroque ensembles and modern orchestras while also championing new music through commissions from contemporary composers. She also serves as artistic director of the Carmel Bach Festival and has been honored with the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and the Lindeman Prize.