The Yale Alumni Chorus Celebration of Song/Musical Treasures of the Silk Road Tour took 175 singers and 60 family members and fellow travelers to Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia from June 14 through June 28, 2011. For the first time, YAC joined forces with the Yale Glee Club, in Istanbul, on the occasion of the Glee Club’s 150th anniversary, then blazed musical trails to Georgia, the birthplace of polyphony, and ending in Armenia, home of the storied musical tradition of Aram Khachaturian. On this journey to the East, we premiered a commissioned piece by Yale conducting student Colin Britt, A Dream and A Song, that lushly intones how “a dream comes in and a song goes forth.” The tour showed how a dedicated group of Yale’s alumni and friends can cultivate and realize dreams, bring forth beautiful music with international artists and collaborators, and enrich relationships with worldwide partners in the spirit of what the Turks call dost, friendship that lasts a lifetime.
