Jeffrey Douma
Dr. Jeffrey Douma, a native of Marshall, MN, became Director of the Yale Glee Club and Assistant Professor of Choral Music at the Yale School of Music in the fall of 2003. Prior to his appointment at Yale he taught at Carroll College, where he was Director of Choral Activities, and also served on the conducting faculties of Smith College and St. Cloud State University. Douma has appeared as guest conductor with ensembles on five continents, including the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Bahian Symphony Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic Choir, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Choirs under his direction have performed in Leipzig's Neue Gewandhaus, Dvorak Hall in Prague, Argentina's Teatro Colon, Sydney Town Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, and Carnegie Hall, and he has prepared choruses for performances under such eminent conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Sir David Willcocks, Shinik Hahm, Anton Nanut, Constantine Orbellian, Toshiyuki Shimada, and Krzysztof Penderecki. Active with musicians at all levels, Douma served for four years on the conducting faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, America’s premier training ground for high school age musicians, conducting the Concert Choir, Women’s Choir, and Festival Choir, and frequently serves as clinician for festivals and honor choirs.
An advocate of new music, Douma recently established the Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition and Fenno Heath Award. He has premiered new works with the Glee Club by such composers as Dominick Argento, Lee Hoiby, and James Macmillan. He also serves as editor of the Yale Glee Club New Classics Choral Series, published by Boosey & Hawkes. A tenor, Douma has appeared as an ensemble member and frequent soloist with the nation's leading professional choirs, including the Dale Warland Singers, Bella Voce of Chicago, the Arcadia Players, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus under Helmuth Rilling, and the Robert Shaw Festival Singers under the late maestro Robert Shaw. In the spring of 2003, Douma was one of only two North American conductors invited to compete for the first Eric Ericson Award, a new international competition for choral conductors, advancing to the semifinal round in October 2003, and appearing in Uppsala and Stockholm as conductor with four of Sweden’s leading choirs.
Jeffrey Douma earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from Concordia College, nationally renowned for its choral music program. He holds both the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Choral Conducting from the University of Michigan. In all its years, the Yale Glee Club has had only six previous directors: Gustave J. Stoeckel (1861-1873); Thomas G. Shepard (1873-1905); G. Frank Goodale 1889 (1905-1921); Marshall Bartholomew '09 (1921-1953); Fenno F. Heath, Jr. '50 (1953-1992); and David H. Connell DMA '91 (1992-2002).
