The Yale Symphony Orchestra marked its 60th anniversary with a celebratory concert on Saturday, March 28, at Yale University. As the YSO's 13th Director, Elizabeth Askren addressed the gathering alongside special guest Maestro John Mauceri, whose connection to the orchestra spans decades - from his early years as a Yale faculty member at 21 to his ongoing championship of the ensemble.

‍
"The YSO is, in many ways, a small miracle," said Askren. "To echo William Blake, it is a place where you can hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. Its mission is not perfection - to quote Leonard Bernstein, it is to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before, in an age where young people are being pulled apart and isolated by batteries of gadgets."

‍
The evening centered on a landmark performance of Mahler's Second Symphony, "The Resurrection Symphony," conducted by Maestro Mauceri. A world-renowned conductor, scholar, and Tony, Grammy, Emmy, and Olivier Award recipient, Mauceri has led major opera companies and orchestras across the globe and was a close collaborator of Leonard Bernstein. His selection of the Resurrection Symphony for the occasion carried deliberate weight: a work whose message of renewal felt fitting for an orchestra entering its seventh decade.

‍
"To celebrate this anniversary alongside Maestro Mauceri, whose extraordinary legacy is so deeply intertwined with the orchestra's history, made the evening all the more meaningful," Askren added.

‍