The Yale School of Music is searching for three new professors to take one-year teaching appointments in violin, piano and hearing starting this fall, Music School Dean Robert Blocker said.
The new faculty will replace pianist Melvin Chen, violinist Erick Friedman and composer Marcus Maroney. Chen left the University last year to teach at the Bard College Conservatory of Music in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., and Maroney moved to Houston to devote more time to his personal compositions. A child prodigy, Friedman had taught at Yale since the 1980s until last year, when he died of cancer at the age of 64.
The music school is actively advertising for the positions and the deadline for candidates to apply is Jan. 31. Blocker said he hopes to fill the positions with talented musicians who have experience in both teaching and performing.
“In all of our candidates, we look for people who are active as professional artists,” Blocker said. “For our senior positions, we want people with an international reputation, with proven experience as teachers.”
Music school professor Joan Panetti, who coordinates the school’s hearing program, said she is excited to welcome new blood into the faculty.
“This is a wonderful thing for the school because the faculty will grow,” Panetti said.
The new members of the faculty would teach applied music and instruct graduate students in their respective instruments, Blocker said.
“They would be doing exactly the same thing as their predecessors did,” he said.
The hearing professor would teach a set of skills, such as ear training, and help students put those skills into the context of various compositional styles, Panetti.
The ideal candidate for the hearing professorship, Panetti said, would be “a person that is a performer and a composer, and is passionate about music.”
The positions are only for one-year terms and are not long-term, tenured professorships. Blocker said the unexpected nature of the three vacancies require quick replacements.
“We didn’t have enough time to do full searches,” Blocker said, noting that it takes a great deal of time to conduct searches for tenured positions.
Applications are already rolling in, and the school will conduct interviews and auditions with candidates before making a final decision, Blocker said.