Zahra Virani

The Yale Concert Band, directed by Thomas C. Duffy, will perform its second fall concert in Woolsey Hall on Friday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m. 

The program features the world premiere of Jim Colonna’s “The Pursuit of Happiness: A Symphony for Wind Ensemble.” Inspired by the work of Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos, the symphony celebrates joy, optimism and the act of seeking common ground. 

“Even if you don’t agree with the person next to you politically, socially … at the moment [when] you’re creating music, you have no choice but to agree,” Colonna said.

Santos, who hosts “The Happiness Lab” podcast, is a psychologist known for her work on well-being and happiness. Her course “Psychology and the Good Life” became the most popular class in Yale’s history, with nearly a quarter of undergraduates enrolled at its peak. 

Her podcast, now entering its sixth season, has over 100 million downloads.

For Duffy, who has taught at the Yale School of Music and directed the University Bands for 43 years, the collision between Santos, “a colleague who is doing something so tectonic” in a scientific discipline, and Colonna — a brilliant composer of Duffy’s own musical world, is a special one. 

The sentiment was echoed by Ana Rodrigues ’25, president and principal oboe of the YCB. 

“With the Laurie Santos and the Ives, it is definitely a Yale concert,” she said. “It’s exciting to be able to play music that is referential to institutional history.”

In the late summer, Duffy received an email from Colonna, who at the time had been inspired to write his Symphony No. 1 by Santos’ podcast and hoped that Santos could hear it. Duffy, who was immediately drawn to the work, helped connect the two and commissioned the symphony as part of a consortium to premiere with the YCB this season. 

Santos will attend the world premiere of “The Pursuit of Happiness” this Friday. 

Colonna loves dissonance, road cycling and Don Ellis. All three — and more — are present in his symphony, which celebrates joy and all that brings him joy. 

The symphony is heavily influenced by philosophers Alan Watts and Ram Dass, whose interpretations of Eastern philosophy underscored the importance of mindfulness and awareness of the present moment. Each movement of the symphony is named after a quotation from the philosophers. 

According to Colonna, parts of Watts and Dass’ work mirror Santos’ ideas. 

“She’s a philosopher, whether she wants to admit it or not,” Colona said, laughing.

For instance, the first movement, “The Seeker,” explores things that make Colonna happy — a lick from a Talking Heads song, progressive jazz motives and elements of ’80s heavy metal. 

The second movement, “When I Looked to the Sky, the Stars Sparkled with Love,” recalls his late mother’s love of the night sky. In the unconventional instrumentation of bowed cymbals and crotales, Colonna reveals the shimmer, then sparkle, of a vast sea of stars. 

The third movement, “Simply, Play,” tackles Dass and Watts’ idea that life should be about play through a two-measure motif, cleverly manipulated throughout the orchestration.

Finally, “Be Here, Now,” takes inspiration and its name from Dass’s book. Colonna recalls stumbling upon the final chords of the movement by mistake, discovering the triumph of wide, John Williams-esque harmonies.

“The very last thing you hear is the talking heads bongo thing that happened at the very beginning of the symphony,” says Colonna. 

Thus, the piece moves “from formless to form, to formless,” in what he sees as a parallel for human life. 

In Colonna’s piece, observant audiences should listen for the ethereal shimmers of bowed percussion, deliciously “smeared” bell tones and the rich contrabass clarinet, deep like a wooden boat on the ocean.

Aside from “The Pursuit of Happiness,” the YCB will play three other works.

The concert will open with the exuberant “Stride,” by acclaimed contemporary composer Kevin Day. An ode to Day’s marching band days in Texas, the piece was also commissioned by the YCB’s consortium. 

The program then flips on its head completely, transitioning from the traditional to the eclectic, the tonal to the dissonant. According to Duffy, “The Country Band March” by Charles Ives, who graduated from Yale College in 1898, is a masterclass in “poly-everything” — what Duffy describes as the sound of multiple bands playing in different meters, rhythms, keys and harmonies.

To those familiar, the piece is quintessentially Ives. It’s also a notable feature in a year dedicated to honoring the Yale-alum composer, known today as the pioneer of modernist American music. Each YCB concert in the 2024-25 season will feature a piece by Ives.

Following “The Pursuit of Happiness,” the concert will close with David Maslanka’s monumental, challenging Symphony No. 4. 

“[The] Maslanka Fourth Symphony is one of those pieces that not all bands can do,” Duffy said about the heavily textural, 35-minute monolith. The piece is embedded with Christian hymns and Bach chorales and tackles themes of humanity, love and fellowship.

Although not necessarily connected by theme, Duffy says all four pieces on Friday’s program are united by their common ability to “transport people to … a higher level, inner level, love, exhilaration … the whole human.”

Colonna hopes his composition will inspire audiences to seek joy and common ground amidst tumultuous times. Pointing to an episode of Santos’ podcast that discussed “third spaces,” Colonna recalled a guest whose third space was choir practice.

“When we sing, we have to agree. If we could see the world like we’re at a rehearsal, we [can] find common ground,” Colonna said. “Laurie helped me to see that.”

Woolsey Hall was constructed in 1901.