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The Whiffenpoofs, the world’s oldest and best-known a cappella group, will perform in concert 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, at the Williams Center for the Arts.
Tickets are sold out, but the box office will make “available seating” (standby) tickets available to students at 7 p.m. A line will form next to a corresponding sign in the lobby. Before the concert begins, if any tickets have been returned or any seats are left empty, “available seating” patrons will be admitted in the order in which they are standing in line – not in the order of the ticket numbers. (Those who have a ticket, but do not plan on using it, are asked to return it to the box office or give it to a student who wishes to attend.)
A post-concert reception will be sponsored by the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Yale Alumni Club. Whiffenpoof member Colin Dawson is a Bethlehem resident and 2000 graduate of Saucon Valley High School.
Every year, 14 senior Yale men are selected to be in the Whiffenpoofs. Founded in 1909, the “Whiffs” began as a senior quartet that met for weekly concerts at Mory’s Temple Bar, the famous Yale tavern. Today, the group has become one of Yale’s most celebrated and hallowed traditions.
Cole Porter, Yale Class of 1913, highlights the list of noteworthy Whiffenpoof alumni, which also includes Sen. Prescott Bush, father of former President George Bush. Rudy Vallee (Whiffs of 1927) gave “The Whiffenpoof Song” nationwide recognition when he recorded a solo version of the ballad in the 1930s, and later, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald (made an honorary Whiffenpoof in 1979), Bing Crosby, and Elvis Presley followed suit with their own recordings.
In recent years, satisfied clients have included hotels, corporations, and the likes of Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, Mother Theresa, and the Dalai Lama, in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and at sporting events such as the World Series and the Rose Bowl. They have appeared in recent years on television episodes of CBS’ “60 Minutes” and “CBS News Sunday Morning,” NBC’s “Today Show” and “The West Wing,” WB’s “Gilmore Girls,” and the “Jeopardy!” syndicated game show. A cappella arrangements of jazz standards, classic ballads, traditional Yale songs, and recent hits continue to delight audiences all over the world.
The Whiffenpoofs maintain an active touring schedule, with scheduled dates for the first few months of 2004 in South America; Australia; New Zealand; Houston and Corpus Christi, Tex.; Chicago; Philadelphia; Atlanta and Albany, Ga.; New Orleans; Miami, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and Naples, Fla.; and Los Angeles. Each year, the group performs on a twelve-week tour after Yale graduation, which will include concerts in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and international locations.
The nationally recognized Performance Series attracts more than 10,000 people each season. It has been cited for performing excellence by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, Chamber Music America, Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, Pennsylvania Arts and Humanities Councils, and Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
The 2003-04 Performance Series at Lafayette is supported in part by gifts from Friends of the Williams Center for the Arts; by the F.M. Kirby Foundation; by provisions of the Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist-in-Residence Program, the James Bradley Fund, and the Ed Brunswick Jazz Fund; and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, and New England Foundation for the Arts.