Denis Mickiewicz

Early life

Dr. Mickiewicz was born into a Russian family in Latvia, or possibly Estonia, which emigrated during World War II to Salzburg, Austria. As a boy, his mother taught him to play the guitar and the piano, and he sang in the children’s choir of the Orthodox Cathedral in Riga. In Salzburg, he enrolled in the Mozarteum, and graduated from gymnasium. He served as assistant to the choir conductor of the Orthodox Archbishop’s Church in Salzburg, and played Viennese music, jazz, and Gypsy music in various bands. In 1952, Mickiewicz and his family emigrated to the United States.

Yale education and the Yale Russian Chorus

Mickiewicz enrolled in the Yale School of Music in 1953, earning a B.A. in Music at Yale University in 1957. He then entered the graduate program in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale, receiving an M.A. and then a Ph.D. from Yale. While still an undergraduate at Yale, he and George Litton of the Yale Russian Club, founded the Yale Russian Chorus, which began as a small group of Russian language students. Over time the Chorus developed a broad repertoire of folk, liturgical, and classical music arranged or transcribed by Mickiewicz. In 1958, with members of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, they performed a concert version of Mikhail Glinka’s opera A Life for the Tsar. By 1963, the group had performed all over the United States, as well as in Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Spain; highlights were performances at Salle Pleyel in Paris, at Carnegie Hall in New York, and at Wigmore Hall in London.. In 1962, the Chorus won first prize at the Radiodiffusion Française Festival International de Chant Choral at Lille. Shortly afterwards, Philips Records invited Mickiewicz and the Chorus to record their repertoire in Paris.

Mickiewicz marked out an original, culturally bold role for the Russian Chorus. The Soviet Union was hostile to much of the Russian cultural past, including liturgical and pre-Revolutionary songs. To help preserve and revive that culture, Mickiewicz and the Chorus went to the Soviet Union several times, first in 1958, to present their Russian and American repertoire directly to Russian citizens. Singing in squares and on streets, they were hailed as effective cultural ambassadors at a time of serious political tensions.

Professional career

Mickiewicz taught Russian and Comparative literature at Connecticut College, Michigan State University, Emory University and finally Duke University, acting as Chairman of his department at both Emory and Duke. He maintained his musical activities, co-founding the Lansing Opera Company in Michigan, and steadfastly retained his links with the Alumni of the Yale Russian Chorus, returning regularly to lead alumni concerts, including the 25th Anniversary concert in Carnegie Hall in 1978, the 50th Anniversary concert in Woolsey Hall at Yale University in 2003, the 60th Anniversary concert in Woolsey Hall at Yale University in 2013, as well as concerts in Duke Chapel at Duke University in 2005 and 2009.

While publishing research on modernist poetics, Mickiewicz also returned to composing music. His Duo for Clarinet and Piano was premiered in Atlanta in 1989, and he wrote the choral and incidental music for a production of Euripides’ Hecuba presented at Emory University. His setting of The Lord’s Prayer was premiered and recorded by the Chamber Choir of Washington University in St. Louis in 2000. In 2003, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary Concert of the Yale Russian Chorus in Woolsey Hall at Yale, Mickiewicz was awarded the Yale Music School's Cultural Leadership Citation for his extraordinary service to Yale and the international music community. In 2004, He was presented with the Russian Federation's Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg" at the Russian Embassy in Washington DC for his contribution in the field of American-Russian cultural relations, particularly for teaching, performing and presenting Russian music. Most recently, he set to music for baritone and piano the verse of the Russian Symbolist poet Vyacheslav Ivanov. It was performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2002. His scholarly research on Ivanov has been published in Rome and St. Petersburg.

Personal life

He is married to Ellen Mickiewicz, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and an expert in mass media and democratization in the former Soviet Union.