Jason Koski/University Photography

The Cornell Wind Ensemble plays during inauguration, Sept. 7 on the Arts Quad.

Lindsay France/University Photography

The Cornell Klezmer Ensemble performs "Tzi Azoy," with lyrics in Yiddish that translate to "one must be joyful."

Lindsay France/University Photography

Simon Shaheen and Qantara perform "Saraab."

A celebration of the arts as well as of the university, with ceremonies accompanied by jazzy chimes, avant-garde processional music and international music and dance. All these elements characterized the inauguration of David Skorton.

The Cornell Chimes kicked off the day's events with a minor-chord arrangement of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" and Glenn Miller's "In the Mood."

Skorton's standing as a jazz musician was noted throughout the ceremony. "While David does not agree with Jimmy Breslin that 'If you want to make music, you have to blow your own horn,' David is a fine jazz musician and a dedicated supporter of the arts and humanities," said Peter Meinig, chairman of Cornell's Board of Trustees in his introductory remarks.

Antonio Gotto Jr., dean of the Weill Cornell Medical College, said that he always admired Skorton because "he was able to pursue his lifelong passion for jazz." And inaugural speaker David Feldshuh, artistic director of Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, recalled that earlier this year, "Ithaca had been abuzz for weeks that a new saxophone player with a great sense of humor had come to town."

For the processional, graduate student Spencer Topel introduced "Automata," which he composed in honor of Skorton (and at the new president's request), as an assemblage of "sounds that best represent Cornell."

Spencer Topel

Booming from quadraphonic speakers surrounding the audience, the avant-garde piece featured cascades of sampled keyboards that sometimes suggested waterfalls, sometimes chimes, punctuated by mechanical clanks and the sounds of hissing hydraulics. Topel's piece ended after nearly 30 minutes, as the last members of the processional arrived. The Cornell Wind Ensemble (CU Winds), under the baton of Cynthia Johnston Turner, then struck up "Flourish for Wind Band" by Vaughan Williams and fanfares from the opera "Libuse" by Bedrich Smetana. Skorton's arrival was noted with Leonard Bernstein's jaunty "Slava!" concert overture. Later, Dmitri Shostakovich's upbeat "Folk Dances" was played.

The wind ensemble had three rehearsals to prepare for the ceremony. While "Vaughan Williams was standard fare for commencements," Johnston Turner said, the other selections were more unusual and demanding.

"When he came in, the 'Slava!' piece was entirely different from what we usually play," said tuba player Kyle Story '07, a math and physics major. "Cindi said he requested something not quite the usual."

"And he got it," Johnston Turner said. "The whole ceremony was brave."

Skorton used dance as a running theme in his inaugural speech, referencing several works, including Cornell professor of dance Joyce Morgenroth's book, "Speaking of Dance."

Performing on cue to illustrate his words on giving life a sense of "deliberateness and purpose" were three musical groups poised on stages behind the seated audience.

"One common path is that of religion, of belief, of the optimism born of trust and surrender, of belief in love, of a higher purpose and a higher plan," Skorton said just before the combined Calvary and St. Paul's Gospel Choir, an Ithaca ensemble, sang "With a Little Love," with vocal solos and handclaps.

"Another path is that of surrender not only to a deity but to an even older tradition, to the long shadow cast by our families who have gone before," Skorton said, as the Cornell Klezmer Ensemble went into "Tzi Azoy," with lyrics in Yiddish that translate to "one must be joyful."

"Yet another path results from the joining of cultures -- in musical terms, the fusion -- between the hearts of different traditions … a bridge between cultures -- an arch; in Arabic, a qantara." Simon Shaheen's group Qantara then performed "Saraab," an instrumental.

Skorton showed a performer's grace on the stage, smiling and waving to all parts of the crowd. He also gestured an acknowledgment to the wind ensemble, whose planned fanfares were cut short during the proceedings.

"The superstars in life -- the best leaders -- have the most humility," Johnston Turner said. "The fact that he nodded to different musics as metaphors for so many things is a testament to his humility."

Following the ceremony's closing remarks, Cornell's Chorus and Glee Club, clad in black and maroon, led the crowd in the first two verses of Cornell's alma mater.

Choral director Scott Tucker said the 120-voice chorus had 35 new members, some not yet familiar with the song they likely will be singing for the rest of their lives.

At the reception that followed on the Arts Quad, attendees were treated to free food by local caterers and Cornell Dining and entertained by the Cornell Steel Band (playing K.C. and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)." The Absolute Zero break dance squad and the colorful Sabor Latino and Bhangra dance groups also performed in front of Goldwin Smith Hall.

Tucker, the newly named Priscilla Edwards Browning Director of Choral Music, said of Skorton: "We couldn't be luckier. Not only because he's a musician, but because he embodies so many disciplines."