The Game isn’t the only event under the spotlight this weekend—off the football field, Harvard and Yale groups will take the stage with their respective counterparts for numerous music and art shows to celebrate creativity and rivalry alike. This weekend promises performances steeped in rich tradition alongside new artistic collaborations that highlight the camaraderie and school spirit The Game brings to both schools.
The Harvard-Yale Football Concert, a joint glee concert between the Harvard Glee Club, the Yale Glee Club, and the Radcliffe Choral Society, is a tradition that dates back to 1901, when the first joint concert made front page news on each campus. This year, the 123rd annual show will take place on Friday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. in Sanders Theatre. Each ensemble will showcase their own work, featuring a variety of songs and styles. The performance will end with the classic fight songs to bring an energizing spirit right ahead of the game.
The groups additionally play into the Harvard-Yale rivalry by light-heartedly pranking each other each year. “We try to keep it fresh, but we tend to hand out transfer applications to the audience members while the other [school] is singing their football medleys,” Yale senior Anya Aitsahlia, President of the Yale Glee Club, revealed. They even used to throw items from the balcony, such as balloons.
Despite this rivalry, Aitshalia underscored how the concert emphasizes community between and within the schools. “It’s really fun to go to other campuses and just feel both united in our group, more because we’re in this together in a new space, but also to feel connections across the groups because that’s something that’s so nice about these joint concerts.” Many alums come back and are even invited up on stage, adding to the historic camaraderie. “It just feels like a real community and school pride event for both Harvard and Yale,” Aitshalia added.
The Harvard-Yale Jam, a joint acapella group concert, is another tradition that echoes this sentiment of unity. Also taking place the evening of Nov. 22, the performance will bring together the Radcliffe Pitches, the Harvard Krokodiloes, the Yale Whiffenpoofs, and the Yale Whim N’ Rhythm. Grace Bida ’26, President of the Radcliffe Pitches, explained that the groups share their “current takes on more popular recent songs as well as the historical Harvard and Yale music,” including the traditional fight songs. This year, the concert will return to Paine Hall.
“This has been a great way for these two really historical groups at each of the universities to come together [and] sing generally the same songs that they’ve been singing for years… It’s really fun to continue to come back year after year and see how the community has grown and changed,” Bida stated. Like the Harvard-Yale Glee Concert, alums often come back to perform on stage with the groups. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with a lot of familiar faces, both within our own acapella groups and other acapella groups,” she expressed.
New collaborations have also emerged alongside these historic traditions to further showcase the artistic talent of both schools. One such newer tradition is Body and Soul, the biennial Harvard vs. Yale Talent Show, which showcases Black talent and creativity from both schools. Hosted by The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College, the show will take place after the game on Saturday, Nov. 23, from 8 to 10 p.m. in Lowell Lecture Hall. The night promises a variety of acts, including music, spoken word, and dance, while simultaneously creating a shared space and community.
This weekend also anticipates the first-ever Harvard-Yale Art Gallery show, taking place on Nov. 22 from 6 to 10 p.m. in Winthrop House Library. Spearheaded by Katherrin Billordo ’26, the gallery seeks to bring together a variety of art from Yale and Harvard students alike through submissions of all mediums. In addition to art, the event will include food and music performances from Midnight Curfew, STRYK9, Friction and Flowers, and Sanjna. “The main, core goal of the show…is to bring people together and celebrate creativity, authenticity, and storytelling,” Billordo stated. Having experience organizing shows in the past, Billardo was inspired to create an inclusive space for artists to easily showcase their work at Harvard.
When asked what inspired incorporating the Harvard-Yale game into the concept, Billordo stated that “collaboration and building relationships is just a part of why I do these shows,” which is exactly what the game provides. She added that doing the show during Harvard-Yale was also a natural logistical choice due to the “thousands of alumni [and] thousands of professors” present and Billordo’s own social connections to Yale. She hopes to make this an annual event, hopefully taking place at Yale next year. Dozens of diverse submissions from both schools will be featured in the gallery.
These performances capture the energetic spirit and camaraderie of the Harvard-Yale weekend while also showcasing the incredible artistic talent of each school.
The Harvard-Yale Art Show: Nov. 22 from 6 to 10 p.m. in Winthrop House Library
The Harvard-Yale Football Concert: Nov. 22 from 8 to 10 p.m. in Sanders Theatre
The Harvard-Yale Jam: Nov. 22, at 6 p.m. in Paine Hall
Body and Soul: Nov. 23 from 8 to 10 p.m. in Lowell Lecture Hall
Meena Behringer ’27 (meenabehringer@college.harvard.edu) writes Arts for the Independent.