PEABODY MAGAZINE
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
BOLD MEASURES How should today's artists build professional lives for the “next normal?” Look for audience-first thinking, innovative use of technology, and more attention to community needs.
Spring 2021 Vol. 15 No. 2
Your doorway to lectures, livestreams, and more. Since our founding, Johns Hopkins University has been committed to delivering knowledge and discovery to the world. And through the Hopkins at Home website, you can now access some of the best of what Hopkins has to offer — from our labs, libraries, and lecture halls to your laptop. Brought to you by the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association and open to everyone, Hopkins at Home provides access to recorded lectures, presentations, and performances as well as the opportunity to connect with faculty for live sessions and mini-courses.
Visit www.jhu.edu/HopkinsatHome to explore the site and learn more.
CONTENTS 3 Headliners
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Bold Measures
By Elizabeth Nonemaker The seismic challenges facing the performing arts extend beyond a speedy vaccine rollout for COVID-19. Here’s what today’s artists must do to prepare for the “next normal.”
Studios for Safe Singing A Plethora of Precautions for Campus Return Reexamining the Narrative of Johns Hopkins Opening the ADEI Dialogue A World-Class Performance Space in D.C. Breaking New Paths
Alumni News
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Making It to the Met: Cierra Byrd Opera, Transformed: Timothy Nelson
Department News
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By Lacey Ann Johnson Art by Anna Godeassi
A Momentous Gift for Tuned-In Cultivating the Seed of Gratefulness
Student Spotlight
Learning to Grow The Peabody Preparatory, long a Baltimore hub of arts instruction for children and teens, is dramatically expanding its programming to reach adults from a variety of music and dance backgrounds.
ABOUT THE PEABODY INSTITUTE OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University comprises both the degreegranting Peabody Conservatory and the community-facing Peabody Preparatory, empowering musicians and dancers from diverse backgrounds to create and perform at the highest level. Building on its rich history as America’s first conservatory, Peabody extends the power of the performing arts and robust artistic training throughout the greater Baltimore community and around the world, staging more than 1,000 concerts and events each year both on- and off-campus. Focused on the five pillars of excellence, interdisciplinary experiences, innovation, community connectivity, and diversity, Peabody has introduced the Breakthrough Curriculum into its rigorous core professional training to prepare flexible and innovative artists for 21st-century careers. As part of one of the world’s great research universities and medical institutions, Peabody is also taking a leading role in the field of performing arts medicine, advancing important initiatives in both arts-in-healthcare and clinical care for performing artists.
The latest news and accomplishments involving students, faculty, and alumni from the Preparatory and Conservatory.
30 Fanfare
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‘When You’re a Jet…’: Ui-Seng François
Correction In the previous issue, we incorrectly identified Peabody alumna Lauren Redditt’s degree in the story “Commencement 2020: A Virtual Ceremony.” She received her degree in Voice. Peabody Magazine regrets the error.
Cover art by Anna Godeassi
FROM THE DEAN
Dean Fred Bronstein
Peabody Friends,
As I write this, we have returned to campus in a hybrid modality. It is wonderful to start to see signs of activity on campus, even in a limited way, to hear music in the hallways, and to see some familiar faces. And there are reasons for optimism in terms of this pandemic. A slow but increasing prevalence of vaccinations and decreasing numbers of new infections allow us at long last to begin to look ahead. What we see is a future full of both challenges and opportunities for a performing arts industry so devastated over the past year. Clearly, it is essential for us as artists, educators, and leaders to figure out how to help our performing arts institutions survive first, and then recover. And yes, the next year or two will be critical. But I believe that if we don’t look beyond the immediate future to think about the impact of COVID within the context of trends that existed long before the pandemic and think about this over a longer horizon — over decades — then we will have missed an opportunity to shape that future and address some of the challenging macro trends as we solve for more immediate issues.
I would like to think that at Peabody, we’ve been forward-thinking when it comes to training artists for the future and diversifying the faces of our industry. But the pandemic has made us ask: How can we be even more bold? To do that, last fall we stood up the Peabody Conservatory Post-COVID Think Tank. And in February, we were proud to convene “The Next Normal: Arts Innovation and Resilience in a PostCOVID World,” a free, virtual national symposium for the performing arts. Leading arts administrators, artists, educators, and funders engaged in a series of conversations with more than 1,300 attendees from around the world, exploring how we can be bolder as we emerge from the pandemic. While, in truth, we could barely scratch the surface in just one day, certain things were deeply felt. The need for our field to diversify our institutions is urgent and existential. For too long we have approached this issue as peripheral. The other headline, for me, was that we need to build institutions across our field that are more flexible and adaptable structurally and programmatically, responsive to communities, open to evolving ways of making art that is relevant to peoples’ lives and needs, and embraced by an increasingly broader and more inclusive audience. Along with this, we must train creative artists with the kind of orientation that rewards and values the journey to who is being reached and how, as much as what is produced by the artist. And we all must approach our work, our institutions, the people we impact, and those we would like to engage with, with a sense of humility.
All in all, it was an exhilarating day, and a daunting one. I think it challenges all of us who are part of this field to be bolder, take more risks — and accept and learn from the mistakes that come with risk — all while not losing sight of why we fell in love with what we do in the first place. I am proud that Peabody convened this important conversation, and I am buoyed by seeing that the things that are so important to the future of the field — diversity, flexibility, and adaptability alongside pride in our artistic outcomes — are the very things that we have been working on in a strategic and intentional way at Peabody in recent years. We are more determined than ever to continue on that path. As we look to the future here at Peabody, we know that a strong strategic direction is reflected in the Breakthrough Plan 2024, which continues to be critical to our growth and direction. You’ll find stories on our latest initiatives, additional information about the recent symposium, and more, in this issue of Peabody Magazine. This is indeed a big moment for the performing arts and for the institutions that train performing artists. What we do in this time is likely to shape the landscape for our field and for our audiences for decades to come. It may well make the difference between survival and not, and to be sure, determine whether we just survive, or thrive. Sincerely, Fred Bronstein
PEABODY MAGAZINE Editorial Staff Michael Carlton, Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Engagement Lauren Crewell, Digital Communications Designer Sue De Pasquale, Consulting Editor Will Howard, Copy Editor Ben Johnson, Senior Graphic Designer Sarah Laadt, Digital Communications Coordinator Anni Leff Denzel, Associate Director of Development Tiffany Lundquist, Director of Marketing and Communications Conor Reynolds, Assistant Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Engagement Courtney Rowe, Associate Dean of External Relations Michele Scherch, Communications Specialist Amelia Stinette, Communications Coordinator
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Advertising Leap Day Media Kristen Cooper, Owner kristen@leapdaymedia.com 410-458-9291 Peabody Magazine is published twice during the academic year. Send us your questions and comments: Peabody Magazine Communications Office 1 East Mount Vernon Place Baltimore, MD 21202 667-208-6560 magazine@peabody.jhu.edu peabody.jhu.edu/magazine
Peabody Institute Advisory Board Rheda Becker Jill E. McGovern, Chair Paula E. Boggs Christine Rutt Schmitz (KSAS BS ’81, International Studies)
Barbara M. Bozzuto Christopher Brathwaite
(BM ’97, Violin; KSAS BA ’97, Psychology)
Richard Davison Larry D. Droppa Nancy S. Grasmick, Vice Chair (Ed Cert ’75, PhD ’80, Education)
Michael Greenebaum Allan D. Jensen
(KSAS BA ’65; Med MD ’68)
Michiko S. Jones Christopher Kovalchick
(BM ’06, Violin; Engr BS ’06, Mechanical Engineering)
Abbe Levin
(BM ’75, Voice)
Solomon H. Snyder Ci-Ying Sun
(BM ’92, MM ’94, Piano)
Marc von May David L. Warnock Emeritus Members Pilar Bradshaw Benjamin H. Griswold IV Taylor A. Hanex (BM ’75, MM ’78, Piano)
Turner B. Smith
HEADLINERS
OJ SLAUGHTER
Hilary Hahn is a Preparatory alumna and received the Award of Excellence from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Violinist and Preparatory alumna HILARY HAHN was presented the Award of Excellence at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s second annual Women in Classical Music Symposium in November. The threetime Grammy Award winner was also the featured soloist in the symposium’s opening concert, performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major with the DSO under the baton of Director of Graduate Conducting MARIN ALSOP.
Undergraduate Recording Arts and Sciences student TÉA MOTTOLESE was selected as the 2020 Mary Lea Simpson Memorial Scholarship recipient by the Audio Engineering Society Education Foundation. The competitive scholarship provides full tuition for a final year of studies to an undergraduate student entering senior year at a North American college or university audio engineering/ recording arts program.
JOSEPH YOUNG (AD ’09,
Conducting), Peabody’s Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Artistic Director of Ensembles, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of New Music USA. Of his appointment, he said, “during this very significant time in our musical history, I hope to offer my diverse perspectives as an educator and music director while New Music USA continues to look at new areas for growth.”
CHRIS HARTLOVE
Widely acknowledged as one of today’s leading interpreters of Classical and Romantic music, pianist RICHARD GOODE will join the full-time faculty of the Peabody Conservatory as Distinguished Artist Faculty beginning in the 2021–22 academic year. Goode has for many years presented an annual master class at Peabody, and he is scheduled to conduct master classes again this spring, ahead of assuming his more formal role on the faculty.
STEVE RISKIND
CIERRA BYRD (MM ’20, Voice) has joined the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program for the 2020–21 season. Founded in 1980, the program uses the Met’s unique resources to identify and develop talented young artists for major careers in opera. It provides specialized training in music, language, dramatic coaching, and movement, along with an annual stipend and funding for continued private lessons. (See related story, p. 21.)
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WILL KIRK
Studios for Safe Singing
Low-latency rooms allow voice student Mira Huang to sing without a mask during her lessons with Ah Young Hong.
Soprano Ah Young Hong can't gush enough about the Peabody Institute’s new low-latency music studios, created to improve the teaching and learning experience for vocalists during COVID-19. “These rooms changed everything for me,” says Hong, associate professor of voice. In these rooms, portrait-oriented monitors, microphones, and speakers replace rehearsal studios’ fulllength mirrors and allow two artists to be in two separate spaces and see and hear each other with just a roughly 10-millisecond lag — about the time it takes to hear somebody speaking from 10 feet away. Two of the studios were in place by early January, and 10 more were completed by the end of the month, allowing instructors to stagger student lessons and rotate time slots among studios, in keeping with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These recommendations suggest allowing rooms to remain empty for 60 minutes between uses in order to completely replace the air inside. The low-latency studios were developed the old-fashioned way: trial-and-error tinkering. Peabody IT 4
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director Theron Feist and his team, like so many of the Conservatory's behind-the-scenes staff, spent the spring 2020 semester supporting the pivot to distance learning demanded by the pandemic. Over the summer, he and his colleagues started thinking ahead to what a return to campus might mean. “We were having a lot of conversations about how you safely have people sing together,” he says, pointing out that among musicians, vocalists are at the biggest risk of spreading the virus because singing disperses aspirated droplets. Vocalists also felt challenged by distance learning because of lag issues: It takes time to convert the analog sound of the human voice into digital information, transmit that signal over an internet connection to a computer in a different location, and convert that digital signal back into sound. There’s a lag, that glitch of audio or visual information being out of sync. Feist reached out to his IT team and colleagues in Peabody’s Recording Arts program, and they started tossing out ideas in virtual brainstorming sessions. They went over what equipment and software packages the institute already had,
as well as what else was being used by the industry at large. It helped that the institute had upgraded the local network and audiovisual infrastructure to handle automated audio and visual recording in the concert halls in recent years, so there were a variety of tools available for use. “We started to prototype some systems to connect rehearsal rooms together,” Feist says. And as they experimented with different combinations of hardware and software, they’d invite Voice faculty members to test things out. One such guinea pig was Hong, who recalled the challenges of teaching over Zoom. “We're not just talking about a lag, we’re talking about sound that is so ridiculously distorted, how can I assess what this voice is doing?” she recalls. Collaborating with the IT team made her more hopeful. After a few experiments, she and a graduate student were placed in separate rooms for a lesson. The lag was still there, but it was shortened enough that she could imagine improvements were possible. Feist also reached out to Peabody acoustics instructor Eric Echols, who is also a director of technology and design consulting at a commercial audiovisual firm called Pershing Industries, which ultimately came up with the design for Peabody's low-latency studios. “We wanted people to be able to walk into a room they're familiar with, hit a button, connect to another room, and start their lesson,” Echols says of the resulting design. And Hong, for one, appreciates how well the designers listened to the musicians during prototyping. From sound quality to full-length monitors, she says the low-latency studios are set up beautifully for singers. Speaking gratefully of the engineers and designers she worked with, Hong says, “They're my favorite people right now.” — Bret McCabe View the Lunch and Learn discussing the low-latency rooms: youtu.be/Jo5sg6xEKh4.
A Plethora of Precautions for Campus Return
WILL KIRK
WILL KIRK
The new low-latency studios for voice lessons (see related story on previous page) are just one of many extensive adaptations and updates undertaken to prepare for a spring semester of hybrid instruction at the Peabody Institute. From housing and dining to academics to important new COVID-19 testing protocols, virtually every aspect of life at Peabody has been tweaked, adjusted, or completely overhauled with the well-being of the campus community in mind. “The health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and neighbors in the City of Baltimore have always been our core consideration as we have responded to this pandemic,” notes Peabody Institute Dean Fred Bronstein. “In the time since COVID first impacted Johns Hopkins last spring, we have learned a great deal about how we can best keep everyone safe in a variety of environments. And Students who have elected to return to campus for the spring semester undergo regular COVID-19 the decision to offer students the testing, among other safety protocols. opportunity to return to campus for some in-person activities was predicated — in part — on our commitstudents having the option to continue ment to taking every precaution.” their studies completely remotely, proThose precautions included signifvisions were made to allow for remote icant upgrades to campus buildings, participation even where in-person and in particular the HVAC/air-haninstruction was possible. dling systems, to ensure proper Standard public health protocols ventilation and fresh air intake in — masking, handwashing, physiaccordance with Johns Hopkins cal distancing — are reinforced by guidelines. Facilities-related changes signage across campus as part of the have also included determining the JHNeedsU campaign. In addition, safe capacity of every practice room Peabody students and faculty are and studio, setting aside appropriate expected to adhere to discipline-spespaces for isolation and quarantine cific precautions, such as bell covers should those become necessary, and for brass players and physical dis“The testing is really key,” notes ensuring that common areas and tancing of at least 12 feet in dance Interim Associate Dean for Finance teaching spaces are cleaned and disclasses. Class times are limited and and Administration Andrew Kipe, “in infected. Dorm rooms are single-oca new practice room reservation sysenabling us to manage the impact of cupancy only, and the dining hall is tem ensures that rooms are left unoc- the virus through the spring semesstrictly grab-and-go. cupied for periods throughout the ter. If we start to see any concerning In reconsidering the academic expe- day, allowing for proper air exchange. trends in that data, we will not hesirience, Peabody’s priority was to focus Underpinning all of these pretate to further adjust our operations on performance-related activities for cautions is a robust, universitywide in response. With the testing in place, in-person instruction while keeping COVID-19 testing program, which we have the information we need to most academic courses in a remote requires that everyone on campus be continue to protect our community.” format in order to minimize density regularly tested. — Tiffany Lundquist on campus. With some members of the faculty not able to be on campus due to virus-related restrictions, and Watch a video explaining Peabody campus guidelines: youtu.be/n4F3YAFp1y0. PEABODY
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Reexamining the Narrative of Johns Hopkins
WILL KIRK
In mid-December, Johns Hopkins “Accordingly, we have requested that our country and our city, but also officials shared a difficult revelation this future phase include research on the complex history of our instituwith the Johns Hopkins community: George Peabody so that we can more tions since then, and the legacies of newly discovered records showing fully understand things that we may racism and inequity we are working that Johns Hopkins, the institution’s not know today about Mr. Peabody’s together to confront.” founder and namesake, relationships and business held enslaved people dealings,” wrote Peabody in his home during the Institute Dean Fred mid-1800s. Bronstein in a December The documents, includletter to the Peabody ing census records and community. corroborating materi“While we have no reason als, contradict previous to think that Peabody accounts of Hopkins himself was a slaveholder, as an early abolitionist in truth, there is no way for whose father freed the us to know without further family’s enslaved people research what his relain the early 1800s and tionship was to slavery. So, “complicate the underbased on this experience standing we have long with Johns Hopkins, we are had of Johns Hopkins,” committing ourselves to university and hospital undertake this fact-finding leaders wrote in a mesprocess,” noted Bronstein. sage to the Johns Hopkins He has enlisted Peabody community on Dec. 9. archivist Matt Testa to Though significant addiwork with Sheridan Library tional research is needed researchers and others for a full understanding of to lead this process speJohns Hopkins’ life, these cifically as it pertains to new records show that George Peabody. the connection of Johns “We already know Hopkins and his family to through the history of slavery was more extensive the institute, despite its than previously known. founding as a community “The fact that Mr. Hopkins cultural center, that it was had, at any time in his not welcoming to Black life, a direct connection to people for much of that slavery — a crime against history,” Bronstein added. humanity that tragically “As we grapple with the persisted in the state of work that we are doing Allison Seyler of Hopkins Retrospective examines documents from the Maryland until 1864 — in anti-racism, diversity, Hopkins family and census records. is a difficult revelation equity, and inclusion today, for us, as we know it will be for our we must learn and understand more The research that led to this discommunity, at home and abroad, about our own history, including the covery is ongoing — led by Martha and most especially our Black faculty, S. Jones, Johns Hopkins Society of institute’s historical relationship to students, staff, and alumni,” wrote communities of color in Baltimore. Black Alumni Presidential Professor JHU President Ronald J. Daniels; Paul and professor of history — with many My hope is that we can build on this Rothman, dean of the medical faculty questions yet to be answered. In addi- initial research around Mr. Peabody, and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine; tion to continued efforts to uncover to better understand the history of and Kevin Sowers, president of the the institute that is his namesake.” and establish previously unknown Johns Hopkins Health System and facts about Johns Hopkins, a future — Sue De Pasquale executive vice president of Johns phase of research is expected to Hopkins Medicine. include significant Hopkins-affiliated Reexamining the Life of Johns “It calls to mind not only the families such as the Wyman and Hopkins, Our University's Founder: darkest chapters in the history of Garrett families. youtu.be/K2ThFyVvyRc. 6
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Opening the ADEI Dialogue Kaijeh Johnson, president of the Black Student Union at the Peabody Institute, spent part of the fall 2020 semester talking with other students about their personal experiences. As one of two students on the newly created Anti-racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Committee charged with looking at the institute’s efforts in those areas, he’d ask his peers: How is Peabody navigating our polarized current moment? “Sometimes it’s difficult to talk about such a sensitive topic, but it’s definitely been useful,” says Johnson, who is also co-chair of diversity and inclusion for the Peabody General Assembly. “People mention things that you might not think about from inside your personal bubble, and it’s helping us make an inventory of the resources we already have at the school. What’s available? What is the current status of funding for those services? What is the training like? What does that include? We’ve been finding out as much as we can about the current situation so that next semester we can start talking about: Alright, here’s what we think we should do.” That energy streams directly from Dean Fred Bronstein’s June 2020 open letter in the wake of the nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd. Working to diversify classical music has been one of the pillars of Dean Bronstein’s vision at Peabody since his arrival, and last summer’s events reiterated the need not only to sustain those efforts but also to intensify and broaden them to address questions of inclusivity and equity as well. “The deaths of more Black Americans and growing national outrage served as a call to action to the Peabody community,” says Sarah Hoover, associate dean for innovation, interdisciplinary partnerships and community initiatives. Hoover and Registrar Nilaya Baccus-Hairston put together the collaborative committee, which includes faculty and staff members from the Conservatory
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and Preparatory, and students of Institutional Equity, were able to Johnson and Sheila Esquivel, to talk about the work of their offices respond to the dean’s expanded and how they address concerns. commitments to anti-racism, diver“I assumed there’s one place to sity, equity, and inclusion. Meeting report everything, so having them remotely, the committee identified explain things straight out, it makes five areas — vision and strategy, much more sense now,” Johnson says program and curriculum, policy and of those two virtual conversations. practice, climate and community, “Having that open dialogue about how and resources and funding — as things work. If you don’t understand areas for strategic action. The goal is what the proper process for reportto measure and track what progress ing something is and then nothing Peabody has made over the past five comes of it, there’s a missing link in years to establish a baseline from the communication chain. And just which to start planning for the future. by understanding these processes, “We’ve already determined how we can start addressing how to make much money we committed to diver- things more inclusive.” sity thus far in the last five years Hoover adds that the committee and how that money has been spent, plans to conduct a campus climate the first time that that calculation survey in the spring, after which has been done,” Hoover says. “Once it should have amassed enough we’ve established those baselines, baseline data to draft a vision and how do we ensure transparency and strategic plan for how Peabody plans accountability and regularly update to continue its efforts to create an the community about the progress? equitable, inclusive, and welcoming That’s another part of this effort.” environment for its faculty, staff, and Additionally, the committee has student body — and, incrementally, brought in leaders from Johns the industry at large. Hopkins central administration to “I don’t think we’ll ever be finished begin a series of institutewide comwith this work at Peabody,” Johnson munity dialogue sessions. Registrar says, “but I think once we get the ball Baccus-Hairston says that Katrina rolling in terms of what we’ve learned Caldwell, vice provost for diversity and and how we want to start moving inclusion and chief diversity officer, forward, the school is going to be a and Shanon Shumpert, vice provost better place for everyone.” for institutional equity for the Office — Bret McCabe PEABODY
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A World-Class Performance Space in D.C. When Johns Hopkins University purchased the former Newseum at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., plans for a major renovation were already in place. The façade and interior floor plates would be completely changed. All of the university’s D.C.-based graduate programs would have a presence in the building. And the property’s Walter and Leonore Annenberg Theater would become a new recital hall for Peabody. But turning the 11-year-old, 535seat Annenberg Theater designed for a 4D film experience into a state-ofthe-art performance space “probably represents the biggest challenge and among the most successful parts of the project,” says Lee Coyle, Johns Hopkins University’s senior director of planning and architecture.
Because the hall has to be flexible enough to host dance, opera, ensembles of various sizes, lectures, and multimedia collaborations, large-scale changes to the theater were imperative. A space designed for live performance rather than 4D movie projections requires different sightlines, so the seating was entirely re-raked to adjust the slope. Because a chamber music audience doesn’t require motion-controlled seats that can simulate wind, spray water, or include “feet ticklers” (used in one film when rats ran off the screen and into the audience), all the seating is being replaced. The first tier of new seats includes tablet arms that slide under chairs when not in use. Behind the scenes, performers will find new rehearsal rooms and spaces for
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storage. The facility, including the stage, is also designed to be highly accessible to promote inclusion for all. Some of the theater’s renovations are invisible to the eye, but not to the ear. “We completely remade the acoustics,” explains Coyle. “The quality of sound is Peabody’s brand, and this space has to be capable of supporting the highest level of acoustic performance. Working with the firm Fisher-Dachs Associates, we have designed a space that is world class.” With the building’s projected opening in fall 2023 at the earliest, some plans for the new hall are still under consideration, says Andrew Kipe, interim associate dean for finance and administration for Peabody. “But one of the things that we are committed to is to not simply repeat concerts in Washington that we’re doing in Baltimore,” he says. Both the needs of the D.C. audiences and the potential opportunities for different collaborations with other Johns Hopkins schools or departments will help define how (and how frequently) Peabody will use the space. “What we want to make sure of is we’re not simply showing up, playing concerts, and busing people back to Baltimore,” says Kipe. “How can we be part of the community, as opposed to what I call drive-by performances, where you show up and leave?” In the near future, Peabody leadership will be soliciting ideas from faculty members, administrators, and students to help articulate a specific vision of how Peabody might use the new hall. “It’s always exciting to have a new space to play in,” adds Kipe. “And the investment that Johns Hopkins is making in the buildout and the renovation of the building shows a really high commitment to having something very special.” “Now we have to hurry up and wait a little bit.” — Mary Zajac
Breaking New Paths Bassoonist Mateen Milan sees Conservatory, where he completed his program receive an intensive musical something of his younger self in the BM degree in Bassoon Performance education including private lessons, first cohort of Baltimore-Washington in 2019. ensemble experience and perforMusical Pathways (BWMP) scholars Launched last year with a $3 mance opportunities, instruction at Peabody. And he is excited about million grant from the Andrew W. in music theory and musicianship, what’s on tap for them. Mellon Foundation, the BWMP has and enrichment experience such as “These students have big dreams, as its mission to prepare and support concert tickets, backstage access, and and they have the drive to achieve student musicians from communimaster classes. In addition, they can them,” says Milan. “Music can open ties historically underrepresented in take advantage of academic tutoring, up entirely different paths for them, U.S. orchestras for advanced study in family support, and one-on-one menas it did for me. Their commitment music and eventually professional toring, as well as financial assistance and hard work, combined with the opportunities. Its goal, put simply, for purchasing instruments, applying opportunities and supports they have is to transform the field of classical to college or conservatory, and other access to as BWMP scholars, can liter- music. BWMP partner organizations related expenses. ally change their lives.” — the Peabody Institute, the John F. The rigorous application process As the new program coordinator Kennedy Center for the Performing seeks to identify students in grades overseeing the launch of the BWMP Arts and the National Symphony 8 through 12 who are highly driven, program at Peabody, which is meant Orchestra, the D.C. Youth Orchestra dedicated, and interested in pursuto extend and intensify the Peabody Program, and Levine Music — are ing a professional career in classical Preparatory’s current offerings, Milan combining and expanding their music. “With this first cohort, we is coming full circle. He spent seven efforts to support and serve young certainly met that mark,” notes Milan. years in the Preparatory’s Tuned-In musicians from diverse backgrounds. “I can’t wait to see where they’ll go.” program before matriculating to the Students who are accepted into the — Tiffany Lundquist
Big Plans In their own voices, here is where some members of the inaugural Baltimore cohort of BWMP scholars hope to go: Anthony Alark
Composition and harp
“My dream for the future is to attend college and secure a position in music composition and animation.”
Keyona Carrington
Clarinet
“If I didn’t have music I literally wouldn’t know where my life would have been heading, but I’m glad it’s in my life, and it gives me the voice I think everyone deserves.”
Jayden Moore Viola
“My goal is to be the best violist ever because then I can encourage other Black kids to be the best they can be.”
LARRY CANNER
“This program is something that I can grow a lot from. I want to go to college and I need something that can push me more. This program can do that; it can give me strength.”
Lowrider James
Tuba
Keyona Carrington PEABODY
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BOLD MEASURES By Elizabeth Nonemaker
The seismic challenges facing the performing arts extend beyond a speedy vaccine rollout for COVID-19. Here’s what today’s artists must do to prepare for the “next normal.”
IT
was like a time capsule from 2019: an invi- the conversations artists and presenters are having tation from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to collab- about adapting to COVID-19, and the answer orate in a multiday tour of concerts all over the city. would be no. When Zhang and Luby launched But this wasn’t from pre-pandemic days, nor was The Concert Truck in 2016, they wanted to it an ill-advised fever dream. Pianists Susan Zhang democratize the concert experience. They (GPD ’18, Piano) and Nick Luby knew that when they wanted to meet their audiences on their pulled out of their driveway in Baltimore, they would home turf — literally — and to play for make their way to Texas without rubbing elbows people who might not ordinarily attend (or exchanging air) with fellow travelers, and it was concerts of classical music. And as the unlikely their concerts would put audiences at risk of pandemic has ripped through the percontracting COVID-19. forming arts — decimating artists’ immeWhy? Zhang and Luby are the duo behind The diate ability to make a living as well as their Concert Truck: a 16-foot box truck painted a glossy long-term financial stability — it’s become concert black, its interior converted to a foldout clear that the challenges facing live performers stage complete with wood flooring, lighting, a sound extend beyond a speedy vaccine rollout. The entire system, and a digital mini-grand piano. After initially industry is facing a need to restructure itself: to enduring a slate of canceled performances during assess its values, to ask not just how it creates art, the first months of the pandemic, it occurred to but for whom, and why. them, as outdoor events proliferated, that their setup “I feel strongly that apart from COVID-19, there’s an already conformed to the limitations brought on by incredible amount of value that something like The the coronavirus. Concert Truck can bring to our communities,” Zhang In June, “everything took off,” Zhang says. “I basi- says. “It’s that opportunity to be closer to the people cally cold emailed every CEO of every major orchestra [presenters are] trying to reach out to, I think, that’s and presenter in the country that I could get contact really important.” information for. Some things panned out, and [we’ve] Should all musicians, then, go out and buy a truck? been gaining momentum since then.” Not necessarily. But the pandemic has underscored You might chalk it up to luck — the duo’s grow- just how important such audience-first thinking is ing success during a time so hostile to live perfor- — and how flexible it can prove, even in the face of mance. But is it sheer coincidence? Dig into any of unprecedented setbacks.
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SEAN SCHEIDT
Susan Zhang (GPD ’18, Piano) and Nick Luby (left) are the founders of The Concert Truck (above).
Learn more about the Concert Truck: youtu.be/4Ni5v4G9ElQ.
‘A CRISIS’ To be sure, wide-scale recovery among the arts won’t come from outdoor performances alone. Last August, the Brookings Institution published a report that estimated the financial losses suffered by the country’s creative economy. Authors Richard Florida and Michael Seman calculated that from April through July 2020, creative industries lost 2.7 million jobs and more than $150 billion in sales. The picture is even grimmer when you isolate the fine and performing arts. Occupations in these fields have been “disproportionately affected,” suffering the loss of 1.4 million jobs and $42.5 billion in sales, according to the report. As part of his research, Seman consulted past economic recessions to compare the different kinds of recoveries the arts economy might anticipate. “There’s a V-shaped recovery,” he explained in a January 2021 interview. “It means you’ve lost a lot quickly, but it quickly comes back.” There are also Uand W-shaped recoveries. Some creative industries, like design and advertising, have already started to recover along these lines. “Then there’s the L shape,” Seman said, “where everything drops off and continues to stay down.” That is the shape that describes the recovery — or lack thereof — for the fine and performing arts. It’s “a crisis,” he said. Is there hope? Yes — but in the views of the study’s authors, it requires national recognition that the arts do so much more than provide a night’s worth of entertainment. 12
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"What is it in the outside world today that mandates us to go forward?" — Ben Cameron President, Jerome Foundation
Seman pointed to a proposal put forth by Americans for the Arts as “the way forward.” It outlines 16 actions the Biden Administration can take to revitalize the creative economy, ranging from creating positions within the executive branch to advise on arts and culture issues, to incentivizing states and private sectors to employ artists. Broadly, the proposal calls on the government to capitalize on artists’ existing roles within their communities: as educators, entrepreneurs, craftspeople, healers, organizers, and more. In the meantime, what can artists and presenters do for themselves? Most arts professionals would acknowledge that this is a service industry. But is this aspect of the work emphasized enough in the way the performing arts are conceived, marketed, and taught?
LOOKING OUTWARD It was that dire Brookings Institution report that moved Peabody Dean Fred Bronstein to create the Peabody Post-COVID Think Tank, a collective of the Conservatory’s faculty and staff members dedicated to preparing Peabody students for the challenges that will linger in a post-COVID-19 world. Many of those challenges, like adapting to changing technology and courting wider audiences, have already been top of mind in Peabody’s introduction of the Breakthrough Curriculum. The Think Tank “is sort of a natural continuation of that conversation,” Bronstein says. A key feature of the collective is a belief that the changes necessitated by COVID-19 are “not all bad. The Think Tank is not just to ask how are we going to fix this? But what are the opportunities here? How can we be even more bold in thinking about what we do?” Opening that conversation to the public, Peabody held a free, daylong symposium in February inviting arts professionals to imagine the “Next Normal” — the way artists, and specifically musicians, should approach their work after the pandemic has subsided. Along with more than 1,300 attendees from all over the country, a who’s who of practitioners, presenters, administrators, and funders gathered virtually to reflect on the seismic shifts of the last year and to strategize for the future. During breakout sessions, participants put their ideas to work, engaging in rapid design thinking workshops — a process to address complex problems in five steps: empathizing, defining the problem, ideating (or brainstorming), prototyping, and testing solutions. In these workshops, participants — who were themselves arts practitioners and presenters — developed projects that would allow their organizations to address other pressing matters in their communities: Think partnering with a food bank or animal shelter.
Overall, the symposium reflected participants’ broad desire to make arts institutions less siloed, and more responsive to community concerns. “While we could barely scratch the surface in just one day,” Dean Bronstein said, reflecting on the symposium, “certain things were deeply felt. The need for our field to diversify our administrators, performing rosters, board members, audiences, and more, is urgent and existential.” Along with that, conservatories “must train creative artists with the kind of orientation that rewards and values the journey to who is being reached and how, as much as what is produced by the artist. And we all must approach our work … with a sense of humility.” During the arts funders panel, Ben Cameron, president of the Jerome Foundation, echoed the idea that the pandemic has in fact created the opportunity for artists to rethink how, and why, they work. He described two mindsets artists and presenters might have toward the disruptions of the past year. One mindset, he elaborated in written comments, asks, “‘How can we return to and resume our former practices?’ It’s a mindset that often looks inward, springs from a deep, passionate commitment to an art form — and reflects a desire to share that art form with the world.” There’s a different mindset he’s seen emerging that “begins by looking outward, and asking, ‘What is it my community needs that our work can serve?’ My sense is that organizations that are going to reinvent are the ones looking at the external world and asking, ‘What is it in the outside world today that mandates us to go forward?’”
Watch The Next Normal symposium: bit.ly/3t8eyja.
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RACIAL RECKONING Judging by the panel conversations (which are available to view on Peabody’s YouTube channel), it might seem that the predominant event of 2020 mandating artists to go forward was not, in fact, the pandemic, but rather the racial protests brought about by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans — and how institutions have been called to reckon with their own histories of inequitable practices and cultures. “I think we can agree that we’re all eager to get back to live performance,” Deborah Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center, said in her opening remarks to the music leadership panel. “But the recalibration of priorities is really around the issue of anti-racism — addressing this not just within our organization, but in the field.” — Afa Dworkin Of course, the pandemic, racial inequality, and institutional responses are all intertwined. Just conPresident and Artistic Director, sult the data: According to the Centers for Disease Sphinx Organization Control and Prevention, Black, indigenous, and Latinx Americans are roughly three times more likely than white Americans to be hospitalized for COVID-19, and roughly twice as likely to die from it. The pandemic has not created social inequalities, but it has exacerbated them. A comprehensive public health response OUT INTO THE WORLD would require targeted attention on those inequalities and the policies that have created them. How, then, do you create a truly equitable arts pracA parallel can be drawn to the racial reckoning in tice? That’s the million-dollar question — and there arts institutions. Prominent classical musicians in are a million possible answers. Holding free forums the United States have always been overwhelmingly to discuss solutions and generate ideas is a good start. white. Many institutions have always had implicit or But, as President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx explicit exclusionary policies. And, in recent decades, Organization Afa Dworkin pointed out, artists and musicians have struggled to expand their audiences institutions mustn’t mistake conversation for action: — even when concert halls were still open. The 2020 “Until we set ourselves numeric, measurable, accountracial protests did not create these circumstances, but ability-infused goals” — and practice them for multithey did highlight how urgently artists must respond ple years — “I don’t think much will change.” to the inequities in their fields, should they hope to In June, Peabody outlined specific steps the insticontinue making impactful art in the years to come. tute will take to continue building an inclusive arts It follows, then, that responding to inequities in practice, including supporting early music education arts and culture should also provide a blueprint for for Black and Latinx musicians, recruiting more facsustainable art making once concert halls reopen. ulty members and students of color, and broadening After all, as the Americans for the Arts’ proposal indi- the scope of musical practices taught in curricula. cates, live performance is just one of the many ser- (For more on Peabody’s work in this area, please see vices artists and musicians provide. “Opening the ADEI Dialogue” on p. 7.)
"Until we set ourselves numeric, measurable, accountabilityinfused goals … I don’t think much will change."
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The Peabody LAUNCHPad assists students in building skills in entrepreneurship — vital in a field that increasingly asks artists less what audiences can do to support their music, and more how their music can support audiences. Eager music students can look to the examples of other artists and organizations. In the early weeks of the pandemic, the International Contemporary Ensemble held a series of virtual town halls where audiences could take part in conversations about the Ensemble’s COVID-19 response. “It made people feel connected,” said Ross Karre, the Ensemble’s artistic director. “So, we took that model and made that a regular occurrence every Tuesday. Even in our best in-person concerts, we didn’t achieve that level of intimacy.” For Susan Zhang, no class or practice session takes the place of actually going out into the world and getting your hands dirty. She recalled how one of her teachers, Marina Lomazov, who founded the
Southeastern Piano Festival, asked her to executive produce the festival’s opening extravaganza. “That was really great preparation for The Concert Truck,” she said. Beyond that, Nick Luby said that their success with The Concert Truck has come from a mindset of “normalizing failure — combining the rigorous perfectionism that we learn [in conservatory] with a radical acceptance of what we can do in the moment.” At a time when prospects might feel grim for so many performing artists, such an outlook seems the only reasonable — and hopeful — way to move forward.
Elizabeth Nonemaker is a writer, musician, and educator based in Baltimore, Maryland. She covers classical music for The Baltimore Sun and teaches English and creative writing at the University of Maryland, College Park. Watch the International Contemporary Ensemble's town halls: http://bit.ly/3cjZMPt.
The artists panel for The Next Normal symposium discusses the future of the performing arts in a world after COVID-19.
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Learning to Gr w IN the final session of his Intro to Music By Lacey Ann Johnson Illustration by Anna Godeassi
The Peabody Preparatory, long a Baltimore hub of arts instruction for children and teens, is dramatically expanding its programming to reach adults from a variety of music and dance backgrounds.
Production and Beatmaking course, hip-hop artist Wendel Patrick showed students how to interlace sounds from digital instruments to create music. “It’s a little bit like making your own puzzle pieces, and then figuring out where you want to put them,” explained Patrick, as he arranged yellow and blue blocks — representing a drum loop and a bass loop — on a grid within his music editing software, Ableton Live. He tapped the space bar to play the newly formed sound clip, composed of beats from a digital snare drum, bass drum, and high hat. Along the right-hand side of his screen were the faces of students watching via Zoom. One young man wearing headphones bobbed his head to the beat. A woman with glasses leaned in to get a better view. A father and his teenage son, who were taking the course from separate rooms of their house, listened intently. Some students lived just a few blocks from Peabody’s campus in Baltimore, while others were logged in from as far away as Jamaica, Texas, Detroit, and Vermont. Patrick’s beatmaking course was among a handful of online courses introduced at Peabody Preparatory this academic year as part of the Breakthrough Plan 2024, the new phase of the institute’s strategic plan. Within the Preparatory, the plan aims to expand noncredit learning opportunities. In addition to providing greater accessibility, administrators hope the classes will attract more adult professional and avocational learners from a variety of music and dance backgrounds. PEABODY
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SINCE its founding in 1894, the Preparatory has grown into a highly respected Baltimore institution for training children and adolescents in music and dance, but it’s lesser known for its adult programming. Until recently, of the 2,500 students enrolled each year, about 90 percent have been young people. “We have a small adult population, but we know the potential to grow is there,” says Preparatory Director Maria Mathieson. When developing the Preparatory’s contribution to the Breakthrough Plan, finalized last summer, Mathieson and other Peabody administrators sat down to consider what the long-term future should look like. Says Mathieson: “We had to ask ourselves whether the Preparatory should continue to be this wonderful, lovely community school — or can it be more? Can we push the boundaries — physically, virtually, and educationally — in what we’re offering?”
To answer those questions, the Preparatory launched three new programs last semester: Peabody Prescribe, Peabody Pro, and Peabody Plus. Each program houses a rotating selection of noncredit, online courses available to teens and adults from varied artistic backgrounds. Taught by world-class faculty from both the Conservatory and the Preparatory, the programs go beyond traditional music and dance lessons by offering niche courses related to professional artist development, music appreciation, technology, and the intersection of arts and health. Long-term, administrators hope the expansion will attract more adult students — including those who may not play an instrument — and give them a newfound sense of community within the Peabody family.
“I think the real risk was just staying where we were and not taking the brave step into the new world.” — Maria Mathieson Director of the Preparatory
Conservatory faculty artist Wendel Patrick teaches the Preparatory's Intro to Music Production and Beatmaking course.
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PRESCRIBE, PRO, PLUS Taking advantage of the renowned medical expertise found at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Peabody Prescribe courses explore the ways music and dance intersect with health and wellness. The program has rolled out two courses thus far: PD Strummers, which teaches guitar to people with Parkinson’s disease, and Playing Well, which examines how to prevent common musicians’ injuries and syndromes. As Prescribe grows, the Preparatory hopes to add more courses with health benefits, such as music classes for stroke survivors, chamber music for hospital staff members, and dance classes for nurses. “A nurse may not want to become a prima ballerina, but there’s a benefit to taking a class in the middle of the workday to relax and decompress,” says Mathieson. “We have a lot of ideas floating out there.” Peabody Pro’s mission is to offer professional development for arts educators, arts administrators, and performing artists — many of whom never learned 21st-century digital and pedagogical skills when they were in school. The program started with a modest selection of courses this academic year, including a five-week audio engineering course and a four-part series on violin and viola pedagogy. “We’re training wonderful musicians, but we also want to provide content for them to continue to learn. Peabody Pro is the natural next step,” says Mathieson. Abra Bush, a classically trained singer and senior associate dean for institute studies, saw firsthand how many arts and music educators were in need of professional development training when COVID-19 closed campuses last spring. Her administrative colleagues from Juilliard, Oberlin, Cleveland Institute of Music, and other conservatories were suddenly searching for instructors who knew how to teach remotely, but they were in short supply. With Peabody’s help, Bush decided to host a “Lunch and Learn” series where performing arts faculty members and alumni could receive free training in distance learning techniques, online audio recording, remote auditioning, and other topics. “I thought I would be talking into this blank computer screen, but by the end of the summer, it was extraordinary. We had 300 to 400 people on those calls at noon on Tuesdays. What became clear is there was a huge need to retrain our workforce in how to teach in this format,” says Bush, who’s hopeful that some of the Lunch and Learn attendees will become Peabody Pro students. “In music, we’re moving from a
Preparatory faculty artist Bai-Chi Chen instructs adults playing the cello in a photo taken before the COVID-19 pandemic.
very analog age to a very digital age, very quickly,” says Bush. “There’s so much our faculty are being asked to do today that they were never asked to do before.” Professionals who don’t find what they’re looking for under the Pro umbrella can also learn new skills within Peabody Plus, which provides courses for a range of adult learners, from career performers to the musically curious. The fall semester’s offerings included Digital Music Technology, Home Recording, Music History, and a course on the cultural and musical impact of The Beatles. Adult learners can still take private lessons and enroll in group classes in subjects like ballet, chamber music, guitar, jazz ensemble, music theory, strings, and voice — which are now housed within Peabody Plus — but the new online courses are giving people access to specialized training that either didn’t exist before or was only available to Conservatory students. And, with most courses costing between $150 and $400, students don’t have to break the bank to learn a new skill.
Watch all of the Lunch and Learn videos: bit.ly/3cgTkc1. PEABODY
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Baltimore musician Radell Moyd-Kane (EU1OGY) learned the basics of beatmaking in Wendel Patrick's course.
“I’ve been trying to do music classes at Peabody for a couple years, but there were none that fit me particularly well,” says 35-year-old Radell Moyd-Kane, a Baltimore-based performer and musical artist, who goes by the stage name EU1OGY. When he saw a twopart beatmaking and production course being offered through Peabody Plus, he enrolled in both sections. “Beatmaking was one of those things I was totally in the dark about. I decided it was time to go for it, because it would help me with my art,” he says. Three months later, the music production software that once intimidated him has become another tool for creativity. “It was amazing. It really got my confidence up as an artist.” Students who may have believed Peabody wasn’t a good fit due to their age, location, or experience level, now have a wealth of new learning opportunities — and Patrick thinks that’s a wonderful thing. “My students are thrilled to be getting the instruction, and they’re really happy that the Peabody name is attached to it,” says Patrick, whose mother used to drive him from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore to study piano at the Preparatory when he was a child. He also noticed how the classes have created a sense of community at a time when many people can’t interact with friends and family face-to-face due to COVID-19.
BUILDING AN ONLINE CAMPUS
“My students are thrilled to be getting the instruction, and they’re really happy that the Peabody name is attached to it.” — Wendel Patrick Peabody Faculty Artist
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Mathieson says one silver lining of the pandemic has been an accelerated shift to online learning. In less than one semester, the Preparatory’s 120 in-person instructors all transitioned into confident online teachers. And that’s good news for the online campus being built through Peabody Plus, Pro, and Prescribe. When the pandemic is over, Preparatory administrators hope to expand the three programs to include in-person learning. Plenty of ideas are on the table, such as summer workshops, weeklong intensives for professionals, and a program that would bring arts programming into local senior communities and hospitals. “It was a risk to launch programming in 2020, but this was actually a great time to learn. Everything has been up in the air, and people are more willing to take a class and try something new,” says Mathieson. “I think the real risk was just staying where we were and not taking the brave step into the new world. Coming out of the pandemic, I believe we will have the experience we need to make this a success.”
ALUMNI Making It to the Met
“I knew I could grow there, and I can’t stress enough how much Peabody has helped me … It got me to a level where I could be considered for something like the Lindemann Program.” — Cierra Byrd A mezzo-soprano, Byrd grew up in Akron, Ohio, singing in her church choir, studying music at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts, and encouraged by parents who funded music lessons and events “and drove my younger brother and me all around the city when I’m sure they could have been doing something else,” she says. But what changed her life was the day the Cleveland Opera came to her school to perform Act I of Madama Butterfly. “I was hooked,” she says. “I started telling everyone I was going to be an opera singer.” Still, she says, she has always been very practical. When she was accepted at Ohio State University, it was as a business major. But she continued to study music, and at the
MARJORIE RAGGO
When Cierra Byrd (MM ’20, Voice) was accepted last summer into the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, she had been to the Met only twice in her life. “The first was with friends and we made it as far as the gift shop,” she says. “The second was February 2020, just before COVID, when I got to see a rehearsal of Porgy and Bess, which was just magical. It was all so new to me, I didn’t even know how to turn on the subtitles. I did throw a little prayer up there to say I wanted to sing in this place one day. So, getting into the program was amazing.”
end of her first year was invited to a music department banquet where they surprised her with a four-year scholarship to study voice and opera. Even after she graduated, she worked for three years in a law firm, determined to save money. She kept studying and singing, and when she eventually started auditioning at music schools, something about Peabody just felt right. “I knew I could grow there,” she says. “And I can’t stress enough how much Peabody has helped me. All of the technical work with Professors Margaret Baroody and Denyce Graves, the productive criticism, encouraging me to be myself on stage — it got me to a level where I could be considered for something like the Lindemann Program.” A veteran of two young artist programs (Des Moines Metro Opera in 2020, Opera Saratoga in 2019), Byrd says the work she is doing now is
exceptionally challenging. “It feels like two semesters in one,” she says. “But I am learning to get out of my own way. I can’t look at something that’s hard and think, ‘I can’t do this.’ I have to just do it.” And she is reveling in the chance to collaborate with her talented Lindemann Program colleagues. “They’re each so unique, so dedicated, just people I want to be surrounded by, and I am so grateful to [Met Assistant General Manager] Diane Zola for all the work she is doing with us, checking in constantly and really burning the midnight oil.” And though with COVID-19 their work necessarily incorporates social distancing, they do hope to eventually perform before a live audience. “Everything’s up in the air right now,” says Byrd, “but, in the meantime, we’re all learning so much, and we are constantly hopeful.” — Joan Katherine Cramer PEABODY
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Opera, Transformed
“The industry is saying we should create happy pieces, but I think we also need to create artistic spaces where people can deal with the predominant emotions of the year.” — Timothy Nelson
Nelson sees everything as an opportunity for bold creativity, and COVID was no exception. On May 1, 2020, IN Series responded to the pandemic by announcing its first entirely virtual season, and admission would be entirely free. “It felt like God was throwing this chance in our lap,” Nelson says. “We are so engrained in a certain way of making art that the way we make the art informs the art instead of the other way around. This
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TOD FRANSONS
When Timothy Nelson (BM ’04, Composition) was named artistic director of Washington, D.C.’s IN Series opera theatre in 2018, he was already celebrated for his innovative productions throughout Europe and the United States. Critics had dubbed him “the future of opera.” And he envisioned IN Series as a force to radically transform perceptions of opera, including who makes it and for whom it is made, and how it might more truly serve the communities in which it is performed. During his first two years with IN Series, Nelson’s Madama Butterfly (which he titled, simply, Butterfly) was a study of racism, he blended the blues and The Tempest to shed new light on slavery, and he explored the refugee experience and the sacred call to hospitality in a production of Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ.
was a chance to break the mold, and a chance to reach people who might never have come to our theater in Northwest D.C.” Nelson didn’t want to simply post performances on YouTube, so he worked with a web designer to create a virtual theater, including a “bar” where patrons gather before the film and reconvene afterward to discuss the performance. Working virtually, he can afford to hire talent from around the world, and he says there is a wonderful freedom working in unfamiliar mediums, “because we get to experiment and it’s okay to fail. Normally we don’t even try to do things we can’t do perfectly.” It has been an ambitious season and the IN Series site is packed with content. But the film Nelson made of Gluck’s Orpheus, the first production in a trilogy about grief, is “the best thing I have ever done,” he says. “The industry is saying we should create happy pieces, but I think we also
need to create artistic spaces where people can deal with the predominant emotions of the year.” He does miss the rhythm of live theatre, the buildup that climaxes in performance, audience response, reviews. Producing virtual theatre, like so many things in the time of COVID, is largely solitary. But Nelson sees even this as opportunity. “There’s very little feedback, so you have to just trust your own artistic instincts, which is what you should be doing anyway,” he says. “I guess my biggest fear is that when this is all over we won’t have learned anything and will just go back to doing things the way we did them before.” — Joan Katherine Cramer
Watch BUTTERFLY: Smashing Stereotypes: youtu.be/opGupNHiV9A. Visit IN Series' INvision virtual theater: invision.inseries.org.
DEPARTMENT NEWS Peabody student, faculty, and alumni news all in one place, sorted by department to help you find your colleagues and classmates. BRASS Junior horn performance student Maxwell Arceneaux released his first album, Discovery, in October. The self-produced album includes 10 original compositions. See Teresa Deskur in Historical Performance.
See also Judah Adashi in Guitar. See Viet Cuong in Percussion. Composition Professor Du Yun released a new album, A Cockroach’s Tarantella, with the JACK Quartet. Her piece i am my own achilles’ heel was included on Brooklyn Rider’s GRAMMY-nominated album Healing Modes.
Current conducting DMA candidate Matthew Pellegrino (MM ’18, Composition) presented a virtual music performance and talk on Korean music that inspires optimism and transformation through the Carroll County Public Library in October.
See Harry Oehler in Strings.
Composition Professor Michael Hersch (BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition) and sculptor Christopher Cairns collaborated to create a series of concerts called “...thus far and no further...”
Con Alma is an album and live digital experience of original works by Paola Prestini (BM ’95, Composition) and vocalist and composer Magos Herrera that explores the question of how we can find communion in a time of isolation. Created and recorded in quarantine, it features more than 30 musicians from three continents.
See Ian Striedter in Strings.
See Amy Beth Kirsten in Percussion.
See Vivian Adelberg Rudow in Piano.
Baltimore’s Creative Alliance hosted Sahffi Lynne’s (BM ’93, French Horn) “Connect with YOUR Voice” workshop, where participants engaged with Lynne’s Vocal Ladder Method.
Preparatory faculty member Dan Trahey’s (BM ’00, Tuba, Music Education) Collective Conservatory, including members of the Preparatory’s Tuned-In program, performed and remotely recorded music for “Visceral Harmonies,” a collaboration with American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. The video premiered in December on the ABT YouTube channel and Instagram TV. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, Johns Hopkins University partnered with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids Program on “Queens Unseen: Royals Without Crowns, A Musical Exploration of Women’s Voting Rights in Our Democracy,” an audio/visual presentation that premiered in December. Peabody affiliates involved with the project included Dan Trahey (BM ’00, Tuba, Music Education) and Director of Graduate Conducting Marin Alsop as well as Nick Skinner (BM ’08, Trumpet), Sam Bessen (MM ’17, Horn), Chelsey Green (MM ’09, Viola), and members of the Preparatory’s Tuned-In program. A feature on faculty artist Larry Williams (BM ’88, GPD ’90, French Horn) was the cover story for an issue of SupportED, a magazine for instrumental instructors published by Yamaha.
C O MPO SITION The Evolution Contemporary Music Series, founded and directed by faculty member Judah Adashi (MM ’02, DMA ’11, Composition), held its season kickoff event with recent Peabody Medal winner and New Yorker music critic Alex Ross discussing and sharing readings from his third book, Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music.
C O N DUC TIN G Marin Alsop, director of graduate conducting, was appointed the first ever Music Director of the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, a program of the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. See also Marin Alsop in Brass.
Angel Lam (MM ’03, DMA ’11, Composition; MM ’05, Music Theory) will host a program in collaboration with the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), featuring Hong Kong musicians, artists, and creations, in 2021. Lam had her piece Once upon a time, a village in the southern sea… featured on Radio Television Hong Kong and on the cover of Hong Kong’s Fine Music Magazine. Scott Lee (MM ’13, Composition) released Through the Mangrove Tunnels, performed by the JACK Quartet, on Panoramic Recordings in November 2020. IN Series, with Timothy Nelson (BM ’04, Composition), artistic director, is one of 13 Professional Company members that will receive a share of $980,000 in the Innovation Grants program from OPERA America. (Read more about Nelson on p. 22.) See also Timothy Nelson in Vocal Studies.
Nu Deco Ensemble, created by Jacomo Bairos (GPD ’11, Conducting), released the EP Live from Miami with Cimafunk, the first of the “Nu Deco + Series,” which highlights previous collaborations through digital streaming platforms. In November, they also premiered their live performance video, Catching Up With Depeche Mode, originally recorded at the New World Center in 2018. Jamie Reeves (DMA ’20, Conducting) was recently appointed director of orchestral studies at the University of Alabama. PROTESTRA, a coalition of activist musicians founded by Michelle Rofrano (MM ’16, Conducting), created a virtual performance of Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4 in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Clifton Joey Guidry III (BM ’18, Bassoon) and Jordan Thomas (BM ’13, MM ’15, Harp) performed for the recording. PROTESTRA aims to highlight social justice issues through classical music performances. Jonathan Rush (MM ’19, Conducting) received a two-year appointment as Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Rush will support Associate Conductor Nicholas Hersh in conducting the BSO’s digital series and serve frequently as a cover conductor.
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Conducting master’s student Leonard Weiss was a recipient of the 2020 Churchill Fellowship Award. With support from the Churchill Trust, Weiss has been invited to act as assistant conductor to Director of Graduate Conducting Marin Alsop at the Ravinia Festival, Toby Purser at Vienna Opera Academy, and Nicholas Carter at Santa Fe Opera. See Joseph Young (AD ’09, Conducting) in Headliners, p. 3.
DANCE
G UITA R Professor Manuel Barrueco (BM ’75, Guitar) taught three online master classes as part of his Augustine Foundation Master Class Residency in November at the Manhattan School of Music. Performers included students from Eastman School of Music, Hunter College, Juilliard, and Manhattan School of Music. Barrueco’s annual master class through the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society reached pre-college guitar students from all over the world. Director of LAUNCHPad and guitar faculty Zane Forshee (MM ’01, GPD ’03, DMA ’11, Guitar) performed in First & Franklin Presbyterian’s virtual Spire Series in August. The program featured music by Ronald Pearl, John Dowland, Thelonious Monk, and faculty artist Judah Adashi (MM ’02, DMA ’11, Composition). The Spire Series is run by Jason Kissel (DMA ’07, Organ). Guitar master’s student Junhong Kuang (BM ’20, Guitar) released Rodrigo, Ponce & Garcia: Guitar Concertos with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice conducted by Darrell Ang. The album received a positive review from BBC Music Magazine.
Dance BFA student Rush Johnston’s solo “Nothingness” was presented in the Werner Independent Choreographer’s Showcase, College Edition, in November. The Puerto Rico Classical Dance Competition Gala in February 2021 featured Dance BFA student Rebecca Lee performing “…and still, we must…” by danah bella, Dance BFA Chair, as well as a screening of the dance film “a solo” by Dance BFA student Lourdes del Mar Santiago Lebrón. Dance BFA musician Shodekeh and Music Technology Assistant Professor Wendel Patrick are featured on “Traveler,” the first single from Tuvan throat-singer Bady-Dorzhu Ondar’s debut album. The album was recorded at WTMD in fall 2019. Shodekeh also performed “Falling Flames” by Finola Merivale with Soo Yeon Lyuh and Sō Percussion in an online edition of Sō Percussion’s Brooklyn Bound Series in November. Harry Sukonik, a Dance BFA student, performed in mignolo dance’s “Manifested Destiny” in a drive-in performance in November.
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Yuri Liberzon (BM ’04, GPD ’05, Guitar) released his third album, 3 Violin Sonatas, in October. The album includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach for violin transcribed for guitar by Professor Manuel Barrueco (BM ’75, Guitar). See William Simms in Historical Performance. Meng Su (PC ’09, GPD ’11, MM ’16, AD ’18, Guitar; GPD ’15, Chamber Ensemble) has been appointed to the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music beginning fall 2021. Studio K Flamenco presented the Flamenco Nutcracker with Marija Temo (MM ’94, Guitar) performing her original score live.
H A RP Zoe Coppola (MM ’14, Harp) created the Happy Harps books, a teaching series for beginning to intermediate harp students. Assistant Professor June Han performed a free online solo harp concert including works by Alphonse Hasselmans, Louis Spohr, and Marcel Tournier through the Bowdoin International Music Festival. See Jordan Thomas in Conducting.
H ISTOR ICAL PER FORMA NCE The Winchendon Music Festival, founded and directed by Andrew Arceci (BM ’08, Double Bass, Viola da Gamba), presented a 2020 digital series with Arceci and lutenist William Simms (MM ’91, Guitar) performing. Three Peabody musicians were finalists in the World Bach Competition sponsored by the Boulder Bach Festival: Kristen Dubenion-Smith (MM ’05, Voice) in the Professional Vocalist category, Wade Davis (MM ’11, GPD ’13, Baroque Violoncello) in the Professional Instrumentalist Category, and junior Teresa Deskur, a French horn and music education student who plays recorder, in the Student Instrumentalist Category. See Gwyn Roberts in Woodwinds. Niccolo Seligmann (BM ’15, Viola da Gamba) performed a program inspired by the medieval artworks in the Walters Art Museum collection.
JA ZZ Devin Gray (BM ’06, Jazz Percussion) released an album, 27 Licks, with Gerald Cleaver in October.
Reincarnation, a new album by Conservatory faculty artist and Preparatory alumnus Warren Wolf, released by Mack Avenue Records, pays tribute to the R&B music Wolf listened to growing up in the 1990s. Wolf also released Christmas Vibes through Mack Avenue. The album features classic carols, pop songs, and an original Christmas song.
M USIC TEC H N O LO GY
LI B E R AL A RTS In September, liberal arts faculty member Jelena Runić gave a video guest presentation titled “English Language Teaching Methods: The Rise and Fall of the GrammarTranslation Method” for Xi’an JiaotongLiverpool University, the first Sino-British university, located in Suzhou, China.
MUS I C EDUCATIO N See Teresa Deskur in Historical Performance. See Bailey Jo Hutton in Strings. Walt Lindberg (MM ’11, Music Education) released a solo finger-style guitar album called Carols. The album features 10 original arrangements of favorite Christmas carols. See Harry Oehler in Strings. The Arcadia Chorale, led by Matthew Rupcich (BM ’90, Music Education), released two virtual recordings in its 2020–21 season: “How Can I Keep from Singing” arranged by Z. Randall Stroope and O Nata Lux by Morten Lauridsen. See Dan Trahey in Brass.
Assistant Professor in Music for New Media Chris Kennedy has been granted a 2020 Johns Hopkins Discovery Award for “Discovering the Benefits of Interactive Music on Fine Motor Control Therapy,” a project with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine faculty colleague Arnold Gomez. See Téa Mottolese in Headliners, p. 3. Assistant Professor Wendel Patrick will take over as host for Season 9 of Maryland Public Television’s popular Artworks series, which will explore the creative process in a variety of show formats, focusing on local and regional artists working in a range of genres. See also Wendel Patrick in Dance. See David Sexton in Vocal Studies. See Ian Striedter in Strings.
MUS I C T H EO RY See Angel Lam in Composition.
Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies Sean Jones, artistic director of NYO Jazz, joined Wycliffe Gordon and the students of NYO Jazz to create a video performance of Gordon’s “We’re Still Here.”
Agustin Muriago, assistant professor of keyboard skills, presented an online lecture for the Kansas State University piano studio in October. The lecture, “Unheard Voices: American Piano Works from Underrepresented Groups,” explored repertoire by composers from various backgrounds and generations.
“The Tale of Shoeless Joe” and “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” from Associate Professor Current students Daniel J. Tomczyk, jazz Joel Puckett and Eric Simonson’s The percussion; Jason Torres, tuba; Charlie Fix were performed as part of Minnesota Reichert-Powell, jazz guitar; Nico Wohl, Opera’s “Opera in the Outfield.” jazz guitar; Marco Lybbert, jazz piano; Joe Huang, jazz saxophone; and August Braatz, jazz trombone, performed live at Keystone Korner.
M USIC O LO GY Musicology Instructor Suhnne Ahn delivered the Keynote Speech at Ewha University’s 250th Beethoven Celebration. Her lecture, “Beethoven Scholarship: Digitization and Evolving Pedagogical Trends,” was delivered virtually in Seoul, Korea, in December. Ahn’s graduate musicology seminar, “Beethoven at Work,” was featured prominently in discussion with Ewha faculty and students. See Imani Mosley in Woodwinds.
O RG A N Organ faculty artist Daniel Aune performed as part of Epiphany Tuesday Concerts at Home through The Church of the Epiphany in September. See Jason Kissel in Guitar. PEABODY
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Faculty artist Brian Ganz (AD ’93, Piano) performed A Tribute to Leon Fleisher in September with a pre-concert talk by Marian Hahn, Singapore Conservatory of Music Chair in Piano, for the Community Concerts at Second series.
P E RCU S SION Sandbox Percussion — Victor Caccese (BM ’11, Percussion), Terry Sweeney (BM ’13, Percussion), Ian Rosenbaum (BM ’08, Percussion), and Jonathan Allen — presented Concerts on the Slope in December. The performance included music by Amy Beth Kirsten (DMA ’10, Composition) and Thomas Kotcheff (BM ’10, Piano). In November, they presented a free live broadcast from their studio featuring music by Viet Cuong (BM ’11, MM ’12, Composition) and their debut performance of Shifting Ground by Elijah Daniel Smith. In October they performed a live broadcast from Brooklyn, N.Y., including the world premiere performance of Pillar III by Andy Akiho and the video premiere of Bell Patterns by Caccese.
P I A NO Jennifer Nicole Campbell (BM ’14, MM ’15, Piano), the Delaware County Symphony Chamber Music Director, led a musical walkthrough of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Julian Gargiulo (MM ’97, Piano) posted the third episode of his music series “One Classical Minute” featuring music by Scarlatti. Adam Golka (’08, Piano) joined the Verona String Quartet to present Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, “Hammerklavier,” as part of the Library of Congress (Re)Hearing Beethoven Festival.
Inna Faliks (BM ’99, MM ’01, GPD ’03, Piano) wrote an Op-Ed for the Los Angeles Times called “How Isolation Is a Golden Opportunity for Musicians.” WFMT Chicago celebrated Leon Fleisher’s life and artistry through the “Exploring Music” program. The program rebroadcast a 2018 conversation with and performance by Fleisher, who passed away in August.
Thomas Kotcheff (BM ’10, Piano) released a new album of Frederic Rzewski’s Songs of Insurrection through Coviello Music Productions. He discussed the album in a New York Times interview and the virtual album release concert was named one of the Times’ 10 Classical Music Concerts to Stream in November. See also Thomas Kotcheff in Percussion.
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See Margarita Loukachkina in Strings.
P ROF E S SIO NA L STUDIE S
See Hyun-Sook Park in Preparatory. Sun-A Park (DMA ’20, Piano) performed a streamed recital on the new Recital Stream platform. Her program included Couperin, Clementi, Galuppi, and Beethoven.
See also Ledah Finck in Woodwinds.
The 2020 Sonus International Music Festival was presented under the artistic direction of its founder, Nancy Roldán (MM ’76, DMA ’89, Piano), and celebrated the life and work of composer Carlos Guastavino. Performances featured Roldán, Enrique Graf (BM ’78, Piano), José Cueto (BM ’78, MM ’81, Violin), and Gabriella Cavallero, voice. Stanley Wong performed Vivian Adelberg Rudow’s (TC ’57, BM ’60, Piano; MM ’79, Composition) “Rebecca’s Song” in a livestreamed performance in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Wong’s Music Center “Dufy Atelier des Musicians and Artists.” Rosemary Tuck (MM ’86, Piano) performed for Richard Bonynge’s 90th birthday gala concert in support of the Tait Emergency Relief Fund for Australian & New Zealand Artists in September.
P R E PA R ATORY See Hilary Hahn in Woodwinds, and in Headliners, p. 3. Four Preparatory Strings students were among the winners of the National Philharmonic Orchestra’s first Virtual Solo Bach Competition. Liana Kai, cello, won the Junior Division, and Miyabi Henriksen and Anne-Marie Wnek, violin, and Zoey Ma, viola, won the Senior Division. They are students of Alicia Ward, Herbert Greenberg, and Rebecca Henry. Daniel Levitov, Preparatory cello faculty member, was featured in The Strad’s November issue in the Technique section. Alan Mao and Andy Yoon, Preparatory piano students of Hyun-Sook Park (BM ’88, MM ’90, DMA ’99, Piano), were both accepted into the final round of the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in their age categories. Mao won Best Performance of Work by Karol Szymanowski and honorable mention in his category. Maya Sauder, a Preparatory cello student of Daniel Levitov, auditioned and was accepted to participate in a master class featuring Metropolitan Opera Orchestra cellists Jerry Grossman, Joel Noyes, Julia Bruksin, and Kari Jane Docter. Sauder performed the first movement of the Elgar Cello Concerto. Sauder was also selected to perform for Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Dara Morales in a master class.
The Boulanger Initiative presented the Bergamot Quartet, composed of Ledah Finck (BM ’16, MM ’18, Violin); Sarah Thomas (BM ’17, MM ’19, Violin); Amy Tan (MM ’19, GPD ’20, Viola); and Irène Han (MM ’18, Cello), at Fadensonnen in October.
OperaDelaware’s radio production of professional studies lecturer Derrick Wang’s 2015 comic opera Scalia/Ginsburg was broadcast on WFMT stations on November 7. The SNF Agora Institute and Hopkins at Home hosted a live post-concert conversation with Wang and Peabody Dean Fred Bronstein.
ST RI NGS See Andrew Arceci in Historical Performance. Joelle Arnhold (MM ’12, DMA ’17, Viola), with co-creator and developer Garrett Arnhold, created an app to facilitate remote music ensemble collaboration. Cyborg Llama automatically syncs video and audio recordings to create large or small ensemble “virtual choir” videos without any editing and can accommodate up to 200 video windows. The Borisevich Duo — Nikita Borisevich (GPD ’13, MM ’17, Violin; GPD ’15, Chamber Ensemble) and DMA candidate Margarita Loukachkina (BM ’10, MM ’12, Piano) — performed “An Afternoon of Chamber Music” as part of the Shandelee Music Festival via Facebook Live. The program included works for violin and piano by Sergei Prokofiev, Ernest Bloch, and Maurice Ravel. See José Cueto in Piano. Joel Dallow (BM ’94, Cello) launched The Cello Sherpa, offering virtual and in-person coachings focused on orchestral repertoire. See Netanel Draiblate in Vocal Studies. Current violin students Hanyu Feng, Ryan Huo, Yiqing Fu, and Shiman Yu participated in a master class led by Ludovic Morlot through their alma mater, NYO-China.
Three cello students were awarded prizes in the Mount Vernon Virtuosi Online Cello Competition. Junior Jorge Giménez was awarded first place with a cash prize of $1,000 and an appearance with the Mount Vernon Virtuosi in the 2020–21 season. Second-year master’s student Natalia Vilchis was awarded second place and senior Mafalda Santos was awarded third prize. The competition for students in Maryland was created by cello professor Amit Peled. Distinguished Artist in Residence in Violin Vadim Gluzman was the artistic director of the North Shore Chamber Music Festival onstage/offstage series and performed in “Jewish Kaleidoscope” and “Love Triangle.” See Chelsey Green in Brass. See also Irène Han in Woodwinds. Violin student Yanxiong Kevin Huang performed with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in the closing concert of the 23rd Beijing Music Festival conducted by Yu Long. Huang, concert master of the China Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, performed “You and Me” by Qigang Chen. Huang is a sophomore in the studio of Professor Herbert Greenberg. Violin Professor Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel celebrated 15 years of Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel with a live-streamed performance in November. They also directed The Last Rose of Summer festival in Berlin. Daniel Kazez (MM ’82, Cello) launched a redesigned version of InTune, an iPhone app designed to improve and test intonation. The app has been a top-10 music app in 70 countries. Kendra Preston Leonard's (BM ’95, Cello) Strawberry Man, commissioned and performed by Arwen Myers, was released in April; Fire and Dust premiered at the 2020 N.E.O. Voice Festival; Protectress, a full-length opera collaboration with Jessica Rudman, was a part of the American Opera Project’s First Glimpse program; Par for the Course was premiered by Rhymes with Opera; Sense of Self, with music by Lisa Neher, will be premiered by Opera Elect. Leonard published her first collection of poetry, Making Mythology, and the book Music for the Kingdom of Shadows: Cinema Accompaniment in the Age of Spiritualism. PEABODY
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Si-Yan Darren Li (MM, AD ’08, Cello) was appointed cello and chamber music instructor at the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University. The Lift Music Fund, whose mission is to make achievement in music more accessible and equitable, hosted a Micro-Concerts for Microgrants fundraiser series, which featured online performances by Peabody alumni including Shannon Fitzhenry (BM ’18, Violin), Sophie Fortunato (BM ’17, Violin), Bailey Jo Hutton (BM ’17, Voice, Music Education; MM ’17, Voice, Pedagogy), Jessica Korotkin (BM ’16, Cello), Claudia Malchow (BM ’17, Viola), Harry Oehler (BM ’16, Trombone, Music Education; MM ’18, Trombone), and Ian Striedter (BM ’16, Trombone; MM ’17, Audio Sciences). Professor Amit Peled performed and recorded Luigi Boccherini’s Sonata for Two Cellos in C major, G. 74, with Ismael Ariel Guerrero Bombut, a member of Peled’s studio. Peled was also featured on The Cello Museum for his book The First Hour. Cello Professor Alan Stepansky and his students performed and recorded Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch arranged by David Johnstone. The audio and video were produced by Steven Chen, a student in the Stepansky studio. See also Amy Tan in Woodwinds. See also Sarah Thomas in Woodwinds.
VO CAL STU DIE S Associate Professor Tony Arnold was a featured guest artist at the 43rd annual (and first virtual) Festival of New American Music (FeNAM), hosted by Sacramento State University in November. In addition to leading a workshop for composers, giving a vocal master class, adjudicating the CSUS composition competition, and participating in a panel discussion on Music & Language, Arnold presented a solo recital exploring themes of distance, isolation, and transformation. Audio and video engineering for the recital was done by David Sexton (BM ’19, Voice; BM ’20, Recording Arts). See Cierra Byrd (MM ’20, Voice) in Headliners, p. 3, and Alumni, p. 21. Catrin Davies (BM ’03, Voice) has been appointed to the board of directors of the Baltimore Concert Opera where she will serve a renewable three-year term. See Kristen Dubenion-Smith in Historical Performance.
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The IN Series presented A Fairy Queen, an episodic podcast opera in the style of a classic radio drama based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with concept and creation by Timothy Nelson (BM ’04, Composition), featuring Voice Professor Carl DuPont as Demetrius/Bottom, Melissa Wimbish (GPD ’11, Voice; GPD ’14, Chamber Ensemble) as Hermia/Flute, and John T.K. Scherch (MM ’17, Voice, Pedagogy) as Narrator.
Outcalls — Britt Olsen-Ecker (BM ’09, Voice) and Melissa Wimbish (GPD ’11, Voice; GPD ’14, Chamber Ensemble) — performed live in November as part of Creative Alliance’s “It’s Pandemonium!” virtual fundraiser.
Teresa Ferrara (MM ’18, Voice), Angeli Ferrette (GPD ’06, Voice), Annie Gill (GPD ’08, Voice), and Claire Galloway (MM ’15, Voice) performed in a virtual program inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem, Phenomenal Woman, celebrating the music of Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Poldowski, Juliana Hall, Ellen Mandel, Gwyneth Walker, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Betty Jackson King, Florence Price, and Undine Smith Moore. The Metropolitan Opera Guild honored the 25th anniversary of Rosa Ponselle Distinguished Faculty Artist Denyce Graves’ Met debut at the Silver Soiree Digital Celebration in December. Graves has also developed a new project titled “Cooking with Denyce!” Each week, an opera singer or classical music professional joins Graves as they cook a new dish and converse about singing and the music industry. Ashley Higginbotham (MM ’20, Voice) released a holiday single entitled “Hosting the Holidays.” All proceeds from the downloads go to supporting a young boy from Chester Springs, Pa., diagnosed with a rare terminal illness. See Bailey Jo Hutton in Strings. Mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen (MM ’09, Voice) released Sleep Songs: Wordless Lullabies for the Sleepless. The album features wordless lullabies for solo voice by Jay Derderian, Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, Lee Hartman, Julia Seeholzer, Arthur Breur, Griffin Candey, Tony Manfredonia, Jen Wang, and D. Edward Davis. Michael Maliakel (BM ’12, Voice) was selected to participate in the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition Songbook, a collection of contemporary theater songs accompanied by audio recordings. Maliakel performed “A591” from Half the Sky. Rob McGinness (MM ’17, Voice) performed as part of the Arizona Opera Studio Spotlight Series in the inaugural recital at the Shoshana B. and Robert S. Tancer Plaza and in an impromptu live-streamed concert to support the Artist Relief Tree with other Arizona Studio Artists in March.
Alexandra Razskazoff (BM ’14, Voice) won first place in the virtual Giovanni Consiglio International Competition through the Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy. Voice professor William Sharp and Netanel Draiblate (MM ’07, GPD ’09, Violin) were featured on a new PostClassicalEnsemble CD of works by Bernard Herrmann, released in October. Kerri Lynn Slominski (BM ’09, Voice) and Elisabeth Halliday-Quan (’07, Voice; KSAS BA ’07, German) founded ROCopera, an opera collective aiming to broaden opera’s reach in the Rochester, N.Y., area. Toni Stefano (MM ’00, Voice) performed in the 6th Sacred Heart Christmas Concert at Sacred Heart Parish in Glyndon, Md. She founded the concert with her husband with the goal of giving local and youth performers a platform for showcasing their talents. Peabody Opera Theatre’s 2019 production of The Falling and The Rising garnered first place in Division V of the National Opera Association’s 2019–20 Opera Production Competition. Samuel Mungo, associate professor and managing director of Peabody Opera Theatre, directed the production with JoAnn Kulesza, associate professor and music director of Peabody Opera Theatre, conducting. In August, Peabody’s production of Kirke Mechem’s Pride and Prejudice was named Baltimore magazine’s Best of Baltimore Reader’s Choice Play or Performance for 2020.
IN MEMORIAM
WO O DW INDS Amir Farsi (BM ’16, Flute) was named a 2020–22 fellow with Ensemble Connect, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the NYC Department of Education, which offers performance opportunities and intensive professional development to prepare young professional musicians for careers. See Clifton Joey Guidry III in Conducting. Fast Forward Austin presented its fall 2020 concert “Digital Assemblage” co-directed by Kyle Jones (MM ’18, Saxophone) in December. The performance also featured alumni Clifton Joey Guidry III (BM ’18, Bassoon) and the Bergamot Quartet, composed of Ledah Finck (BM ’16, MM ’18, Violin); Sarah Thomas (BM ’17, MM ’19 Violin); Amy Tan (MM ’19, GPD ’20, Viola); and Irène Han (MM ’18, Cello).
Juliet McComas (BM ’71, MM ’74, Piano) William Pursell (Piano, Composition)
John David Wortham Peabody Preparatory flute alumnus Lauretta Dorsey Young (BM ’63, Music Education)
Nelita True (DMA ’76, Piano), recipient of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Distinguished Alumna Award
Sam Kaestner (BM ’00, Clarinet) designed a solution to drive climate action for the United Nations Act Now campaign with a team of four other students from the Parsons School of Design where he was completing a Master of Science in Strategic Design. Imani Mosley (MM ’10, Bassoon, Musicology) and Preparatory alumna Hilary Hahn were both featured in The New York Times article “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the Violin.” Flute Professor Marina Piccinini offered a fall session of the Marina Piccinini International Masterclasses online in November. Sessions included master classes with Piccinini and piccolo faculty artist Erica Peel, lectures with historical performance faculty artist Gwyn Roberts, and a performance by current students in Piccinini’s studio.
A DV IS ORY BOAR D Peabody Institute Advisory Board member Paula E. Boggs has been appointed to the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation board of directors, beginning in 2021.
Victor Danchenko, the internationally renowned violinist and pedagogue who served on the Peabody Conservatory faculty from 1992 until his retirement in 2016, died in November at the age of 83. Born in Russia, Danchenko made his solo debut at age 16 with the USSR’s State Symphony Orchestra, then entered the Moscow Conservatory as a student of David Oistrakh. In his performing career, Danchenko’s numerous awards included the gold medal in the Soviet National Competition and the Ysaÿe Gold Medal. In addition to his post at Peabody, he was a faculty member at the Curtis Institute and the Glenn Gould School and delivered master classes throughout the world. Leading artists including Soovin Kim, Martin Beaver, Timothy Fain, and Ryu Goto studied with Danchenko. His students remember Danchenko as a transformative teacher, focused on artistry. He is survived by his sister and fellow former faculty member Vera, as well as his wife Nina, and their daughter and grandson.
Barbara Weisberger, Artistic Advisor Emerita to the Peabody Preparatory Dance program, passed away in December at the age of 94. Weisberger started her ballet training at the age of 5 and, at the age of 8, was the first child student admitted to George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. Balanchine became a friend and mentor and encouraged Weisberger to establish the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia in 1963. She was invited to Peabody in 2001 to bring new life to the Preparatory Dance program and served as artistic adviser to the program until 2018. The principles she established still guide the dance program today. Weisberger was instrumental in the creation, with Preparatory Dance Artistic Director Carol Bartlett, of the Estelle Dennis/ Peabody Dance Training Program for Boys in 2009. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, and generations of dancers, many of whom have gone on to professional performing and teaching careers of their own.
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FANFARE
Clarinetist Keyona Carrington, a high school senior, has been involved with Peabody’s Tuned-In program since she was 8 years old. Tuned-In, which uses music as a catalyst for social change and youth empowerment, provides a tuition-free Peabody Preparatory education to Baltimore City Public Schools students. When COVID-19 descended, curtailing the opportunity for in-person lessons and performances, Carrington and other students shifted to making digital music using a program called Soundtrap. The online program allows students and ensembles to arrange several pieces of music and other audio into new multitrack recordings. It’s one of the many technological resources that Tuned-In has provided to enable students to continue with their music education during the pandemic. And it was made possible by a generous $1.25 million gift to the Tuned-In program last fall from William H. Miller III, a member of the Johns Hopkins University board of trustees. Along with providing access to digital music tools like Soundtrap, as well as Logic and Ableton, Tuned-In has offered online lessons and camps, and helped with technology purchases for young musicians. Once the pandemic restrictions ease, Miller’s gift will continue to bolster the impact of the Tuned-In program by expanding summer programs to provide deeper engagement for students and families, and by strengthening the program’s ability to retain enrolled students by increasing investment in those at risk of attrition. “I am delighted to be able to support Peabody’s Tuned-In program and its important work to nurture the next generation of musicians,” says Miller, a former Johns Hopkins philosophy student who went on to become a renowned investment manager at Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust and the founder and chairman of Miller Value Partners. 30
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LARRY CANNER
A Momentous Gift for Tuned-In
Tuned-In student Jayden Moore and his mother, Carol Moore, have valued the ability to participate online.
Carrington says that of the seven pieces she has arranged through Soundtrap, she is most proud of her first. She mixed together several audio samples, including John Legend’s and Common’s Glory, Sweet Honey in the Rock’s Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around, and a reading of Maya Angelou’s poetry. She also worked with a friend to create a visual element, a slide show with scenes from African American history, which accompanied the audio. The final piece was her response to police brutality and the injustices faced by the African American community. Because of her new skills, Carrington, along with Tuned-In Founder Dan Trahey (BM ’00, Tuba, Music Education) and Director of Graduate Conducting Marin Alsop, also spoke about digital music and audio editing as part of the Creative Youth Development Online seminar sponsored by the League of American Orchestras — an experience that she says is “probably the biggest thing that came out of all that Peabody has done for me.” Seventh-grader Jayden Moore has also been able to continue his musical studies — online private lessons once a week and group classes on Saturdays — thanks to the financial support provided by Miller’s gift. For Moore, having virtual music instruction now feels comfortable, just like his first class at Tuned-In when he was 10 years old. “I remember being really nervous and I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m going to mess up,’ and ‘This is going to be
a bunch of hard stuff because it’s Peabody,’” says Moore, now 14. “But when I got there, everyone was super nice. It really wasn’t too hard at all. And I was happy.” The Tuned-In program will also be purchasing a computer for Moore, which he’ll be able to use for his lessons instead of his family’s computer. And last summer, he participated in a one-week online camp that focused mainly on ensemble theory. Moore and the other students learned about ensembles throughout history and were asked to think about their role in the Tuned-In ensemble and how they practice and prepare to be a part of it. “I thought it was very clever how it was done,” says Carol Moore, Jayden Moore’s mother. “They couldn’t play together [in person]. But they talked a lot about how to play. And then, because of the features of Zoom, they were able to put the kids in smaller groups, so they still kept some of the social aspects. They were able to replicate camp online in a way that was very close to being together.” By ensuring Tuned-In can flourish, Miller’s gift is also playing a part in cementing the future of classical music. “Peabody has a magical effect on a child’s life,” notes Taylor Hanex (BM ’75, MM ’78, Piano), Chair Emerita of the Peabody Institute Advisory Board and a member of the JHU board of trustees. “Bill Miller is a true giver, carrying on the work of George Peabody. His Tuned-In gift will change many lives — students and their families — and will have generational impact for decades.” — Jennifer Walker
Cultivating the Seed of Gratefulness As a new member of the Johns Hopkins University board of trustees, Ci-Ying Sun (BM ’92, MM ’94, Piano) brings a varied background in the arts and business that makes her a valued asset to the board. Born in Shanghai, Sun came to Peabody in the late 1980s to study piano. She then worked for top financial institutions and an art auction house while continuing to perform occasionally at venues like the Asia Society in Hong Kong and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. “I am thrilled to have someone who brings a passion for the arts and culture as well as deep understanding of finance and organizational leadership joining our board,” says Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels. “We’re excited for a Peabody alumna to be part of shaping the future of Hopkins.” Sun arrived in the United States in 1987, after a professor saw her perform at the Shanghai Conservatory and arranged for her to attend the University of Texas at Austin. Shortly after, Sun decided to come to the East Coast for performance and education opportunities. She attended Peabody on a full scholarship and credits her time at Peabody with teaching her to be decent, grateful, and helpful to others. “The education helped me establish those values, and values are extremely important in guiding someone through his or her life,” says Sun, who has since gifted a grand piano to Peabody as a tribute to her professor, pianist Ellen Mack, and has supported the Breakthrough Curriculum, which offers core coursework to prepare students to be musicians in the 21st century. After Peabody, Sun went into the business sector, where she worked at Merrill Lynch; UBS in the United States, Hong Kong, and China; and Christie’s Asia. She also spent some time as an individual art adviser before taking a step back from her career to raise her now 11-year-old son.
Peabody alumna Ci-Ying Sun recently joined the Johns Hopkins University board of trustees.
Now, after many years of being invested in her work, Sun can focus on volunteer leadership. “I benefited so much from what Peabody did for me,” says Sun, who has also been on the board of trustees for the Wings of Music Children’s Musical Charity in China. “That seed of gratefulness was there but was never cultivated. Now because I am lucky enough to actually have financial independence and I can afford to stop [my career], I can focus on some other things in my life.” In only a few short months, Sun, who lives in Oxford, United Kingdom, has become involved in several projects, including the renovation of the former Newseum building into the primary location for Johns Hopkins
University programs in Washington, D.C. She also has been a voice in the ongoing talks about when to safely reopen the university, which shifted to remote instruction last March due to COVID-19. “The trustees were delighted to welcome Ci to the board,” says Johns Hopkins Board of Trustees Chair Lou Forster. “As a member of several committees, including Academic Policy and Student Life, I know she will bring her knowledge and professional expertise to a wide variety of topics and projects. I look forward to working with her in the years to come to advance our great university.” — Jennifer Walker
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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT ‘When You’re a Jet …’ In December 2018, Ui-Seng François had nearly completed her first semester as a dance major at Peabody when her aunt sent her a Playbill casting call for a newly imagined revival of the Broadway classic West Side Story. The production, created by experimental director Ivo van Hove, would be known for its massive video screen backdrop and brandnew choreography. Ten months and half a dozen auditions later, François took a leave of absence from Peabody to begin rehearsals. The show opened in February 2020 and managed to offer a month’s worth of performances before going on hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions. There are plans for the show to resume in 2021. Meanwhile, François, a sophomore and Baltimore Scholar, returned home to Upper Fells Point over the summer and reenrolled in Peabody in fall 2020. What was the audition process like? I drove up to New York for the audition with my mother and two other Peabody students. This was the biggest audition I ever had, and the first one outside of auditioning for schools. There were hundreds and hundreds of people there — at least 400 female dancers. After I got a call back, I took the bus to New York every or every other weekend for callbacks. I went back at least five or six times. In March 2019, I finally got the offer to play a Jet girl, Minnie, in West Side Story. (I also understudy the role of Anybodys, the tomboy who hangs with the Jets.) I was actually in class at Peabody when I got the news. I went out to the courtyard to take the call. Then I came back to class to let my peers know, and we had a mini-celebration.
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JAZZY STUDIOS
Interview by Sarah Achenbach
What were the challenges in rehearsing? Rehearsals began in October 2019, and we would come to rehearsal at 10:00 am and leave around 5:00 or 7:00 pm. At the beginning, when we were dancing all the time, I gained a new respect for my body and learned how to care for it, how to prioritize and make sure I had all the rest I needed because my body is my work, and I have to treat it with a lot of care. I was definitely sore in the beginning. The bigger challenge was learning a lot of choreography in a short amount of time (and then having to retrograde it all!). It was definitely mentally challenging. What was different about this production? First, our show had a record-breaking number of [performers making their] Broadway debuts — 33 out of a cast of 50. This show was also different because we had new choreography by a contemporary choreographer [Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker]. There was a lot of exploration and communication between the dancers and choreographers. It was very collaborative. Cast members who had been on Broadway before said it was unlike anything they ever experienced on Broadway, so that was interesting for me as a newcomer to be a part of.
How did your time at Peabody prepare you for this experience? I’ve learned the importance of conditioning, how to be an active listener, and about what it takes to be fully prepared, like taking notes and warming up my body and voice. danah bella [professor and chair of the Dance Department] has also been so encouraging. Outside of the physical dance training support, danah supported me by looking over my contract with me and sharing tips about working in the professional dance world. I learned a strong work ethic from my class with (ballet faculty) Kristen Stevenson. And my friend and classmate Elizabeth Chaillé inspires me constantly. What have you enjoyed most about being in West Side Story? One of the best parts was being surrounded by a cast that was so talented, that inspired me every single day, that I was able to learn from. My favorite moments are when I go on stage for the first time every night and realize, “Wow, I’m performing on a Broadway stage.” And the curtain call, when I’m bowing — to be able to look out in the audience. It’s a moment of gratitude. Watch Inside the Millennial Take on ‘West Side Story’: youtu.be/akh33ZtuClI.
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