PEABODY MAGAZINE SPRING 2014
The Nature of Nurture Why faculty here foster an ethos of encouragement— rather than rivalry— in their commitment to preparing top musicians.
DESIGNED FOR FLOWERS CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE CERAMICS
FE B . 2 3– M AY 1 1 , 20 14
Subtle, bold, powerful—Japanese vases from the Betsy and Robert Feinberg Collection— the newest addition to the Walters Art Museum. 600 N. Charles St / Baltimore, MD / thewalters.org
The museum is FREE. The exhibition is ticketed. For hours and information, visit thewalters.org. This exhibition celebrates the extraordinary gift to the Walters of contemporary Japanese ceramics from Betsy and Robert Feinberg. It has been generously supported by The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Friends of the Asian Collection of the Walters Art Museum, the Bernard Family, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas W. Hamilton, Jr., and The Edward Clark Wilson Fund for Asian Art.
DEPARTMENTS
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PEABODY MAGAZINE SPRING 2014 • VOL. 8 NO. 2 3 News Sharkey bound for Glasgow, Peabody’s first live stream, documentary captures Hersch at the keyboard, Dean Mellasenah Morris to retire, an app to improve sight reading, and more. 12 Applause Accomplishments of faculty and students
THE NATURE OF NURTURE By Alan H. Feiler Leading Peabody faculty explain why they foster an ethos of encouragement—rather than “tough love” and rivalry— in their commitment to train top musicians.
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Alumni Class Notes
29 Fanfare Stories of giving and generosity
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FINDING THEIR VOICE
By Joe Sugarman The kids in Peabody’s Tuned-In program wanted to be heard. Natalie Draper and Tia Price have made that happen, with an empowering composition that will debut in April. PLUS: Classical meets gospel, thanks to a meeting of the minds led by Andrew Talle.
About the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University Located in the heart of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon Cultural District, the Peabody Institute was founded in 1857 as America’s first academy of music by philanthropist George Peabody. Today, Peabody boasts a preeminent faculty, a nurturing, collaborative learning environment, and the academic resources of one of the nation’s leading universities, Johns Hopkins. Through its degree-granting Conservatory and its community-based Preparatory music and dance school, Peabody trains musicians and dancers of every age and at every level, from small children to seasoned professionals, from dedicated amateurs to winners of international competitions. Each year, Peabody stages nearly 100 major concerts and performances, ranging from classical to contemporary to jazz, many of them free—a testament to the vision of George Peabody.
J UST I N TS UC A LAS
ILLUST RAT IO N D E TA IL BY E VA VASQ UE Z
CONTENTS
FROM THE DIRECTOR
Dear Friends,
What an honor it has been to serve as director of the Peabody Institute. I have experienced such joy with students, colleagues, donors, and parents, in magnificent concerts, master classes, and community engagement events. I have enjoyed meeting and working with so many wonderful alumni, some who serve on our Society of Peabody Alumni Council, and some now in states and countries far afield from Baltimore. I celebrate with all of you the accomplishments of the past eight years. I have seen our relevance in the city of Baltimore increase as we demonstrate the critical importance of music and dance in the development of our children. I’ve seen our reputation grow in Asia as we’ve deepened our relationship in Singapore and explored meaningful collaborations in Korea, Taiwan, and China. I am so pleased with our deeply engaged National Advisory Council—each member is essential in working toward Peabody’s strong future and in fulfilling the lofty goals of our Rising to the Challenge campaign. It takes many elements to make a great arts school, and Peabody is privileged to have such dedicated faculty
and staff in both of its divisions, striving every day to make it a better place. I am proud of the faculty and staff we’ve hired and I share with all of you a sense of pride in Peabody’s distinctive brand of education in music and in dance. Jeffrey Sharkey Arts organizations have gone through challenging times in the past decade of economic uncertainty and we have weathered many of these challenges well, keeping our ideals and our standards high. My family and I shall miss Peabody and Baltimore, but we are glad to have participated in this great Institute in many ways—as director, faculty, parents, and students. I shall take many friendships and happy memories with me to my new post in Scotland. If you find yourselves in the city of Glasgow, please do stop by the Conservatory in the center of town. I wish all of you in the Peabody Institute all the best for a great future. Yours sincerely,
PEABODY MAGAZINE Editorial Staff
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Alexandra Weil, Art Director Tiffany Lundquist, Director of Marketing and Communications Margaret Bell, Communications Specialist, News Editor Debbie Kennison, Director of Constituent Engagement, Alumni Section Editor Will Kirk, Contributing Photographer Donna Young, Senior Communications Coordinator
Peabody Magazine is published twice during the academic year. Peabody Magazine Communications Office 1 East Mount Vernon Place Baltimore, MD 21202 410-234-4525 magazine@peabody.jhu.edu www.peabody.jhu.edu/magazine Advisory Group Judah Adashi (MM ’02, DMA ’11, Composition), Conservatory and Preparatory Faculty Linda Goodwin (BM ’76, Music Education; MM ’89, Conducting; GPD ’97), Conservatory Faculty, Director of Ensemble Operations
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Cover Illustration by Eva Vasquez
Julian Gray (BM ’79, MM ’82, Guitar) Conservatory Faculty Gerald Klickstein, Director, Music Entrepreneurship and Career Center Kyley Sommer, Residence Life and Student Activities Coordinator Patrick O’Neall, Director of Major Gifts Bill Nerenberg, Guest Lecturer Harlan D. Parker, Conservatory Faculty Tracey Schutty (MM ’94, Flute) Society of Peabody Alumni Andrea Trisciuzzi, Associate Dean for External Relations Jeffrey Weisner (MM ’95, Double Bass), Conservatory Faculty
Peabody National Advisory Council 2013–14 Robert J. Abernethy Liza Bailey Rheda Becker Paula Boggs Barbara Bozzuto Laifun Chung Richard Davison Larry Droppa Leon Fleisher Sandra Levi Gerstung Robert L. Goldstein Nancy Grasmick Hilary Hahn Taylor A. Hanex
Sandra S. Hittman Allan D. Jensen, Vice-Chair Akemi Kawano-Levine Christopher Kovalchick Hugh Marbury Jill H. McGovern Mark Paris, Chair Matthew S. Polk, Jr. Christine Schmitz Solomon H. Snyder David Tan Sally A. White Shirley S. L. Yang Carol Jean Young
Sharkey Bound for Glasgow
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fter serving as director of the Peabody Institute for eight years, Jeffrey Sharkey will be leaving Johns Hopkins to become the next principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, formerly known as the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, effective September 1, 2014. “The Peabody and both its Conser vatory and Preparatory divisions are in a stronger position today as a result of Jeff ’s leadership, and they are poised to accomplish even more,” noted Hopkins university President Ron Daniels, in announcing Sharkey’s appointment to the Conservatoire last fall. During Sharkey’s tenure, the pace of fundraising at the Institute more than doubled—with a new emphasis placed on student and faculty support—and the National Advisory Council was re-energized. Peabody also developed much closer ties with the Homewood campus, including impressive growth of the Peabody at Homewood program and planning for a future BA music major. “Peabody is also engaged in increasing academic cooperation with the medical campus through the Brain Science Institute and in diverse performing oppor tunities at the Kimmel Cancer Center and the Outpatient Center as well as at the Carey Business School,” Daniels noted.
Beyond Hopkins, Sharkey “greatly amplified” Peabody’s impact in the Baltimore community, Daniels said, by extending the reach of programs such as Junior Bach, Tuned-In, Creative Connections, and the Estelle Dennis/ Peabody Dance Training Program for Boys. Sharkey also nurtured collab orations with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, including Music Director Marin Alsop’s work with Peabody students and programs. “All these initiatives typify Jeff ‘s commitment to providing opportunities for students to gain valuable skills necessary for the changing music profession,” Daniels said. Noting that he and his family are looking forward to new opportunities and challenges in Glasgow, Sharkey said, “I have many wonderful memories of our students and colleagues to carry with me, and it has been an honor and pleasure to serve as director of the Peabody Institute these past eight years.” A search committee, led by Johns Hopkins Provost Robert Lieberman, has been charged with conducting an international search to identify Sharkey’s successor. Look for more information in the next issue of Peabody Magazine. —Staff Reports
In November, Peabody Director Jeffrey Sharkey and composition faculty member Oscar Bettison attended the 60th anniversary celebration of the Wuhan Conservatory in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Both Sharkey and Bettison gave master classes during their visit. Sharkey was the sole westerner asked to speak at the main ceremony, which included more than 1,000 guests (above), including the U.S. Consular Officer. The celebration also included a principals’ forum on “educating talented musicians today,” which drew representatives from nine Chinese conservatories as well as overseas representatives from Birmingham (UK), Canada, Japan, and Sydney.
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First Live Stream Extends Access to Peabody Performance
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ar-flung parents of Peabody Conservatory students watched their sons and daughters play with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and alumni reminisced about playing in Miriam A. Friedberg Hall, when Peabody streamed its first live concert from there on November 23. Online attendance for the performance exceeded expectations, with 766 viewers from 33 countries, including South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Taiwan, and Singapore. Viewers spent an average time of 24 minutes watching the concert, far longer than the average view time for other videos on Johns Hopkins University’s YouTube channel. The live streaming was spearheaded by Gus
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Sentementes, of Hopkins’ Office of Communications, as part of a pilot program. Hiroshi Amano from Open Range Video served as the technical director and switched between five camera angles to produce a single live stream. One key camera, which was remotely controlled, was set up to the right of the stage to show faculty artist Leon Fleisher conducting —a unique view that only online viewers were able to
see. Camera operators Chris Kojzar and Jim Trone filmed the concert with guidance from the orchestra’s assistant conductor André Filipe Lousada. The concert opened with harpist Jasmine Hogan and a chamber group of nine other musicians performing Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro. Then faculty artist Soovin Kim, violin, joined the larger orchestra as the soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5
“Fantastic! I can’t go to Baltimore every week, after all…First ever live stream from the conservatory, and my first ever opportunity to see/ hear Soovin Kim ‘in the moment’ (from Boston!) And now for Schubert, led by Maestro Fleisher! :)” —Linda Granitto, a Conservatory parent living in Belmont, Mass., commenting in real time chat during the concert
in A major, K.219. When Kim occasionally turned toward the orchestra, the on-stage camera ensured that online viewers always had a view of his face. After intermission, the orchestra performed Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C major, “The Great,” D.944. Achieving the professional look and sound of the stream took great collaboration. The concert was filmed in high definition with a mixed sound feed from the recording arts studio across campus. In addition to technical assistance from recording arts, the project drew from several Peabody departments including the concert, ensembles, and information technology offices. Margaret Bell, Peabody communications specialist, served as the online moderator for the live stream, providing facts about the concert and answering questions in real time. While there were minor technical issues, feedback on the event was extremely positive—many said they hoped Peabody would continue such projects. The fully recorded concert can be watched on the Hopkins ustream channel at www.ustream.tv/channel/ johnshopkinsu. Plans for another live-streamed concert are in the works for the spring semester. Stay in touch and learn the details as they’re finalized by subscribing to Peabody’s monthly newsletter at peabody.jhu.edu/news or by liking Peabody Conservatory on Facebook. —Margaret Bell (L to R) Gus Sentementes with camera operators Chris Kojzar and Jim Trone, Peabody Symphony Orchestra’s assistant conductor André Filipe Lousada, and technical director Hiroshi Amano prepare for Peabody’s first live stream from Friedberg Hall.
M IC H A L DA N IE L
On the set of Silent Night, an opera by Kevin Puts that was broadcast by PBS in December.
Headliners Faculty artist Denyce Graves was presented with the Marian Anderson Living Legacy Award by Joan Wages, president of the National Women’s History Museum during the third annual de Pizan Honors ceremony on October 9. The award honors women who have shaped history. Other honorees of the evening included The Honorable Sally Jewell, Dr. Etta Pisano, and Phylicia Rashad. The lives and contributions of the award recipients will have a permanent presence, exhibited within the future National Women’s History Museum, at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The Minnesota Opera’s production of Silent Night, the Pulitzer Prize–winning opera by Peabody composition faculty member Kevin Puts, was broadcast by PBS during the month of December. The opera tells the story of a Christmastime ceasefire during World War I. Last summer, Puts’ Flute Concerto premiered at the Cabrillo Festival’s opening night on August 2, and he also appeared on NPR Classical with an essay titled “A Pulitzer Winner Asks: Why Write Symphonies?”
On June 11, the Peabody Consort, directed by faculty artist Mark Cudek (MM ’82, Lute) and featuring members of the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble, gave a concert titled “In the Circle of Henry VIII” at First Church in Boston, as part of the Boston Early Music Festival’s Young Performers Festival sponsored by Early Music America. A photo of the performance appeared on the cover of Early Music America’s fall issue. Following this concert, the Peabody Consort performed a 30-minute show for WGBH, the public broadcast radio station in southern New England.
The Peabody Wind Ensemble’s recording of Johan de Meij: The Symphonies is included in the first ballot round of the Grammy nom‑ inations as one of 20 entries in the Orchestra Performance category. The CD, released by Naxos, was recorded in Peabody’s Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall, mastered by Ed Tetreault in the Recording Arts Department, and produced by Harlan D. Parker, the ensemble’s director. It includes de Meij’s Symphony No. 1, “The Lord of the Rings”; Symphony No. 2, “The Big Apple”; and Symphony No. 3, “Planet Earth.”
Two chamber groups were selected as 2013–2014 Peabody Honors Ensembles: Divisio: Brian Kay, lute, oud, saz, komuz, jaw harp, percussion, vocals; Niccolo Seligmann, viol, medieval fiddels, kemence, rabab; Daniel Raney, percussion; and the Centre Street Quartet, pictured below: Michelle Shin, violin; Lucinda Chiu, violin; Dmitri Yevstifeev, viola; and Timothy Mar, cello. Divisio is the first early music ensemble chosen as an Honors Ensemble and has already performed in the Peabody on the Court series at the Walters Art Museum. The Peabody Honors Ensembles are chamber music ensembles, chosen by audition, that represent the highest level of chamber music achievement at Peabody.
PEABODY
President Barack Obama named Johns Hopkins trustee and Peabody National Advisory Council member Paula E. Boggs to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, an advisory council to the White House on cultural issues. Boggs led the global law department of Starbucks Coffee Company for 10 years and was on its executive team and secretary of the Starbucks Foundation. She also is the band leader and lead singer of the Paula Boggs Band and founded Boggs Media LLC.
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Documentary Captures Hersch at the Keyboard
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ust a few minutes into Richard Anderson’s artful half-hour documentary film The Sudden Pianist, celebrated composer Michael Hersch (BM ’95, MM ’97) confesses to his “deeply private relationship” with the piano, pointing out that he performs in public only “out of necessity,” such as when premiering one of his new works. Those moments deftly encapsulate the emotional intensity of the 42-year-old Hersch (chair of Peabody’s Composition Department), whose career as a composer has, to date, overshadowed his remarkable talent as a pianist.
“The film is very narrow in its focus,” explains Anderson, 63, a Baltimore-based photographer and filmmaker. “It’s about this hidden aspect of him as a pianist.” Created in 2011–2012, The Sudden Pianist alternates between scenes of Hersch speaking earnestly about the complex nature of the piano—which he began playing late, at age 19—and scenes of him in performance: some filmed by Anderson, some archival footage provided by Hersch himself. The pair met in 2007 during still photography sessions for the boxed-set CD release of Hersch’s acclaimed performance of his 140-minute solo piano composition, The Vanishing Pavilions. “We just had a certain chemistry,” recalls Anderson. “When he suggested that I could maybe do some filming of him playing and I actually saw him play, it became very clear to me that his music is best experienced in person.” Up until then, Hersch, “deeply private” both personally and professionally—he never looks into the camera during the film’s interview sequences—had repeatedly deflected efforts to chronicle his life.
“It never felt right,” Hersch says. “But I trusted Richard’s artistic sensibility and, foremost, trusted him as a person.” Still, Hersch set boundaries. At his request, Anderson did not include others in the film; only Hersch speaks. “I just wanted people to be able to interact with the ideas and the music on their own terms,” the composer explains. “I didn’t want people to feel like they were being sold something, that they were pressured into thinking something was good if they didn’t believe that.” Over the past year, the film’s positive reception—it was screened at Peabody this past November—at various film festivals has encouraged Anderson and Hersch to collaborate on an expanded, traditional documentary of the composer-pianist, one that will include commentary from other musicians, conductors, critics, composers, and members of Hersch’s family, including his French horn–playing brother, Jaime. “I had to grow into that,” Hersch notes. “Now I feel comfortable. He knows me well enough to know what not to do.” —Michael Yockel
Leith Symington Griswold’s Legacy Will Live On
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eith Symington Griswold, who attended both the Peabody Preparatory and Conservatory, passed away on October 29, 2013, at her Monkton, Md., home. She was 97. Born in Baltimore, she was the daughter of John Fife “Jack” Symington and Arabella Hambleton Symington. She grew up on the family’s Lutherville farm, Tallwood. Leith Symington Griswold was a dedicated and valued Peabody alumna. In the years since she studied piano, her family has shown extraordinary dedication to the mission of Peabody through philanthropy and service. Her son, Benjamin Griswold IV, chaired the Peabody Institute National Advisory Council for 17 years. Her lifelong love of music was acknowledged in 1998 when the Peabody Institute renamed its historic North Hall in her honor.
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(L to R) Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Donald Sutherland, Wendy Griswold, Benjamin H. Griswold IV, Leith Symington Griswold, Johns Hopkins University President William R. Brody, and Peabody Institute Director Robert Sirota at the dedication of the hall in 1998.
Originally a sculpture gallery, Griswold Hall is now one of the most visually and acoustically exquisite recital halls in the country. Front and center in Griswold Hall is a custom-built Holtkamp organ with more than 3,000 pipes. “This beautiful concert venue would not have been possible but for the steadfast support of Mrs. Griswold and her family,” noted Peabody Institute Director Jeffrey Sharkey. “Her generosity also established the Arabella Leith Symington Griswold Endowed Scholarship in Piano. The Griswold family’s commitment to Baltimore, the Johns Hopkins University, and the Peabody Institute is truly remarkable. They have created an environment of inspiration and celebration befitting their legacy. The impact of their giving can be felt and heard 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”—Patrick O’Neall
2014 mCDONOgH sUmmER pROgRams Day Camps
aCaDEmIC pROgRams
Red Feather for children turning four prior to June 23, 2014 and for five-year-olds not yet attending kindergarten Session 1: June 23 to July 11 Session 2: July 14 to August 1
american Immersion at mcDonogh
Red Eagle for boys and girls 5 to 8
Children play 2 Learn Robotics
(entering first grade and up in fall 2014) Session 1: June 23 to July 11 Session 2: July 14 to August 1
senior Camp for boys and girls ages 9 to 12 Session 1: June 23 to July 11 Session 2: July 14 to August 1
Outdoor adventure Camp
for boys and girls ages 10 to 15 Session 1: June 23 to July 11 Session 2: July 14 to August 1
all sports Camp
for boys and girls ages 8 to 13 Session 1: June 23 to July 11 Session 2: July 14 to August 1
Teen Camp
for boys and girls ages 13 to 15 Session 1: June 23 to July 11; Session 2: July 14 to August 1
Counselor-In-Training program for boys and girls ages 14 to 16 Session 1: June 23 to July 11 Session 2: July 14 to August 1
Ultimate Watersports
for boys and girls ages 9 to 16 Weekly: June 23 to August 1
Fun On The Run Camp
for boys and girls ages 11 to 14 Session 1: July 7 to July 11 Session 2: July 21 to July 25
aRTs pROgRams young actors Theatre
for boys and girls ages 10 to 16 June 23 to July 22
young actors Theatre: Behind the scenes sOLD for boys and girls ages 14 to 18 OUT June 23 to July 22
young Filmmakers Camp
for boys and girls ages 10 to 14 Session 1: June 23 to July 11; Session 2: July 14 to August 1
Visual arts Camp
for boys and girls ages 9 to 13 June 23 to July 11
Circus Camp Juniors
for boys and girls ages 6 to 8 Session 1: June 23 to June 27 Session 2: June 30 to July 3 (Independence Day Week) Session 3: July 7 to July 11
Circus Camp stars!
for boys and girls ages 9 to 15 Session 1: June 23 to June 27 Session 2: June 30 to July 3 (Independence Day week) Session 3: July 7 to July 11
for boys and girls 10 to 17 Session 1: June 22 to July 5 Session 2: July 6 to July 19 Session 3: July 20 to August 2 for boys and girls ages 8 to 13 Weekly: June 23 to August 1
Children play 2 Learn Technology for boys and girls ages 8 to 13 Weekly: June 23 to August 1
Children play 2 Learn Video game Design for boys and girls ages 10 to 14 Weekly: June 23 to August 1
mcDonogh International soccer school: “Kinderkick” Camp for boys and girls ages 4 to 6 July 7 to July 11
mcDonogh Fencing Camp
for boys and girls ages 8 to 13 Session 1: July 14 to July 18 Session 2: July 21 to July 25
BOys spORTs CLINICs mcDonogh Traditional Baseball school for boys ages 7 to 12 June 23 to July 11
mcDonogh Elite Baseball “Boot” Camp for boys ages 11 to 15 June 23 to June 27
Children play 2 Learn young Engineers
mcDonogh Lacrosse academy: Fundamental skills Camp
saT prep Course for boys and girls ages 15 to 17 June 23 to July 11
mcDonogh Lacrosse academy: advanced skills Camp for boys ages 9 to 14
for boys and girls ages 7 to 11 Weekly: June 23 through July 11
for boys ages 7 to 10 June 23 to June 27
June 23 to June 27
Writing strategies For McDonogh students only! Session 1: June 23 to June 27 (For rising sixth and seventh graders only)
mighty mites Novice Wrestling Camp
Session 2: July 7 to July 11 (For rising eighth and ninth graders only)
for boys ages 7 to 17 June 30 to July 3
mcDonogh Chess Camp for boys and girls ages 5 to 14 Session 1: June 23 to June 27 Session 2: June 30 to July 3 (Independence Day Week) Session 3: July 28 to August 1 Latin 1 Open to all rising 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, McDonogh and non-McDonogh students! June 23 to July 24 Biology For McDonogh students only! June 23 to August 1 Chemistry For McDonogh students only! June 23 to August 1
mcDonogh Competitive swim Camp for boys and girls ages 9 to 15 Session I: June 23 to June 27 Session II: July 7 to July 11
for girls ages 6 to 14 June 23 to June 27
mcDonogh girls Lacrosse Camp: advanced skills for girls ages 6 to 14 June 23 to June 27
Eagle Volleyball Camp
for girls ages 10 to 17 June 30 to July 3 (Independence Day week)
mcDonogh Field Hockey Camp for girls ages 8 to 13 July 14 to July 18
mCDONOgH INTERNaTIONaL sOCCER sCHOOL:
girls general skills Camp for girls ages 6 to 14 July 7 to July 11
girls Club Level Camp for girls ages 8 to 15
mcDonogh Baseball school: pitching and
Catching Camp for boys ages 11 to 15 June 30 to July 3 (Independence Day week) mcDonogh Baseball school: Hitting Camp
July 14 to July 18
July 21 to July 25
girls striker Camp for girls ages 10 to 16 July 28 to August 1
girls midfielder Camp for girls ages 10 to 16
July 28 to August 1
for boys ages 11 to 15 July 7 to July 11
girls Defender Camp for girls ages 10 to 16
Rising star Boys Basketball 1, 2 & 3
girls goalkeeper Camp for girls ages 10 to 16
for boys ages 8 to 15 Session 1: July 14 to July 18 Session 2: July 21 to July 25 Session 3: July 28 to August 1
mCDONOgH INTERNaTIONaL sOCCER sCHOOL: Boys general skills Camp for boys ages 6 to 14 July 7 to July 11
July 21 to July 25
for boys and girls ages 8 to 15 Weekly: June 23 to August 1
mcDonogh girls Lacrosse Camp: general skills
maryland Future Champs Wrestling Camp
spORTs CLINICs
mcDonogh Basics & Beyond golf Camp
for girls entering grades 4 to 9 June 23 to June 27
girls advanced program for girls ages 9 to 16
Boys advanced program for boys ages 9 to 14
for boys and girls ages 7 to 14 Weekly: June 23 to August 1
mcDonogh girls Basketball Camp
for boys ages 5 to 8 June 30 to July 3 (Independence Day week)
physics For McDonogh students only! June 23 to August 1
COED spORTs CLINICs The mcDonogh Tennis program
gIRLs spORTs CLINICs
July 14 to July 18
Boys Club Level Camp for boys ages 8 to 15 Boys striker Camp for boys ages 10 to 16 July 28 to August 1
Boys midfielder Camp for boys ages 10 to 16
July 28 to August 1
Boys Defender Camp for boys ages 10 to 16
July 28 to August 1
Boys goalkeeper Camp for boys ages 10 to 16 July 28 to August 1
matt stover Kicking Camp for boys ages 8 to 18 Date: TBA
mcDonogh squash and Badminton Camp
July 28 to August 1
July 28 to August 1
OVERNIgHT Camps Between the pipes growing goalies girls Lacrosse Camp
Junior High or Middle School girls; Grades 4-9 June 22 to June 24
Between the pipes super savers girls Lacrosse Camp for girls entering grades 9 to 12 June 24 to June 26
mCDONOgH INTERNaTIONaL sOCCER sCHOOL: preseason prep Overnight Camp for boys and girls ages 10 to 18 August 3 to August 6
Overnight striker Camp
for boys and girls ages 10 to 18 August 3 to August 6
Overnight midfielder Camp
for boys and girls ages 10 to 18 August 3 to August 6
Overnight Defender Camp
for boys and girls ages 10 to 18 August 3 to August 6
Overnight goalkeeper Camp
for boys and girls ages 9 to 15 June 23 to June 27
for boys and girls ages 10 to 18 August 3 to August 6
mcDonogh Rock shop
for boys and girls ages 9 to 15 Session 1: July 7 to July 18; Session 2: July 21 to August 1
advanced art Techniques: Drawing
DON’T LET yOUR CHILD mIss OUT ON a sUmmER OF FUN!
for boys and girls ages 9 to 14 July 21 to July 25
Camp Red Feather, Camp Red Eagle, Senior Camp, and Outdoor Adventure Camp all offer the traditional day-camp experience on our beautiful 800-acre campus. They include:
advanced art Techniques: painting
i free transportation i free lunch
for boys and girls ages 9 to 14 July 28 to August 1
i before and aftercare i multiple sibling discount
To find out about the 70 camps, sports clinics, and academic programs that McDonogh offers in the summer, call 443-544-7100, visit www.mcdonogh.org, or email summer@mcdonogh.org.
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Call now for early bird specials!
Dean Mellasenah Morris to Retire She came to Peabody at the age of 17 as a freshman pianist on full scholarship, and she wanted to do one thing: play piano. Almost 50 years later, Mellasenah Morris will retire this June as the dean of the Conservatory and deputy director of the Institute. And what she wants most is to get back to playing the piano. Her other retirement plans include spending time with her children, grandchildren, and husband —who have all recently returned to the Baltimore area. Her husband, Stephen Wright, has just joined the University of Maryland as the associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and associate director of Extension. In addition to her musical plans she will continue to serve as a consultant for school accreditations. Morris, who made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1979, was the first African American to serve as director of several music schools. She received her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from
Peabody and went on to teach and serve as an administrator—for more than 30 total years of service to this institution. “Mellasenah’s love for Peabody is always evident, as is her warmth and enthusiasm for the Institute,” says Peabody Director Jeffrey Sharkey. Indeed, Edwards has paved the way for many to follow, including her daughter Mellasenah Edwards, who earned a doctorate in violin from Peabody and now teaches at the Preparatory, and serves as the Music Department head at the Baltimore School for the Arts. Morris says that her diverse professional training at Peabody in piano, as well as teaching and administrative responsibilities, took her on a career path that she hadn’t anticipated. Early in her career she served as an academic counselor and then the assistant dean for academic affairs at Peabody. She went on to serve as dean of the school of music at Alabama State University, and director of the schools of music at James Madison University and at the Ohio State
University—serving as professor of piano at all three institutions. Morris has also been active in the National Association of Schools of Music, serving as a panelist, moderator, and presenter for numerous sessions at annual meetings and chairing accreditation teams. In her last five and a half years as dean at Peabody, Morris has been instrumental in crafting the Yong Siew Toh Singapore agreement, helming a review of and modifications to the undergraduate curriculum, creating new music minors, opening the Music Entrepreneurship and Career Center, and developing Peabody’s first strategic plan. One accomplishment of which she is most proud, she says, is bringing mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves to the Peabody voice faculty. For Morris, Peabody is home. She says, “There’s something about the feel of the place—the warmth. It’s like family.” While her work at Peabody has kept her very busy, she says, “the students are phenomenal. Whenever I hear a student performance, I know it’s all worth it.” —MB
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Head, Heart and Hands
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In Memoriam
Now you see it, now you don’t: ReadAhead, the app developed by faculty members Ken Johansen (left) and Travis Hardaway, relies on a disappearing act to improve sight reading.
New App Aims to Improve Sight Reading Skills
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ith a $100,000 grant from TEDCO and the Maryland Innovation Institute, two Peabody music theory instructors have created an iPad app that will make it easier than ever for musicians to hone their sight reading skills. Adjunct faculty member Travis Hardaway began with the idea of using technology to create musical notation that disappears as you play, forcing the musician to take in a small chunk and be able to focus ahead. When he learned that faculty member Ken Johansen had his own piano-related exercises for sight reading, they decided to combine their concepts—and ReadAhead was born. The end goal for their prototype is to have five levels of difficulty, making the product useful for advanced beginners and up. “You have to be able to read notes in the bass and treble clef, and understand key signatures, meter, and simple rhythms to use it,” Hardaway says. Users place the iPad on the music stand before playing, getting a half page of music on the screen in landscape position, never having to turn a page, he adds. “Based on five sessions per week, every day will give you a certain number of pieces and exercises,” explains Johansen, who teaches a Peabody course on sight reading for freshman piano majors.
“An example of a warm-up exercise is one for peripheral vision—you keep your eye on a red dot while things appear above and below the staff. It works on your focus.” These more experimental exercises are designed to help players learn to use a larger field of vision, Hardaway says. “This is primarily useful for learning to recognize rhythmic patterns that are ahead of the notes you are focusing on, but it helps you learn to take in more music with each eye fixation,” he says. The most important part of the session, Hardaway says, is literally a disappearing act. With 10 seconds to look at one screen of music, the player must scan it and figure out the difficulties. “The exercise metronome goes off,” Hardaway says. “It clicks off two measures, starts, and once you play the downbeat of the first measure, the whole measure disappears. You always have to be one step ahead.” It’s not a tool that will quickly lose its application. “Sight reading technique is achieved over a number of years because of the difficulty in manner of technique and musical understanding,” Johansen says. “We think this app can make a difference as a person progresses.” The goal is for an early spring rollout. —Eric Butterman
Former longtime Peabody Institute faculty member Yong Ku Ahn, founder of Maryland’s Columbia Orchestra, died on August 14, 2013, at the age of 85. Ahn was a full-time member of the Conservatory violin faculty from September 1968 through June 1993 when he retired. He then continued to teach in the Conservatory on a limited basis from September 1993 through January 2002. He also taught in the Preparatory from July 1978 through June 1985. In 1978, Ahn launched the Columbia Orchestra in the basement of his home, where he gave lessons to participating musicians to help them learn their parts. The orchestra grew from an initial group of 25 to 30 string players to become a full wind orchestra that is “a pillar of the local arts community,” according to The Washington Post. Sidney S. Forrest, an esteemed clarinet teacher who had taught generations of students at Peabody and the Levine School of Music in Washington, died on August 9, 2013, at the age of 94. Forrest, who served on the Peabody Conservatory faculty from 1946 to 1985, continued to give private lessons at his home in Kensington, Md., until his death. Forrest was also a talented performer, who played in recitals and chamber music concerts at the Library of Congress and the National Gallery of Art. A career highlight included his performance of Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, with the composer conducting, at the Pan American Union building in Washington, D.C.
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Preparatory News Celebrating Pre-College Violin Playing and Teaching
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he Peabody Preparatory String Department will host the second Violin Pedagogy Weekend on April 4–6. This weekend brings together teachers and students from around the country for three days of workshops and master classes focused on pre-college violin training with Peabody Conservatory faculty and guest Mimi Zweig. Faculty and students from Indiana University String Academy, Wyoming String Academy, Northwestern University Strings, and the String Academy of Wisconsin will join the Peabody Violin Choir and the Pre-Conservatory Violin Program in the Violin Pedagogy Concert on Sunday, April 6, at noon, which will be followed by the Peabody Young People’s String Program Spring Concert at 3:00 pm in Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall. “I am enjoying bringing all parties together to celebrate pre-college violin playing and teaching at Peabody,” says Rebecca Henry, the Scott Bendann Faculty Chair in Classical Music. “I hope that visiting participants will pick up on the collaborative and vibrant flavor of our environment—and a special treat will be hearing each of the five Conservatory violin faculty giving a master class in one day.”—Staff Reports
Pre-K at Play On October 3, thousands of Baltimore’s 4- and 5-year-olds visited attractions around the city for the annual Pre-K at Play. At Peabody, through a visit coordinated by faculty member Dan Trahey, some 30 Pre-K students enjoyed a presentation by trumpeter Joe Burgstaller, brass students, and Tuned-In students. The youngsters also attended the Thursday Noon recital. Now in its fourth year, Pre-K at Play is part of a Baltimore City Schools’ initiative to support early learning through exploration and play.
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APPLAUSE
ACCO M P L I S H M E N TS O F FAC U LTY A N D ST U D E N TS
FACULTY Faculty artist Manuel Barrueco (BM ’75, Guitar) performed a commissioned piece by Jonathan Leshnoff (BA ’95, Anthropology; BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition) with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on January 9 and 12, 2013. The performance was highlighted in the October issue of Baltimore magazine. Computer Music faculty member
McGregor Boyle (MM ’85,
Guitar; DMA ’90, Composition) has been busy with performances of his video piece, Another August Night. This piece takes the music of Boyle’s previous work, August Nights, and uses the software Max/MSP/Jitter to create a video using real time analysis of the music. The images are based on photographs taken by the composer’s wife, Kelly, which are animated by the software to create abstract images in relation to the music. Another August Night received its world premiere at the International Computer Music Conference in Lubljana, Slovenia, in September 2012. The U.S. premiere occurred at the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States National Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, in April. It was also performed at the Electroacoustic Barn Dance festival in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in November.
Peabody trumpet faculty Joe Burgstaller’s new solo CD, License to Thrill, has been played on more than 110 radio stations across the United States and was the subject of an hourlong feature on Sirius-XM Radio. He
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was also profiled in an hourlong segment of The INNERView (average viewership of 50 million) on Korea’s Arirang Television on September 30. Burgstaller is in the midst of a CD release season, making more than 25 solo appearances in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Hamburg, as well as cities in Korea, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand, and 13 U.S. states and the Virgin Islands. In every city he visits, Burgstaller will also give master classes, including his groundbreaking Change Your Mind, Change Your Playing classes. Throughout December, Burgstaller performed as part of the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet. He was also a featured soloist at the 2014 Water Island Music Festival, founded by Julian Gargiulo (MM ’97, Piano), from January 13 to 19 on Water Island (U.S. Virgin Islands). In April, Burgstaller will visit Colombia, along with Daniel Trahey (BM ’00, Tuba, Music Education), to work with children and establish a brass pedagogy system in that country’s version of El Sistema, called Batuta.
Slutsky at the Community
Concerts at Second in Baltimore on September 22. The program included works by Beethoven, Martinu, and Dvořák. The trio is in residence at the University of Baltimore, where they performed the string trios of Beethoven on October 8. Jonathan Palevsky (MM ’86, Guitar), WBJC radio host, provided commentary.
Faculty artist Julian Gray (BM ’79, MM ’82, Guitar) wrote an article that appeared in the fall issue of Soundboard, a magazine by the Guitar Foundation of America, titled “Learning to Learn: The Ten ‘Laws’ of Learning.”
On October 28, Audrey Cardany, music education
Michael Hersch (BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition) was interviewed by Philadelphia’s David Patrick Stearns on WRTI about his new opera, On the Threshold of Winter, which will be premiered next summer in New York by the Nunc new music ensemble. Richard Anderson’s film about Hersch, The Sudden Pianist, was named an official selection of the New York City Independent Film Festival, where it was screened October 18–20. (See p. 6 for more.)
The Aspen String Trio, whose members include viola faculty member Victoria Chiang, performed with pianist and Peabody faculty member Boris
Ildar Khannanov, a music theory faculty member, is one of the initiators of the Russian Society for Theory of Music, which originated in 2011. Its first annual meeting took place September 30 to October 2 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The event gathered 50 presenters from the leading conservatories of the Russian Federation, as well as 20 presenters from abroad, including the United States, Germany,
faculty member, presented a session on music and language titled “KBAM! Kids, Books & Music,” at the National Association for Music Education’s (NAfME) national in-service conference for music educators in Nashville, Tennessee.
France, Netherlands, Israel, Australia, Great Britain, Ukraine, and Belarus. In 2012, the Russian Cultural Center at the Russian Embassy awarded Khannanov a Certificate of Recognition for his contribution to the RussianAmerican relationship.
Hollis Robbins, chair of the
Department of Humanities at Peabody, was quoted in a New York Times article, “Professor Says He Has Solved a Mystery Over a Slave’s Novel.”
The second annual BCO Summer Conducting Course with Markand Thakar, codirector of Peabody’s Conducting program, took place last July. The course brought 10 earlycareer conductors from around the world to the Hopkins campus to work with Maestro Thakar and Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. In August he made his debut with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in a well-received concert. And he is currently preparing his third book, On Conducting, for publication by University of Rochester Press.
Musicology faculty member Joshua Walden’s edited volume, Representation in Western Music, was published by Cambridge University Press in May. Walden’s book, Sounding Authentic: The Rural Miniature and Musical Modernism, was published in the AMS Studies in Music series of Oxford University Press in December. In November, Walden chaired a session on “Jewish Representations” at the American Musicological Society meeting in Pittsburgh.
“Evidence for Glarean’s music lectures from his students’ books: Congruent annotations in the Epitome and the Dodekachordon,” co-authored by Susan Forscher Weiss, chair of the Musicology Department, is one of the essays featured in Heinrich Glarean’s Books: The Intellectual World of a Sixteenth-Century Musical Humanist, edited by Iain Fenlon and Inga Mai Groote. Weiss has also recently been appointed a visiting professor at Harvard’s Villa i Tatti in Florence, Italy, for Fall 2014.
by the Presser Foundation in Pennsylvania. Master’s computer music student Yiyi Cui received the Excellence Prize in the Musicacoustica-Beijing Competition. Her audio/video work, Beijing Impression, placed in the top 10 in the Multimedia Music of Electroacoustic Music and Video category. In the piece, she combined Eastern and Western musical elements to convey the different sides of Beijing.The judges praised her composing skills, noting that her piece touched their hearts. Cui is a student of McGregor Boyle.
MA L DRUSKIN
Harpist Anna Dunlap, a Preparatory student of Michaela Trnkova, was selected as one of the winners in the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra’s First Annual Young Artists’ Competition. She will play Debussy’s Danse Profane in April with the orchestra. The Estelle Dennis/Peabody Dance Training Program for Boys is featured in an article in Dance Teacher, “Boy Crazy: Five Strategies to Fill Your Program with Males.” The program, which was introduced five years ago, concentrates on attracting boys 9–11 years old, with auditions held in local schools. There are four all-male classes a week in three levels for the 30 boys in the program. Barbara Weisberger, artistic advisor for Peabody Dance, and Timothy RinkoGay, former coordinator for the dance program, are quoted in the article.
STUDENTS Senior Jennifer Nicole Campbell, a piano student of Brian Ganz, was awarded the Undergraduate Presser Scholar Award for the 2013–14 academic year. Based on high academic achievement and musical merit in the professional world, the award is given to one rising senior in the undergraduate class
but enough to whet the appetite. And, eloquently accompanied by pianist Celeste Johnson, Alexandra Razskazoff and baritone Fitzgerald St. Louis brought a good deal of nuance to a couple of songs that revealed Poulenc’s distinctive, affecting lyricism.” Johnson is in the studio of Eileen Cornett. Razskazoff and St. Louis study with Stanley Cornett and William Sharp, respectively.
Handong Park, a Peabody Preparatory student, was selected as a first flute to perform with the All-National Concert Band in Nashville, Tennessee Park was eligible because he had been selected to All-Eastern last year. He participated in the All-National Honor Ensemble program, October 27–30. Members of the Peabody Brass Ensemble, under the direction of Peabody faculty member James Olin, performed as soloists with the Maryland Band Directors Band at the Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, on October 10. Peabody trumpeters Annaliese Perrett, Joshua Ganger, Jessica Stein, and Shengduo Chen, and trombonists, Harry Oehler, Ian Striedter, and Joel Kilgore were featured soloists in Gordon Jacob’s Music for a Festival for Brass Septet and Band.
Master’s voice student Kristina Gaschel, soprano, was the winner of the New York State Music Teachers Association Empire Competition, held in Albany. She is in the studio of Marianna Busching. Master’s vocal accompanying student Celeste Johnson, BM voice student Alexandra Razskazoff, and GPD voice student Fitzgerald St. Louis were praised in The Baltimore Sun for their performances at the Lyric Opera Baltimore’s 2013–14 preview concert. Tim Smith wrote, “There was only a brief excerpt of Dialogues,
Peabody Preparatory alumna
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt is the violist with the Dover Quartet, which swept the awards at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition. In addition to
winning first place and the $25,000 prize, the quartet also won awards for their performances of a Schubert quartet, a Haydn quartet, and Canadian composer Vivian Fung’s String Quartet No. 3, which was commissioned for the competition. The quartet also won the Esterhazy Foundation Prize, a recital in Haydn Hall at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria. Pajaro-van de Stadt was a student of Preparatory faculty member Libby Bellamy.
I-Wen Wang, a Graduate Performance Diploma piano student of Benjamin Pasternack, was invited by the Taiwan Artists Ensemble to play recitals in Taiwan and was interviewed by a national radio station in May. In June, Wang attended the Round Top Festival Institute in Texas as a tuition-free scholarship recipient and won the Best of 2013 Chamber Music Program with the Shostakovich Piano Quintet. Wang also attended the Tel Hai International Piano Master Class in Israel as a Yefim Bronfman Piano Scholarship recipient.
For regular Peabody news updates, please subscribe to Peabody’s monthly What’s New email newsletter at www.peabody.jhu.edu/news. To submit news about Peabody students, alumni, or faculty, email news@lists.peabody.jhu.edu.
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The Nature Leading Peabody faculty tell why they foster an ethos of encouragement— rather than “tough love” and rivalry—in their commitment to train top musicians. BY ALAN H. FEILER 1 4
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of Nurture
Amit Peled (left) in the studio with student Jan Fuller. Photo: Will Kirk, homewoodphoto.jhu.edu
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J
an Fuller fidgets nervously gazes into Fuller’s anxious eyes. “Just do while sitting on a cushioned it, Jan,” Peled says. “It’s all there.” bench outside of Amit Peled’s Over the course of their lesson, office studio on the fourth floor Peled talks to Fuller about trying new of Leakin Hall. An amiable techniques, such as breath control, arm 19-year-old Peabody freshman, placement, and “pinching” his fingers Fuller cradles his cello and checks in a particular manner on the fretboard his watch sporadically while waiting for to avoid “over-decorating” notes. “Don’t Peled, who is running a few minutes late. be nervous, because you’ll shake and be Fuller rises like a dutiful protégé less musical,” he says. “Don’t ever lose when Peled shows up. The tall, lanky, the chord. Much better! Bravo!” Israeli-born instructor is a bit winded At the end of their hour together, and his long, dark locks are rather Fuller places his cello and bow back tousled, but the two men shake hands into a case and informs Peled that he “Peabody professors try to help us shape our paths,” says award-winning composer Angel Lam. warmly and enter the studio. Taking off plans to enter a prestigious competition his tweed sports jacket, Peled immediately turns up the heat and will try to win. Again, Peled shakes his head. “You don’t and draws a couple of curtains to keep picturesque Mount want to try, Jan. You want to win,” he says. “That’s the right attiVernon Place out of view and maximize his pupil’s potential for tude. Don’t do competitions as an exercise or experiment full concentration. or just to play. That’s a waste of time. You want to win!” Peled and Fuller then sit in a pair of chairs facing each other When exiting the studio, Fuller looks like he could easin the middle of the studio, their cellos nestled between their ily float above Mount Vernon and high-five the statue of the knees and their eyes fixed directly on each other. NineteenthFounding Father perched atop the Washington Monument. and 20th-century cello masters stare down from photographs He unabashedly admits to being enamored with his instrucon the walls. tor—“I just love this guy!”—whom he says is a clear reflection “So, how did it go?” Peled queries Fuller about a recent and the living embodiment of Peabody. performance in New York. The student hesitates for a moment “I think learning takes place in many different forms,” says and responds, “Well, it was good. My biggest problem is that I Fuller, who grew up in Concord, N.H., won top honors at the get nervous.” Peled waves his hand dismissively. “Look,” he says, Libby Family Concerto Competition in 2012, and attended “everyone has that fear. You must overcome it. Everyone must. the New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School. It’s not like practicing at home. The stage is totally different. You “Being at Peabody, we get constructive criticism, but we all must prepare for it. You don’t just go out there.” know it’s for a good purpose. We’re here to learn, and I don’t Plucking the strings of his instrument unconsciously, Peled feel intimidated at all. I feel very comfortable with Amit. asks Fuller what he was doing shortly before the concert. Fuller He’s so busy in his life, yet he always tries to help you find your replies that he meditated. Peled shakes his head. His manner voice and help you get better.” is firm and authoritarian, but his tone is always reassuring and In the mind’s eye of the public, there is a timeworn caricacaring, almost paternal, but not patronizing. ture about music conservatory teachers. Often of European “It’s very personal what people do before a concert,” Peled provenance and with thick accents—as the stereotype goes— says. “But right before you go onstage, you should just play and they tend to rant at their young, nervous charges when they play and play. Be completely warmed up. That’s what athletes play a false note or fail to grasp a key component of music do. They pump up the muscles before a game.” He stops and theory. That image may be a thing of the past, but there is a 16
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“There’s a general synchronicity in the way many of the professors approach teaching, and this was the case when I was a student. To have three or four generations interacting and who came through the same walls and with the same vision of music is special.” —Michael Hersch, chair, Peabody Composition Department
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omposition strong sentiment among some that Department Chair “tough love” works best in producing Michael Hersch, 42, premier music students. After all, in came to Peabody a field as highly competitive, specialas a student in 1992 ized, and often marginalized as music, and began teaching such a culture—where the milieu and at the Conservatory eight years ago. instructors are no-nonsense, relentlessly He chose to study at Peabody because demanding, and ceaselessly critical— of its reputation for excellence and might make sense to some. The logic is “because it felt inviting and warm.” that survival in a music career requires “There’s a continuity and a shared that type of harsh, take-no-prisoners vision passed down from generation to approach. generation,” says Hersch, “and that has “There’s a lot of rivalry and pressure fostered a friendly environment that in European conservatories—you must Peabody faculty are “supportive emotionally and not dictatorial,” says pianist Eric Zuber. contributes to everything here.” make it big. That’s here in the States, Hersch says that virtually all of his original teachers are too,” says Gustav Meier, Peabody’s Swiss-born c0-director of still here. “There’s a good mix of three and four generations that the graduate conducting program, who attended a conservatory are well-represented among the teachers at Peabody, includin Switzerland for six years. “There’s teaching by terror, which ing my generation, and now some of my [former] students are I’ve experienced, where teachers go for the negative all the time teaching here,” Hersch says. “So there’s a general synchronicity so students work harder and get better. It does work, particuin the way many of the professors approach teaching, and this larly for learning more pieces, but only to a certain extent.” was the case when I was a student. To have three or four genHowever, Peabody has long employed a different modus erations interacting and who came through the same walls and operandi and as a result enjoys a reputation for having a with the same vision of music is special.” nurturing ethos, say many students, alumni, and faculty Because much of the learning at conservatories like Peabody members. The approach appears to get results, judging by the is one-on-one, Hersch says the degree of nurturing and myriad national and international awards and honors received camaraderie usually depends on the individuals. “It’s a very by Peabody alumni over the years, including most recently unique bond,” he says. “The best kind of relationship is based on a Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo won approachability, while keeping a healthy distance. My old proin 2013 by violist Kim Kashkashian; and first prize in the fessors were approachable, and I think that’s passed down. The Bösendorfer USASU International Piano Competition for ultimate way to nurture is to be honest and talk to [students] pianist and Peabody doctor of musical arts degree candidate about what it means to be a musician in this world, which is Eric Zuber (see “Noteworthy” on p. 19 for other top student getting more difficult.” awards). Hersch believes that one of Peabody’s strengths is that the “Talent is to be nurtured, not driven, and I’ve felt that since Institute does not dictate how instructors should teach. “There’s I came here 12 years ago,” says Meier. “Teaching by terror a freedom of thought and a tremendous malleability given to doesn’t work in the long term. The extreme anxiety usually the faculty,” he says. Hersch has found a shared vision between makes students quit. They need all the encouragement and faculty members from different departments that contributes confidence they can get. We have to be friends, in a way, and to the environment. “The atmosphere is inherently supportsupport students with their projects and to follow up. It’s a ive among the disciplines,” he says. “Peabody has a natural tradition here, something that’s just in the air.” PEABODY
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“When you go out in the real world, you have to really fight for your spot, and there are a lot of sharks. Here, you don’t have sharks. You feel comfortable to grow and blossom.” —Amit Peled, Peabody cello faculty
integration between the departments and an integrated curiosity that stretches across all of these disciplines. It’s in the DNA, this type of collaboration, and I think it’s quite rare.” Cello faculty artist Peled has performed in major concert halls throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and is one of only a few cellists in the world to have had the honor of using the famous Pablo Casals cello. Some of Peled’s students have won the prestigious Schmidbauer International Young Artist competition. He believes that Peabody’s location in Baltimore contributes to the spirit of warmth that defines the Institute. He says the city’s vibe as a middle-tier town with a slower tempo than, say, New York or Chicago, but with proximity to the East Coast’s larger metropolitan areas and their music venues, informs Peabody a great deal. “At Peabody, you can appreciate your friends and colleagues,” says Peled, who first came to the Institute 11 years ago. “Often, the students were the best in their areas. Maybe they were the best cello player in Nebraska, but they come here and see some students from all over the world who may be better than them. That’s sometimes hard to deal with, but they learn here how to play and get through it. “When you go out in the real world, you have to really fight for your spot, and there are a lot of sharks. Here, you don’t have sharks. You feel comfortable to grow and blossom. Naturally, there is competition, but it’s a healthy one. Students want to be picked as the best, and you want performers to be the best in their fields. But it’s always healthy.” In that vein, Peabody faculty members work hard at not playing favorites and pitting students against each other to create unnecessary rivalries, says Gustav Meier. “Sometimes, one has a tendency to pick someone out and give them more attention because they might ‘make it big,’ but I’ve never seen that at Peabody,” he says. “No student is given more attention because of talent, so there’s no rivalry or anger between them. The students want encouragement but also tradition and guidance and constructive criticism, not comparisons or competition. Each student should have a chance to succeed and should be treated with respect.” Angel Lam, a 2011 Peabody graduate and former instructor 18
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who is now a composer and teacher in New York, feels that is what makes Peabody different. Stirring up “negativity and debates among the students … can lead to a lot of negative energy,” she says. “Peabody professors believe in artistic vision and try to help us shape our paths. It’s so helpful when mentors help us explore our visions.” Peabody faculty members tend to give students a great deal of room to explore while providing a road map for potential growth. For example, the Hong Kong–born Lam—who has received three Carnegie Hall commissions, was voted “artist of the month” by Musical America magazine, and received a Grammy nomination in 2011 for one of her compositions on the CD Off the Map—says Peabody instructors often inform students about competitions, rather than expecting “you to find out for yourself.” That generosity of spirit is what keeps students coming back to Peabody, according to pianist Zuber. Zuber, 28, started at Peabody Preparatory at age 6 and entered the conservatory a decade later. He is currently pursuing a doctor of musical arts degree at Peabody, but he previously studied at other conservatories. “The faculty at Peabody is second to none,” Zuber says. “They really care for their students, and that’s unique. Each one has [his or her] own style. Some are more stern than others, but among the ones I know they’re very supportive emotionally and not dictatorial. From my personal experience, the faculty here have been kind and supportive and wonderful to work with, with an immense knowledge of their craft.” For example, Zuber alludes to his longtime teacher Boris Slutsky, chair of the Piano Department at Peabody. Over the years, he says, he and Slutsky have developed an incredibly strong relationship and rapport that goes beyond pupil and instructor. “He has given me so much attention, even beyond piano matters, and I hear other faculty members at Peabody do the same,” Zuber says. “He goes beyond what is required of a teacher. ... There’s a special dynamic between students and faculty. You get a lot of personal attention at Peabody, and I’ve never heard any students say their teachers put them down or made them [feel] bad.”
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ore than two decades ago, Boris Slutsky says he was asked where his ideal teaching job would be. “I said, ‘Peabody,’ because after my several visits to Peabody I was really impressed with the collegiality of the faculty and the interaction with, and devotion of the faculty to, the students, and with the musical spirit that reminded me of my upbringing in Moscow,” he recalls. “Little did I know I’d be working there in a few years.” The Russian-born Slutsky feels that there is room for different approaches within the music academic world. “Every conservatory has its own way of operating,” he says. “Some places are very competitive, and that helps them thrive more in some respects. Some people need to be challenged in that way. It all depends on who you are and what you’re looking for.” Amit Peled recalls one student years ago who decided to leave Peabody. His reason, according to Peled, was that the
Institute was brimming with “too much positive energy,” and he needed to study at a place with what he considered more of a competitive edge and artistic tension. “Some people need someplace with more tension, like New York, where the tempo is different,” Peled says with a shrug of the shoulders. “Some people don’t like all of the positive energy here, or they can’t handle it. Look, I’m a tough teacher and sometimes my students cry. They worry about what they’ll do after they graduate. But you have to be disciplined on a daily basis and try to give them the tools to become great musicians. Your job is to be tough with them and say, ‘Find your own voice and fight for it.’ So you have to be demanding but nurturing as well. You have to help them blossom.” Alan Feiler is a Baltimore freelance writer and frequent contributor to Johns Hopkins publications.
NOTEWORTHY Peabody students routinely achieve at the highest levels, in competitions across the country and around the world. A sampling of recent achievements: Senior Alexandra Razskazoff, soprano, was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions in Philadelphia. Marianna Prjevalskaya, a doctoral piano student of Boris Slutsky, was the gold medalist in the World Piano Competition. Master of Music candidate Brian Kay (BM ’13, Early Music) won the Lute Society of America’s Emerging Artist Competition for the second time.
E VA VASQ UEZ
Jordan Thomas (BM ’13, Harp) won first place in the American Protégé International Concerto Competition. Hans Goldstein (BM ’10, Cello) and Artist Diploma candidate Dmitry Volkov, both students of Amit Peled, are the top prizewinners at the George and Peggy Schmidbauer International Competition at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Doctor of Musical Arts candidate Eunkyung Yoon, a student of Yong Hi Moon, won second prize in the Second Asia-Pacific International F. Chopin Piano Competition in Korea with a cash award of €10,000. Maria Victoria Pedrero (GPD ’11, Cello; GPD ’13, Chamber Music), who was a cello student of Amit Peled, was awarded first prize in the American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF) Golden Strings of America International String Competition. Gemma New (MM ’11, Conducting) won first place in the college/ university orchestra division of this year’s American Prize Awards for orchestra conducting. Petrit Çeku (GPD ’11, Guitar), who was a student of Manuel Barrueco, won the Gold Medal at the Parkening International Guitar Competition at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
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Finding Their Voice The kids in Peabody’s Tuned-In program wanted to be heard. Tia Price and Natalie Draper have made that happen, with an empowering composition that will premiere in April. BY JOE SUGARMAN
Draper (left) and Price, with students from Tuned-In.
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JUST I N TS UC A LAS
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s part of a work-study program last year, Tia Price spent every Saturday serving as the secretary for the Peabody Preparatory. While the master’s degree student in voice was busy answering phones and helping parents, students from Tuned-In, Peabody’s scholarship program for musically talented Baltimore city youth, would stop by to share with her stories about their days or to ask for one of the lollipops she kept on her desk. Last spring, when Peabody began accepting applications for the Presser Award, a $10,000 stipend given to an exceptional graduate student to fund a musical project, Price wondered if she could somehow use the award to help the kids who had become so close to her. She woke up one morning with a crazy idea. “I thought how awesome would it be if they could write down their thoughts and then somehow share them with the community. Obviously, they wanted to be heard because they never stopped talking around my desk,” she says. “And they had such great things to say.” In her Presser application, Price, a mezzo-soprano who studies under Peabody faculty member Denyce Graves, outlined her plan: The students’ own writings would become the basis for a song cycle, a multi-movement composition, which the 50 or so kids—a mix of vocalists and instrumentalists— from Tuned-In would perform at Peabody, as well as at other venues around Baltimore. She found a willing composer in Natalie Draper, a Peabody doctoral candidate in composition. Price applied for the $10,000 award—and won. “Honestly, I thought the idea was brilliant,” recalls Gavin Farrell, interim dean of the Peabody Preparatory. “What made Tia’s proposal stick out was that it combined community outreach with commissioning and premiering a new work. Any of those three things would have been enough to merit consideration for the award, but combining the three is what made Tia’s proposal so special.”
Price began the project by visiting Tuned-In classes and asking the students, ages 8 to 19, to take five minutes to just write down whatever came to mind. Their responses were funny and angry and poetic. “Good kid in a mad city. Escaping society. I never get attention. Keeping my determination because I know everybody is hating. And they hated me when I was winning, but losing is uncreative. Making music. Peabody play list. Swear to God, one day I’m going to be known to the nation!” Price knew she was onto something. “I e-mailed Natalie immediately and told her that this was going to be wonderful. I was in tears. I had no idea it was going to be this powerful.” Draper was also blown away. “It was just incredible how much strength was in all of their writings,” she says. “How much confidence despite this feeling of not being taken seriously, of vulnerability.” But the composition needed focus, so Price and Draper decided to have the students confine their thoughts to four specific areas: Baltimore, Love, Expectations, and Music. Those subjects would become the basis for the first four of the work’s five movements, the finale being a woodwind fanfare, performed by the Preparatory Wind Orchestra, which also includes students from Tuned-In. For Draper, the real challenge was trying to combine all the disparate thoughts and ideas into a cohesive composition. “We had to piece together the different writings to form a narrative, something that could be set to music so it wasn’t just a series of dislocated ideas,” she says. “Tia would type up the students’ writings, and we would find connections between the ideas and pare them down to make a text that made sense. And luckily, they do hang together.” The result is a 96-page, 20-minute-long composition the two titled This Is My Voice. “I thought they did an amazing job,” says Elijah Wirth, who, as conductor of the Wind Orchestra, worked closely with the duo as the project evolved. “Some of the content is very intense, PEABODY
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and some is definitely written by 12-year-olds, but at the same time, the way Natalie set it all to the music was very complex and artistic. It’s going to come off very well in the performance.” In the first and third movements, Draper has students speaking, whispering, and clapping. She even worked in a rap as well as several rhythmic refrains: “B’more that’s for sure. Come ’round and smack you down.” “A lot of what they were doing is very rhythmic, and I wanted that to be part of the musical texture,” says Draper. “As part of their experience in the Tuned-In program they all participated in a bucket band ensemble, and rhythmic clapping games are also a common musical language for kids. I wanted to be doing that in the piece as well.” The second movement, “Love,” features Price singing the refrain, “Let’s not talk about love,” a line one of the kids wrote because the subject was too difficult or personal to address. And then, “Love is hard. It shows our deepest side. … Love makes you speechless.” “It’s a very affirming story,” says Farrell. “It goes into these deeper thoughts, but brings it back to the idea that ‘I’m a musician. This is my voice.’ In the end, I think it’s very successful. It takes those ideas and makes it into an overall message of empowerment.” Price says she sees a lot of herself in the Tuned-In students,
MEETING OF THE MINDS When classical music students from Peabody mix it up with Baltimore’s top gospel talent, only good things can happen. BY JOE SUGARMAN
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many of whom come from low-income households. Price was raised by her grandparents in rural West Virginia, and often didn’t have anyone with whom to share her thoughts. “Music saved me,” she says. “I felt all these things, but I didn’t have anyone to listen to me. But [when I was singing on stage], I had a full audience. …You might not be able to express those feelings in just speaking with someone, but you can use [the arts] to express them. And that’s what I wanted to give to the kids. That’s what music has been to me.” Using some of her award money, Price has contracted three vocal coaches to assist with rehearsals before the production’s April debut. She also hopes to perform the work at area churches, schools, and other Baltimore venues. She admits that during the performance she’s going to have a hard time keeping her emotions in check. “I have 50 kids and they’re all so important to me. … [Tuned In] is about creating better students who know how to express themselves. Those kids are never going to forget the experiences they had here, and whether they become musicians or scientists or whatever, this is something that is very much going to enrich their souls, like it’s enriched mine. I know this is something they’re going to remember.” This is My Voice will premiere at Peabody’s Friedberg Concert Hall on April 4 at 5:00 pm.
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ike many great ideas, the inspiration for Andrew Talle’s course on gospel music in Baltimore was hatched in a most unlikely place: an auto body repair shop. It was in the garage’s waiting room seven years ago that Talle, a Peabody musicology faculty member, overheard Marcus Smith, minister of music for Ark Church, talking about some musical selections at a recent Sunday service. The two began discussing their mutual love of music, and Smith invited Talle to attend a service with his North Avenue congregation. Talle, a cellist, took him up on the offer, and he’s been coming regularly—and frequently performing with the choir—ever since. Last spring, as part of his class, The African-American Gospel Tradition in Baltimore, the Peabody instructor brought his 11 students to perform, as well. “I hoped that I could introduce my students to a style of music that they probably didn’t know very much about, just like I didn’t know very much about it seven years ago,” says Talle, who notes with a laugh that it took him that long to work up the nerve to teach such a course. “I hoped that it would broaden their horizons, that they would develop a sense for a different style of music, a different way that they could go about making music.”
Peabody students make music with members of the Ark Church.
As part of the course, which he is teaching again this spring, Talle invited Smith as well as other local church music directors, musicians, and singers to share with his students their backgrounds and how they learned their craft. Then the music directors would lead a selection or two from their upcoming Sunday services. Rehearsals in the classroom were casual and loose, forcing students to improvise when they performed. “It was a very different thing than what we’re used to,” says Stephen Dunlap, who took the course last spring while pursuing a master’s in saxophone performance. “They would give us the instruction orally while we’re used to having all the sheet music in front of us. It pushed us to do things we weren’t used to doing, to play by ear. We want to play the right notes straight through. They really just want you to go for it.” “Classical music students don’t generally create music,” explains Talle. “They re-create music written down for them by Bach or Beethoven or whomever. Trying to actually make up the music on the fly and come up with a part for yourself, that is something that is absolutely essential in gospel and something my students really benefited from trying to do.” Talle also wanted his students to experience the feeling of having an audience scream, shout, and applaud in the middle of a performance, another aspect foreign to classical music venues but expected in the gospel tradition. Talle believes that the encouraging atmosphere is essential in helping often self-taught gospel musicians become so good at what they do. “If you’re playing well then everyone is shouting at you at once,” he says. “Your grandmother and your cousin and your younger sister, everyone is totally enthusiastic and encouraging.
It’s not like they’ve come to your recital just to be polite. They’re listening carefully and they really care about what you’re doing and it just encourages these kids on to greater and greater feats of musical accomplishment.” “You sing one note and everyone starts screaming. It was so cool!” says GPD student Brie Pasko, a soprano. “ It’s so not what classical music is. Both traditions are absolutely wonderful, but this was very, very different.” As part of the course, students had to read histories of gospel music and keep journals of their experiences performing at the various churches. Talle also invited other guest lecturers, such as Peabody librarian Jennifer Ottervik, who had previously taught courses about African music and spirituals, and Humanities faculty member Hollis Robbins, a specialist in African-American literature. So how did the church congregants react to their visitors from Peabody? “The congregation really enjoyed it,” says Smith. “The choir members loved it. “And the Peabody students were great. They were humble and willing to do it all. Seeing the different cultures come together and seeing the respect in what they both do, all of that builds community.” Talle hopes to expand this spring’s session by bringing several church choirs to perform at Peabody. He says he’d like the whole Hopkins community to share in something that has added so much to his life, something he literally discovered by accident. “Crashing my car was one of the best things that ever happened to me in Baltimore,” he says.
Baltimore-based freelance writer Joe Sugarman was formerly the editor of Style magazine. PEABODY
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Dear Fellow Peabody Alumni, Things have been very busy at Peabody and with the Society of Peabody Alumni (SPA), which continues in pursuit of our mission of creating community, supporting student life, and rewarding excellence. Here’s a brief summary of our efforts:
Creating Community
Every other year we host an Alumni Homecoming/Reunion—the next one will be spring 2015. In between events we stay in touch through the Alumni Newsletter, Peabody Magazine, the alumni section of the website, and our Facebook pages. All alumni, no matter how young or old, near or far, still in music or not, are encouraged to contribute news about themselves.
Supporting Student Life
SPA started off the school year with a student/ alumni pizza party, serving 48 pizzas to more than 100 students, in about 30 minutes. I think that even the most hardened of professional competitive eaters would be jealous of that statistic! We also had a graduate student reception at Plates, a new restaurant on Centre Street, where 58 graduate students socialized with each other and many alumni. Just before the holidays, SPA committee members created the annual poinsettia tree, with all 150 poinsettias given away to students when the tree came down; and hosted the annual student/alumni holiday party, a dessert reception with a free raffle—gift cards and certificates paid for by donations from members of the Executive Committee of SPA.
Rewarding Excellence
On November 2, we awarded Michael Straus (MM ’07, Saxophone and Computer Music) the Johns Hopkins Outstanding Recent Graduate Award. Since graduating from Peabody, Michael has studied in Europe on a Fulbright Fellowship, studied in Oslo on a 2 4
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2010 American-Scandinavian Foundation Creative Arts Grant, worked as director of operations at Other Minds in San Francisco, and is currently the assistant dean of technology and facilities at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In February, we will be giving Audrey McCallum (BM ’60, MM ’67, Music Education – Piano) the Johns Hopkins University Heritage Award. This award celebrates alumni and friends who have contributed outstanding service over an extended period of time to the University or the Alumni Association. Audrey is a volunteer/supporter extraordinaire, in addition to being an outstanding musician of whom we are immensely proud. I hope that you will plan to come celebrate with us on February 23! As I said at the beginning, Peabody and SPA are both busy as ever. If you have news about yourself or a fellow classmate, please share with us—we are always interested in hearing what everyone is doing. Talk with you soon.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23 6:00 pm, Miriam A. Friedberg Hall Presentation of the JHU Heritage Award to Audrey McCallum (BM ’60, MM ’67, Music EducationPiano) as part of the Annual Black Student Union Concert SUNDAY, MAY 4 7:30 pm, Hilda and Douglas Goodwin Recital Hall Lynn Taylor Hebden Preparatory Recital, featuring the winners of the Preparatory Part-Recital Competition. This recital is named in memory of Lynn Taylor Hebden (TC ’51, AD ’54, Voice), who headed the Preparatory for 20 years. SUNDAY, JUNE 29 3:00 pm Soochow University Concert Hall, Taipei City, Taiwan Taiwan Alumni Association concert with Peabody faculty member Professor Keng-Yuen Tseng as guest artist.
Paul A. Matlin BM ’70, MM ’72, Viola; BS ’81 JHU School of Business; MS ’84, JHU School of Engineering President, the Society of Peabody Alumni
Michael Straus (MM ’07, Saxophone and Computer Music) proudly receives the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association’s Outstanding Recent Graduate Award during Peabody’s Family Weekend. To his right are Paul Matlin, president, Society of Peabody Alumni; Gary Louie, Saxophone faculty, Peabody Conservatory; and Jeffrey Sharkey, director, Peabody Institute.
1980 Steven R. Chicurel (MM ’80,
On October 20, 2013, students, faculty, and alumni of Recording Arts and Sciences who were in New York City for the Audio Engineering Society conference were treated to a technical tour of The Jimmy Fallon Show and Saturday Night Live at NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center. Recording Arts alumnus and 2012 Alumni Award Recipient Lawrence Manchester (music mixer for The Jimmy Fallon Show) and Hopkins alumnus Josiah Gluck (music mixer for Saturday Night Live) took the group through the studios and control rooms of these shows to explain the audio production process— a rare opportunity that was informative and enjoyable for all.
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Fright on a Chesapeake Night. The project is a collaborative effort with fellow retired teachers Joyce Judd, illustrator, and Myra Raspa, editor-in-chief.
Bien S. P. Panganiban (MM
’56, Piano; MM ’57 Theory) performed in a 50th Anniversary Celebration Benefit Piano Recital on May 20, 2013, at Ryukyu Classical Academy in Okinawa, Japan. The funds raised are used to pay travel expenses for students who are accepted to music schools in the United States, supporting students mostly from the Philippines, Vietnam, and Japan.
Vivian Adelberg Rudow
(TC ’57, BM ’60, Piano; MM ’79, Composition) received the ASCAP Plus Award. Rudow has been a recipient of the award every year since 1987.
1960 Ellynne Brice Davis (BM ’68, Voice) is the author of a new children’s book, Halloween
1970 Melva Treffinger Graham (MM ’71, Choral
Conducting) is semiretired after 42 years of church music performance and teaching in Canada. She has served churches in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; and Toronto, as well as university and community choirs. Her current “retirement project” is to create an all-ages choral program at the Anglican Church of St. John, Norway, in Toronto’s east end.
Teresa Shirley-Quirk (BM ’78, Cello) is the new general manager of the Bath Philharmonia orchestra in the UK. Her creation of the Sound Connections competition for the Philharmonia has won national attention and new funding for the organization.
Piano), professor of theater and voice specialist at the University of Central Florida, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Estill Voice International at the Sixth Estill World Voice Symposium at Harvard University on August 3, 2013. In presenting the award to Dr. Chicurel, EVI vice president Mary McDonald Klimek noted his presentations and master classes in voice on five continents, his work to establish the University of Central Florida’s status as one of three Estill Voice Educational Affiliates worldwide, and his role as the driving force behind the formation of the Josephine Estill Archive.
The University of the Virgin Islands has named Lorna Young-Wright (MM ’81, Piano) the inaugural recipient of the Ann Elizabeth Richardson Distinguished Professor of Music Award. A music professor at UVI for 29 years, Dr. Young-Wright was chosen for her years of excellence and dedicated service to the university. On August 31, 2013, John Babcock (PC ’87, Trumpet; BM ’87, Music Education; MM ’89, Trumpet) retired from the United States Naval Academy Band after 22 years of service. While in the band, Babcock performed with the concert band, brass quintet, ceremonial band, marching band, and chamber ensembles. He founded the USNA Band Brass Ensemble in 1996 and served as leader of the ensemble until his retirement. Babcock now teaches middle school music and coaches football and lacrosse at Calvert School in Baltimore. He also continues to contract for musical services as a member of Carrollton Brass, serves as principal trumpet of the Bach Concert Series in Baltimore, and does freelance work.
RECENT CDS WIND DEVIL & CO./DancElectronics —includes seven works created, composed, and performed by Sergio Cervetti (BM ’67, Composition). New Music with Guitar, vol. 8— recorded by David Starobin (BM ’73, Guitar) includes Starobin’s own composition, Variations on a Theme by Carl Nielsen, Paul Lansky’s Partita for guitar and percussion, Six Pages by Poul Ruders, and George Crumb’s Ghosts of the Alhambra. Here’s to You! This Holiday Season!: Christmas Favorites on Violin & Piano—features Yvette Devereaux (MM ’90, Conducting).
World Dance Club—by the Helix Collective, includes the piece Three Bollywood Dances by Mark Weiser (BM ’91, Piano; MM ’93, Composition). Obsession—Krystin O’Mara (BM ’12, MM ’12, Guitar), includes works by Fernando Sor, Regino Sainz de la Maza, and Augustin Barrios, and new works by Viet Cuong (BM ’11, MM ’12, Composition) and Ian Krouse. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32, Eroica Variations, Polonaise & Fantasia— featuring Inna Faliks (BM ’99, MM ’01, GPD ’03, Piano), is a newly released recording of Beethoven works. Widening Circles—Benjamin Beirs (BM ’06, GPD ’09, Guitar; MM ’07 Guitar Pedagogy) was re-released in August.
Perspectives—features Netanel Draiblate (MM ’07, GPD ’09, Violin) and Peabody faculty member Lura Johnson, piano.
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A Maestro’s Unconventional Path When it came time for Ken Lam (MM ’07, Conducting) to attend college in England, he narrowed the choices to the Guildhall School of Music, where he’d continue to study violin, and Cambridge University, where he’d pursue an interest in economics he’d developed at boarding school. That’s when his practical-minded mom, an importer of Italian furniture back in Lam’s native Hong Kong, stepped in. “My mother said it’s a no-brainer,” Lam recalls. “Do something for real.” Accordingly, he earned a master’s in economics in 1992, staying on at Cambridge another year to study law, followed by law school and 10 years working as an attorney—“a solicitor, which means that we didn’t wear wigs and go to court”— in London and Hong Kong for a major international law firm. So it seems a bit unusual that less than a decade later, Lam, now 43, finds himself one of the most promising conductors in the U.S., holding down a fistful of impressive, far-flung posts: artistic director of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, as well as the BSO’s education conductor; orchestra director at Montclair State University in New Jersey; artistic director of Hong Kong Voices; and resident conductor at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. (He ping-pongs between residences in Baltimore and Clifton, N.J.) His transformation from attorney to musical director proved highly unconventional. While in Hong Kong in 2000, Lam briefly took a position helping to manage Naxos, the classical/jazz/world music record label that also maintains a vast online digital library. During his free hours, he found a community orchestra in which to play and a choir in which to sing. At a rehearsal for the former, kismet struck: The conductor called in sick, and Lam volunteered to substitute. “They liked it,” he remembers, “and invited me back” to take over full time. His Naxos task completed, Lam returned to his law firm: “I said, ‘I’ll come
back, but I’m not working past 6 o’clock,’” because he wanted to continue conducting. By 2004–2005, he was overseeing an orchestra and three choirs—all without a music degree. “Then I thought, ‘Maybe I should really learn how to conduct.’” He chose a summer 2005 master class program in Bulgaria, where he met Gustav Meier, co-director of Peabody’s graduate conducting program. “I asked Mr. Meier, ‘How can I get better?’” Lam explains, “and he looked at me and said, ‘Come to Peabody.’” Lam entered Peabody in 2005 with the intention of staying “a semester or a year and see what happens,” and, he jokes, “I’m still on holiday” from practicing law. In something of a whirlwind, Lam became a fellow at the American Academy of Conducting; studied at the National Conducting Institute; made his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra; and accepted an assistant conductorship with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, Peabody invited him back to conduct Massenet’s opera Manon, a particularly gratifying experience: “This was the place I spent three of my happiest years, where I fully realized that this [conducting] is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” It also rekindled a link with Baltimore, and, leaving Cincinnati, he took over the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra. Discovering that the BSO did not have its own youth orchestra, Lam suggested a youth orchestra/ symphony orchestra collaboration, which prompted the BSO to simply bring the GBYO under its aegis in 2012. “I love working with young people,” Lam notes. “There’s an energy about it. You are in a position to really make fundamental changes to people’s lives, and I find it so incredible to be able to influence them in a positive way.” — Michael Yockel
Bob Parker (BM ’87, Music Education; PC ’87, Trumpet) won the WHAS11 Excel award, an honor bestowed upon exceptional teachers in the Louisville, Kentucky, area. During his tenure as band director at South Oldham Middle School, the number of students in the band program has tripled. Parker has been teaching for 22 years.
celebration of former Peabody faculty member Ruth Drucker and performed by Tracey Scher (GPD ’93, Voice) on March 9 at Towson University; Pulse Chamber Music performed “Kegelstatt Funk,” for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, on April 17 at the University of Miami; and the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players performed “Triptych,” for chamber ensemble, on May 5.
Eric Peterson (MM ’87, Horn), conductor of the Savoynet Performing Group, has received a Special Judges’ Citation in the opera/operetta division of the American Prize in Conducting competition, 2013. Peterson was honored for stylistic excellence in the performance of Gilbert and Sullivan. Awadagin Pratt (PC ’89,
Piano; PC ’89, Violin; GPD ’92, Conducting) joined the Allentown Symphony Orchestra on October 19 and 20, in the opening concerts of its fall season as featured soloist in Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
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1990 Harold Chambers (BM ’90, Recording Arts, Saxophone) has been appointed to the position of recording engineer for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He is principally responsible for recording all subscription series concerts, which will be the basis of the Pittsburgh Symphony’s syndicated radio series. “High Velocity” for solo piano by Mark Weiser (BM ’91, Piano; MM ’93, Composition) was premiered by its dedicatee, Hannah Creviston, on February 3, 2013, at Arizona State University. Weiser performed the work on February 13 at USC’s Thornton School of Music, and Elbert Gong played it on July 26 at the Banff Centre. Weiser’s piece “The Best of Me,” for mezzo-soprano and piano, was written for the 80th birthday
Jason Love (BM ’92, Cello; MM ’94, Conducting) won the 2013 American Prize in Orchestral Programming for his 2012–13 season with the Columbia Orchestra.
Marija Temo (MM ’94, Guitar) was a guest soloist with the Zac Brown Band on October 13, 2013. She performed to a sold-out 25,000-seat audience at the Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheater in Bristow, Virginia.
Kendra Preston Leonard
(BM ’95, Cello), the Fall 2013 American Musicological Society– Library of Congress Lecture Series speaker, presented “Myth and Meaning in Louise Talma’s First Period Works.” The lecture also included the public premieres of two of Talma’s early songs by soprano Elizabeth Johnston Overmann and pianist Dave Foley. Monica Songs, a newly commissioned work by Jonathan Leshnoff (BA ’95, Anthropology JHU; BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition), received its world premiere on October 13, 2013, at UC Berkeley. The performance featured soprano Jessica Rivera and pianist Robert Spano. A five-city tour of the work included performances in Atlanta, Malibu, Cincinnati, and New York at Carnegie Hall.
Tonya McBride Robles
(BM ’95, Music Education) has been hired as the executive director of the City Choir of
Washington. Robles returned to live in Baltimore this summer, after spending most of the last 18 years living around the world with her husband, an active duty U.S. Navy officer.
Sarah Chan (MM ’96, Piano)
had her debut solo recital in October 2013 at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. Over the summer she presented a solo recital at Kuenstlerhaus Concert Hall in Munich, and last season she performed as soloist with the New York Concert Artists Symphony and the Enid Symphony Orchestra.
Julian Gargiulo (MM ’97,
Over the summer Inna Faliks (BM ’99, MM ’01, GPD ’03, Piano) performed solo and chamber music recitals at the Newport Festival and the Beethoven Festival in Chicago. Starting in the fall she performed recitals in Italy, Israel, and various venues in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. She is currently an associate professor of piano at UCLA.
2000 Jonathan Moyer (MM ’00,
Piano) shot an episode of the hit TV series House Hunters International, which followed his move from New York to Athens. It aired on November 1, 2013, on the Home & Garden channel. Gargiulo’s recent concert in Ridgewood, California, received praise in The News Review.
Piano; GPD ’02, Organ; DMA ’10, Organ) is music director and organist at the Church of the Covenant in Cleveland. His wife, Kaori Hongo (MM ’98, DMA ’12, Organ), is assistant organist and director of music for children and youth.
Peter Sirotin (GPD ’97,
Pia Bose (MM ’01, Piano)
Violin; GPD ’99, Chamber Music) has been appointed concertmaster for the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra after serving as associate concertmaster since 2002. On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind by Elizabeth
Hellmuth Margulis
(BM ’98, Piano) was released on October 25, 2013, by Oxford University Press. The book examines the cognitive science of repetition in music.
Kristen Toedtman (MM ’00, Voice), along with the LA Phil under Gustavo Dudamel, premiered John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary in March 2013. They subsequently toured with both Adams and Peter Sellars to various venues, including London, Lucerne, Paris, and New York. The LA premiere was recorded and is expected to be released on Deutsche Grammophon. The piece was performed at the Ravinia Festival with the same set of soloists, which includes Daniel Bubeck (GPD ’99, Voice), countertenor.
and Antonio Pastor Otero were recently awarded the Second Prize in the 18th International Piano Duo Competition in Tokyo. The Bose-Pastor Duo’s upcoming engagements include a recital organized by the Iberian and Latin American Music Society at St. James’s Piccadilly in London, and recitals in Brunei, Spain, and Switzerland.
in piano performance at the University of Maryland. “Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain” by Angel Lam (MM ’03, DMA ’11, Composition; MM ’05, Music Theory) was performed by The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma on October 16, 2013, at Carnegie Hall.
Ben Frock (BM ’04, Jazz Trumpet), Russell Kirk (BM ’05, Jazz Saxophone), and Jake Leckie (MA ’08, Audio Sciences) are featured on the Mobtown Moon recording, which was named Best Collaboration in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore publi cation in September 2013. Carolyn Kuan (GPD ’04, Conducting) filled in for Marin Alsop as conductor of Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, after Alsop sprained her wrist. Gregory Campbell (BM
’05, Trombone) is now head of group ticket sales for the Kansas City Symphony. Campbell has also been added to the substitute musician list and still actively takes auditions on a national and international level. He has recently been a finalist at two military band auditions and a semifinalist at several orchestral auditions.
APPOINTMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION Jonathan Moyer (MM ’00, Piano; GPD ’02, Organ; DMA ’10, Organ), assistant professor of organ at Oberlin College. Patricia Puckett Sasser (MM ’06, Musicology), music librarian for Furman University’s Maxwell Music Library. Michael Straus (MM ’07, Saxophone and Computer Music), assistant dean of technology and facilities for Oberlin Conservatory. Claire Allen (MM ’13, Violin), artist teacher of violin at the Potomac Arts Academy of George Mason University. Rayna Slavova (MM ’13, Vocal Accompanying), full-time vocal coach and accompanist at the Fundación Universitaria Juan N Corpas in Bogota, Colombia. Mary Trotter (MM ’13, Vocal Accompanying), adjunct theory professor, coach, and staff pianist at Whitworth University, and staff pianist for the vocal and choral department at Gonzaga University.
The Now Hear Ensemble, a Santa Barbara, California–based quintet that includes Jonathan Morgan (BM ’06, Viola), performed in a concert tour as part
Mark Shapiro (GPD ’01,
Conducting) has been appointed music director of the Prince Edward Island Symphony. He is also currently music director of the Cecilia Chorus of New York and artistic director of Cantori New York.
In July, Michael Angelucci (BM ’03, MM ’06, Piano) appeared with the TOCCATA–Tahoe Symphony and Chorus performing the Piano Concerto No. 2 of Camille Saint-Saëns. He played a series of four concerts with the orchestra, including a featured performance as part of the annual Artown festival in Reno. He is currently completing his DMA
Palm Beach Opera’s production of La Traviata, held in January 2013, featured several Peabody alumni, from left to right: Fenlon Lamb (MM ’98, Voice), assistant director to Renata Scotto; Peter Tomaszewski (MM ’10, Voice; GPD ’12, Opera), Doctor Grenvil; Laura Antonina Vicari (MM ’92, GPD ’94, Voice), chorus; Case Scaglione (postgraduate studies with Gustav Meier), conductor; and Lorrianna Colozzo (BM ’01, Voice), chorus. In addition, the late John Lehmeyer, former Peabody faculty member, was the costume designer for this production; and Antonio Rincon (GPD ’97, Violin) was Violin I. PEABODY
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of the Made in California project. A collaborative concert series with 11 composers throughout the state, the MIC project includes an album available on iTunes and other digital platforms.
Benjamin Beirs (BM ’06,
GPD ’09, Guitar; MM ’07, Guitar Pedagogy) recently relocated to Paris, where he will work with La Locomotive des Arts, an arts management company run by Laure Dyens-Taar, and will teach at a local conservatoire. Beirs plans to study with Judicael Perroy, one of the guitar world’s top performers and pedagogues. A commissioned composition by Ian Sims (BS ’08 Electrical Engineering; BM ’08, AD ’10, Jazz Saxophone; MA ’10, Audio Science) was featured in the Baltimore Jazz Alliance Composers’ Showcase on September 29 in Loyola University’s McManus Theatre.
Michael Summa (BM
’08, Composition) composed “Chesed v’Emet Nifgashu,” a song combining verses from two psalms, specially written for a celebration following Roberta Kaplan’s Supreme Court case that overturned DOMA. The work is featured in an article in the Huffington Post.
Ming-Ching Wu (MM ’08, Piano) is teaching Collaborative Piano and Chamber Music at the Graduate Institute at National Tainan University of the Arts in Taipei, Taiwan. Wu also teaches at the Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Elena Yakovleva (MM ’08,
GPD ’10, Flute; GPD ’11, Chamber Music) joined the Richmond Symphony on piccolo and flute. Yakovleva also holds the piccolo and third flute chair with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the flute faculty at the International School of Music in Bethesda.
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Phil Browne (BM ’09, GPD
’12 Horn) joined the New Haven Symphony Orchestra as second horn.
Kerri Lynn Slominski
(BM ’09, Voice) graduated from Temple University with a Master’s of Music in opera performance. This past spring, she sang Lauretta and Suor Genovieffa in Temple University Opera Theatre’s double bill of Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica. Over the summer, Slominski was an apprentice artist with Opera in the Ozarks, singing Giannetta and Adina (understudy) in L’elisir d’amore. This fall, she continued studies at Temple in the Professional Studies in Opera program.
2010 Greg Jukes (BM ’10,
Percussion) and his trio, The Fourth Wall (a hybrid arts ensemble), premiered a new orchestra show with Victoria Gau and the Capital City Symphony on November 17, 2013, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in D.C. The performance is based around classic stories told in different ways and includes new orchestrations of L’Histoire du Soldat de Jouet and The Jungle Book by Brett Abigaña, plus music from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
Amy Beth Kirsten (DMA
’10, Composition) recently composed a new music theater piece, Colombine’s Paradise Theatre, commissioned by the multiGrammy-winning eighth blackbird. This work, a 21st-century fantasy based on 17th-century Italian theater, is the culmination of three years of work and six weeklong workshop periods. The piece received its world premiere performance on October 25, 2013, at the University of Richmond, with press remarking that it’s an “11-scene visual and aural tourde-force.” Colombine’s Paradise
Theatre was also performed on November 15–16 at the Atlas Arts Center in Washington, D.C. A concert featuring Dion Cunningham (MM ’13, Piano), Evelyn Petcher (MM ’12, Violin), Kristina Nicole Lewis (MM ’11, Voice), and Marie-Eve Poupart (AD ’12, Violin) was held on October 6, 2013, at the cathedral in SaintJean-sur-Richelieu, about 40 km south of Montreal.
Pianists Moritz Winkelmann (GPD ’11, Piano), Einav Yarden (GPD ’03, MM ’05, Piano), Kyung Wha Chu (GPD ’11, Piano), and Jannie Lo (BM ’07, Piano) participated in the International Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn.
Nola Richardson (MM ’11,
Voice) was the soprano soloist with the American Bach Soloists in their 25th Anniversary Silver Soirée in San Francisco on September 21, 2013.
Jake Runestad’s (MM ’11,
Composition) piece Dreams of the Fallen for piano, chorus, and orchestra, setting poems by Iraq War veteran Brian Turner, has been the subject of articles in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The world premiere took place on November 11, 2013, at the National World War II Museum in Louisiana. The National Lutheran Choir has released a new recording of Runestad’s “Nada Te Turbe,” which won the 2013 Raabe Prize.
Mezzo-soprano Diana Cantrelle (MM ’12, Voice) made her Pittsburgh Undercroft Opera debut in Bellini’s Norma, singing the role of Adalgisa on November 21 and 23, 2013.
Soprano Kimberly Christie (MM ’12, Voice) made her Opera Delaware debut as Gianetta in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore on October 11 and 13, 2013. On October 21, Christie was joined by baritone Jason Buckwalter (MM ’06, GPD ’08, Voice) in a performance of opera and musical theater scenes at Carroll Community College in Westminster.
Mark Meadows (GPD ’13, Jazz Piano; JHU BA ’11, Psychology) was awarded a position as parttime jazz instructor at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., where he will teach piano theory and jazz improvisation, and lead the jazz vocal ensemble.
Nadezda MijatovicSekicki (MM ’13, Vocal
Accompanying) is one of only two pianists accepted into the doctoral accompanying program at the University of Maryland for 2013. She is the recipient of both an assistantship and a stipend.
Rayna Slavova (MM ’13, Vocal Accompanying) is the principal vocal coach for the premiere of Accidental Death of an Anarchist, a new opera by Colombian composer Jorge Pinzon, based on the comic play by Dario Fo. The opera premiered at the National Opera Festival in November 2013 and is scheduled for its U.S. premiere in March.
IN MEMORIAM Rilla Mervine (’47, Voice) Gilbert “Brown” Benson (MM ’75, Composition) Ryan R. Messmore (BM ’03, Recording Arts; BM ’03, Composition)
PLEASE SEND YOUR NEWS TO THE ALUMNI OFFICE News may be edited or postponed to the next issue due to space constraints. Alumni Office, 1 East Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21202 Email: PeabodyAlumni@jhu.edu Phone: 410-234-4673 www.facebook.com/peabodyalumni Deadline for the next issue is June 1.
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Honoring a Mother’s Commitment to Music
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fter Linda Grass Shapiro passed away in 2011, Adam Shapiro felt he had to do something to honor the memory of his mother, who had been a loyal Peabody volunteer. Shapiro chose to remember his mother’s commitment to music and her deep belief that every young person should have the opportunity to pursue their dream, no matter what their financial circumstances. He decided to establish an endowed scholarship in her name, to allow students from low-income families in Baltimore City and Baltimore County to study at the Peabody Preparatory. Adam Shapiro remembers Peabody as his “home outside of home.” Says Shapiro, “The Peabody Preparatory shaped my character and future far more than any other educational experience.” He cites in particular the positive influence of his mentor at Peabody, faculty member and conductor Gene Young. “Playing trumpet in the Peabody Sinfonia under Gene was one of the most educational and definitive parts to my time at Peabody,” says Shapiro. “Beyond the amazing musical education, there was always such a great sense of community and support from students and teachers alike with Gene always leading by example.” On Saturdays Shapiro traveled with his mother from their home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore to take lessons and rehearse with several ensembles. Following his
graduation from Colgate University, Shapiro’s Peabody experience helped lead him to his work in concert production and sound design for live performance. Adam Shapiro has not only endowed a permanent scholarship fund in his mother’s name, he has also recently provided annual support to the Preparatory’s Tuned-In program for Baltimore City public school students. —Patrick O’Neall
Adam Shapiro, top left, in a photo with his Peabody Preparatory classmates in 1988.
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE CAMPAIGN UPDATE FOR PEABODY GOALS TOTAL RAISED BY PEABODY THROUGH FY13: $25.5 MILLION (34%)
PROGRAM SUPPORT $7.1 MILLION (28%)
FACULTY SUPPORT $1.1 MILLION (4%)
SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT $17.3 MILLION (68%)
ALLOCATION OF $25.5 MILLION RAISED TO DATE PEABODY
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BOB STO C K F IE LD P H OTO GRA P H Y
Celebrating the Vision of Steven Muller
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s president of Johns Hopkins University from 1972 to 1990, Steven Muller left an extraordinary legacy of transformative leadership. This legacy includes his role as architect of the merger that made Peabody a part of Johns Hopkins University, thus saving the oldest conservatory in the United States from closing its doors forever. On November 23, 2013, Peabody presented the inaugural Peabody Symphony Orchestra Concert in memory of Dr. Muller, who died in January 2013. The program, conducted by Leon Fleisher, Andrew W. Mellon Chair in Piano, included violin faculty artist Soovin Kim performing the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major. The concert was live Web-streamed, the first such broadcast of a Peabody event (see related article, p. 4). The high-level concert, featuring the Conservatory’s premiere ensemble, was chosen by Dr. Jill McGovern to be the first annual Peabody tribute to her late husband. She started
Jill McGovern, center, with (L to R) faculty artist Soovin Kim, Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels, Maestro Leon Fleisher, and former Peabody Director Robert Pierce.
D E N IS LA R GE R ON PH OTO G RA PH IE , 2 013
The Embassy of the Republic of Singapore hosted a joint recital by students of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music of the National University of Singapore and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University on October 29, 2013. The recital commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and celebrates the continued relationship between the two institutions.
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thinking about making a new commitment to Hopkins in the months following her husband’s passing. Given their deep engagement with many university programs, the gift was designed to benefit multiple divisions. The objective for the funds directed to Peabody was to ensure that President Muller’s pivotal involvement in the history of Peabody would be celebrated now and in the future. She decided to establish an annual concert in his name through an outright gift and also to endow it in perpetuity through her estate plans. “Several years ago, Steve and I established the Jill E. McGovern and Steven Muller Fund, which has provided support to Peabody and other Hopkins divisions. This in turn led to my desire to make a bequest to create a lasting commitment in his memory,” she says. “At the same time, the fund has allowed this concert to be launched with current-use contributions, so I have the pleasure of knowing the faculty and students who will benefit directly from these gifts.”
As Peabody Director Jeff Sharkey noted at the memorial service held for Dr. Muller at Peabody on February 22, 2013: “President Steven Muller had the foresight to see that not only was the oldest conservatory of music in the United States worth preserving and investing in, but that the great university over which he presided could benefit from adding an artistic heart to its enterprise. All of us who love music and dance and cherish this institution owe a huge debt of gratitude to Steve Muller.” Now, thanks to the generosity of Jill McGovern, through the fund she and Steve Muller established, we will commemorate this singular man and his vision each and every year. —Andrea Trisciuzzi
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Widening the Path to Peabody
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oes tapping in rhythm. Riffs being passed from trumpet to guitar to tenor sax back to trumpet. Laughter. Repeat. This is the Jazz Academy— a program launched with the support of a $250,000 grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Widening the Stage for Musically Talented Youth program. Based in Virginia, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation advances the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Through the foundation’s support, the already robust Academy program at the Peabody Preparatory— which includes Strings; Piano; Jazz; and Woodwind, Brass, and Percussion—is now open to qualified students who could not otherwise afford to participate. In its first year, the Pathways to Peabody Scholarship Program for Academy Study identified approximately 35 musically talented students from low- and middle-income families in the City of Baltimore and its surrounding counties. Selected by a rigorous audition and interview process, students are between the ages of 12 and 17, with three to five years of prior study. Support from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation provides
full-tuition scholarships to these students with the expectation that recipients are fully committed to their music education at the Peabody Preparatory. The Pathways Scholarship Program is but one piece of a larger effort at Peabody to promote access to a high-quality music education. The Tuned-In program, for instance, offers full scholarships to musically talented Baltimore City youth to begin studies at the Peabody Preparatory. Moving forward, advanced students in the Tuned-In program will be invited to audition for the Academies, thanks to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation funding. By the end of high school, students who graduate from Baltimore City public schools and are accepted to Peabody Conservatory are eligible to receive full-tuition scholarships through Johns Hopkins’ Baltimore Scholars Program. Recently, an officer of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation attended several of the Academies and recognized the overall value of the programs, noting, “Your program exemplifies elements of the higher-level learning opportunities that we hope to make more available to students, especially those from less-resourced communities.” Back at Peabody in the Piano Academy, Schubert fills the room as a graduate voice student aids a class in piano accompanying. She is helping young pianists learn the art of supporting a vocalist. The first student sits on the piano bench, her feet barely reaching the floor. She is filled with the silliness of a 12-year-old girl—until she receives the nod from the singer. Then there is nothing but seriousness. She finishes and sits with her friends, giggling at a translation about love. —Georgann Nedwell
Family Weekend 2013
On November 1–3, students and their families enjoyed a family weekend reception co-hosted by the Peabody National Advisory Council’s Student Engagement Committee.
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A Special Thank You
Decades of Commitment and Loyalty Loyal donors are the foundation for Peabody’s success, providing the means by which the Institute can carry out its mission of providing the highest quality musical and dance education for our talented students. Peabody would like to thank the following donors who have made gifts for 20 or more consecutive years. Consecutive years of giving are counted by fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) and gifts of any amount to all areas of the Institute are eligible. Barry L. Abel Adalman-Goodwin Foundation Frances and George Alderson George D. Arnold Deborah and Louis Baer Ernest V. Baugh III Peter Bay Elizabeth A. Beall-Pray Catherine H. Beauchamp Leonid Berkovich Nancy B. Bisco Howard Blaney Esther B. Bonnet Susan and Clifford Boucher Nancy B. and Ivan E.* Bowser C. Griffith Bratt Phyllis Bryn-Julson and Donald S. Sutherland
Elana R. and Gene H.* Byrd John F. Cahill Campbell Foundation Inc. Vadhana C. and Inocencio T. Claud Joanne Cohen James D. Crookshanks Douglas A. Day Sandra H. Dean John A. Deaver The Charles Delmar Foundation Sylvia Betts Dodd Ruth L. and Arno P. Drucker Phillip T. Dunk Jr. Linda M. and John R. Fields Seymour Fink Ruth L. and Dale J. Fisher
Hilda P. and Douglas S.* Goodwin Peggy and Yale Gordon Charitable Trust Daniel M. Graham Frank Granofsky Taylor A. Hanex Romayne A. Hardy Estelle Hartranft Lynn T. Hebden* Sandra Levi Gerstung and the Hecht-Levi Foundation Inc. Jane S. Hennegar Jeanie A. Hillman-Brotman David W. Holmes Frank G. Hubbard Jr. Galan Kral Mildred and Ramon Kyser Numa K. and Richard C. Lavy
Leslie Luco Leigh M. Martinet Carol and Paul Matlin Susan A. and Howard L. Miskimon Anita L. Monson Randall S. Mullin Martha K. Nelson Ted A. Niederman Monica D. Otal Rita D. Pezzulla Presser Foundation Ruth B. Renneburg Warren D. Rosen Ann W. and David M. Saunders Suzanne and Jacques* Schlenger Christine Rutt Schmitz and Robert W. Schmitz
David F. Sears Richard S. Shue Robert W. Smith Jr. John R. Snell Jr. Helen Stone and Gregory Tice Robert G. Towers and Sieghild B. Sloan Juanita C. Tsu Margaret C. and Patrick C. Walsh Paul H. Warner Dexter N. Weikel Carol Schultz Weinhofer Ruth W. Williams Mary J. Wilson Lois A. and James L. Wynn Walter Michael Yatta Carol Jean and John R. Young *Deceased
Concerts at Peabody February 22 Peabody Symphony Orchestra February 28 Peabody Jazz Orchestra March 12
Peabody Modern Orchestra
April 1
Larry Williams, Horn and DaPonte String Quartet
April 8
The Peabody Trio
April 16
Peabody Concert Orchestra, Peabody Singers and Peabody-Hopkins Chorus
April 23
Peabody Wind Ensemble
Visit www.peabody.jhu.edu or call 410-234-4800 for tickets or more information. 32
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