Peabody 2018-19 Season Opens
The Peabody Institute's box office opens today, making tickets available for a concert season anchored by a staging of Leonard Bernstein's singular
MASS. The 2018-19 season of concerts and events begins on Friday, September 14, when the legendary tenor saxophonist Benny Golson joins Peabody Dean Fred Bronstein for a Dean's Symposium. Described as "one of the last surviving links to the Golden Age of modern jazz," Golson will share insights from his long performing and recording career. That event and the Peabody Wind Ensemble concert featuring faculty artist Joe Burgstaller, trumpet, on Saturday, September 29, at 7:30 pm, will be the first
live streamed concerts of the season.
|
FROM THE DEAN
In the August Peabody Notes, I mentioned Peabody's upcoming October performance of Leonard Bernstein's
MASS, conducted by Marin Alsop, in celebration of the Bernstein centennial. I am especially excited about this project.
Commissioned for the 1971 grand opening of the Kennedy Center, the
MASS is a theatrical and musical spectacle unlike anything else, featuring a cast of hundreds. It's a piece that needs to be seen and heard to be fully experienced, and opportunities to do so are relatively rare given the scale and task in mounting the work. Through an eclectic score influenced by rock, jazz, gospel, and other musical styles, it explores challenging issues of peace and conflict, truth and faith, and the individual's place in society. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to see Maestra Alsop conduct the
MASS with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival this summer and was struck once again by its power, its timeliness, and in particular, its relevance to the social issues of today.
Peabody is working with community partners including the Morgan State University Choir to stage Bernstein's
MASS on October 26 at New Psalmist Baptist Church in West Baltimore, and tickets go on sale through the Peabody box office today, September 5. I invite you to experience this singular work with us. It is an experience that you will not soon forget.
Fred Bronstein, Dean |
ON STAGE / OFF CAMPUS
Friday, September 7, 8:00 pm
Mark G. Meadows (
BM '11, GPD '13, Jazz Piano; KSAS BA '11, Psychology) will perform on "
Music and the Mind: The Concert" featuring Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Jason Moran, and Renée Fleming, among others. The event is part of the Kennedy Center's Sound Health, where innovative artists join top neuroscientists for a groundbreaking concert experience exploring links between music, rhythm, and brain development.
Bass John Scherch (
MM '17, Voice/Pedagogy) and sopranos Teresa Ferrara (
MM '18, Voice) and Natalie Conte (BM '04, MM '06, Voice) will give the world-premiere of
Viva V.E.R.D.I. - The Promised End, presented by
In Series. Written by Artistic Director Timothy Nelson (
BM '04, Composition), the piece reveals Verdi at the moment of his death telling the story of the opera
Lear which he never finished. The performance takes place at the Source Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Thursday-Friday, September 13-14, 8:30 pm
Distinguished Artist in Residence Vadim Gluzman will be the featured soloist with the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He will perform the world premiere of a commissioned piece by Marcelo Dino,
Aurora Borealis, as well as Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 and Ravel's
Daphnis et Chloé in a concert titled "
The Powerful Intimacy of Gluzman's Violin."
Wednesday, September 18, 8:00 pm
Composition Department Chair Michael Hersch (
BM '95, MM '97, Composition) and Miranda Cuckson will give a rare recital of Hersch's music for solo piano and solo violin. They will perform from works including the
wreckage of flowers, The Vanishing Pavilions, Fourteen Pieces, and
the weather and landscape are on our side at
National Sawdust in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sunday, September 23, 5:00 pm
Pianist Trent Johnson (
BM '89, GPD '91, Organ) will accompany an evening of German lieder by Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and P.D.Q. Bach at the benefit season opener of
Musica Viva NY.
Peabody Events highlights select off-campus or live-streamed performances featuring Peabody performers. For other events, please visit our Peabody Institute Concerts Facebook page. For the complete weekly list of concerts at Peabody, subscribe to Events at Peabody at peabody.jhu.edu/news.
|
ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS
|
Petrit Ceku/Lukasz Kuropaczewski
Petrit Ceku (GPD '11, Guitar) and Lukasz Kuropaczewski (GPD '05, Guitar) have both been appointed faculty members at Kunst Universität Graz in Austria. Ceku has been appointed professor in chamber music guitar to start in September 2019, and Kuropaczewski will begin his tenure as professor in guitar this month.
|
|
New Thread Quartet, a saxophone ensemble featuring Zach Herchen (
BM '07, MM '09, Saxophone; BM '06, Recording Arts), was awarded a 2018 Classical Commissioning grant by Chamber Music America. One of 11 awardees selected out of hundreds, New Thread Quartet will commission a new 20-minute work by composer Amy Beth Kirsten (
DMA '10, Composition).
|
|
Beatrice Long (
MM '88, AD '92, Piano) joined the faculty of the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, CUNY. Her recent performances have included the Beethoven Emperor Concerto at the opening concert of the Mozart Festival in San Antonio, Texas, and at the InterHarmony Festival in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany.
|
|
Master's candidate Misael Tambuwun, composition, was chosen to be a resident composer for the Jakarta City Philharmonic. There, he received a world premiere on August 18 of his orchestral piece,
Insidious, professional recordings, lectures, and advertising. Also in Indonesia, his
Passacaglia Etude was premiered for piano solo.
|
|
Nicholas Will (
MM '11, Organ) was recently appointed director of liturgical music at the Pontifical North American College, Rome. He will oversee all musical activity, serve as primary organist, conduct the 45-voice Seminary Choir, and offer musical instruction to the seminarians. The Pontifical North American College was founded in 1859 and serves approximately 250 seminarians from the United States, Canada, and Australia.
|
|
2018 ALUMNI DIRECTORY
The Society of Peabody Alumni will print a Peabody alumni directory with lots of Peabody fun facts, including a list of all the Directors/Deans in Peabody's history.
Starting this fall, Publishing Concepts, Inc. (PCI) will be contacting Peabody alumni and friends via mail, phone, and email to request that you update your information. We understand security and privacy are concerns, but please know that PCI is a trusted partner of the Society of Peabody Alumni.
Please visit our alumni page on the Peabody website or reach out to the alumni office at 677-208-6558 or [email protected], if you have any questions or concerns about the directory or the project.
|
|
|
|
|
