Through a partnership forged by the Denyce Graves Foundation, the Peabody Conservatory joins a consortium of conservatories, historically Black colleges and universities, and the Metropolitan Opera to create an innovative student exchange program. Shared Voices was envisioned by Graves, Peabody's Rosa Ponselle Distinguished Faculty Artist, to support the next generation of talented young artists and contribute to a more diverse classical vocal arts landscape, a sentiment underlined by Peabody Dean Fred Bronstein during his remarks at the program launch September 30 at Howard University. "At the professional performing arts institution level, there is an urgent need to create broader access to our institutions, including for administrators, performers, board members, and audiences," he noted. " . . . our job collectively here is to help lead this change and this charge by bringing our institutions together and approaching this work, our institutions, and the people we impact and those we'd like to engage with both the highest aspirations and a sense of humility." Underwritten by the Ford Foundation, Shared Voices' inaugural 16-student cohort will benefit from shared learning and performance opportunities bringing together the students and faculty from Howard, Fisk University, Morgan State University, and Morehouse College with those at Peabody, the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Oberlin College. For more information, visit the Shared Voices website.

I very recently had an opportunity to review data on Peabody’s LAUNCHPad—our 21st-century-focused strategic approach to career development for emerging artists, launched in 2018. Since we know the field of performing arts continues to evolve rapidly, so too must our training for traditional opportunities in the field as well as preparation for flexible and adaptable career paths. When we “launched” LAUNCHPad nearly five years ago, which now also encompasses Peabody’s unique Breakthrough Curriculum, I never would have guessed the trajectory we have seen. Now coming to fruition, we are seeing dramatic double-digit increases in engagement especially around students taking ownership in the shaping of their careers. In just the last year, we can note: a 29% increase in career coaching appointments, 34% increase in career-development event attendance, 63% increase in Career Development Grant applications, 13% increase in LAUNCH Broadcast newsletter subscribers, and a 37% increase in user engagement for Creative Wire blog views.

At the same time, it’s just not enough to assess progress from year to year. We want to understand the long-term, longitudinal impact of Peabody’s highly innovative Breakthrough Curriculum, which began in 2017. That is why Peabody is partnering with the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project to conduct an extensive survey of all Peabody Alumni to provide a more complete picture of their professional activities and the impact of their Peabody education. This research will enable Peabody to benchmark progress against 300 institutions, over time. This will be an ongoing initiative as we at Peabody continue to evolve as the environment evolves, to change and adapt while staying true to our core, so that we can be absolutely sure that we are preparing our students not for a world that was, but for one that is and will be.

Sincerely,

Fred Bronstein, Dean

The JRC Composition Collective marks its debut performance, featuring the composers performing their own works. The collective—Peabody-trained composers Christopher Ciampoli (DMA ’21, Composition), Jordan Chase (DMA ’20, Composition), DMA candidate Cody Criswell, DMA candidate Richard Dreyhoff (MM ’18, Composition, Music Theory Pedagogy), and Jonathan Hugendubler (MM ’16, DMA ’21, Composition)—premieres recent works at the Scott Theater on the Carroll Community College campus in Westminster, MD; the concert is free and open to the public.

Peabody director of graduate conducting Marin Alsop leads the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra during a short North American tour, including two stops at Carnegie Hall. On October 14, Alsop, the former SPSO Music Director and current Conductor of Honor, and the SPSO perform Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and three works by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. The Amazon Concert: Sights and Sounds of Brazil on October 15, created in collaboration with Brazilian curator Marcello Dantas, includes works by Villa-Lobos, Clarice Assad, Edino Krieger, Philip Glass, Marco Antônio Guimarães, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and José Antonio Almeida Prado performed during a visual presentation of rainforest imagery. Tickets for both concerts are available online.

The Washington, DC-based ensemble The Thirteen kicks off its 2022-23 season with Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610. The adventurous ensemble—founded in 2012 as a choral ensemble that's since blossomed into a choir and orchestra—includes Julie Bosworth (MM ’14, Voice), Kate Jackman (MM ’11, Voice), Katelyn Jackson (MM ’19, Voice), Sara MacKimmie (MM ’11, Voice), Sonya Knussen (GPD ’12, Voice), Marie Marquis (BM ’11, Voice), Fatma Daglar (MM ’95, GPD ’97, Oboe), Jason Fisher (BM ’05, Violin), historical performance assistant professor Adam Pearl (BM ’99, Piano; MM ’01, DMA ’09, Harpsichord), and William Simms (MM ’91, Guitar). The Thirteen collaborates with the Children's Chorus of Washington and the Dark Horse Consort for performances on October 21 at the Episcopal High School Chapel in Alexandria, VA; October 22 at St. Peter's Capitol Hill and livestreamed; and October 23 at Bradley Hills Church in Bethesda.

Composition professor Michael Hersch (BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition) and librettist Stephanie Fleishmann deliver an unflinching, feminist exploration of Roman Emperor Nero's complex wife in the one-act opera that bears her name, Poppaea. Starring the fearless soprano and associate voice professor Ah Young Hong (BM ’98, MM ’01, Voice), Poppaea debuted in fall 2021 with celebrated productions in Basel and Vienna. Johns Hopkins’ Alexander Grass Humanities Institute, Department of Classics, and Peabody co-sponsor a free screening of Poppaea followed by a panel discussion featuring Hersch, Hong, librettist Fleischmann, Duke classics professor Lauren Ginsberg, and JHU associate classics professor Nandini Pandey in the George Peabody Library.

 

The Baltimore Choral Arts Society opens its 57th season with highlights from its mid-October tour of Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. Music director Anthony Blake Clark, a conducting DMA candidate at Peabody, leads the chorus—which includes Sarah Berger (MM ’00, Voice), Juliana Marin (MM ’10, Voice), Cameron Falby (BM ’19, Composition), Henry Hubbard (MM ’19, Musicology), Darius Sanders (MM ’22, Voice), Michael Rickelton (MM ’10, Composition), and Mara Yaffee (MM ’19, Historical Performance Voice)—through works by Louis-Hector Berlioz, Leonard Bernstein, George Friedrich Handel, Felix Mendelssohn, and Reena Esmail, at the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore; tickets are available online.

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Peabody Notes highlights select off-campus performances featuring Peabody performers. For other events, please visit our Peabody Conservatory Facebook page.