Rapper and Hip-Hop pioneer Rakim; Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens; and Clive Gillinson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, will be the featured guests for the fall 2020 Peabody Dean’s Symposium Series, which presents innovative artists and thought leaders in the arts in informal conversation with Peabody Institute Dean Fred Bronstein about the issues facing performers and presenters today. This fall, all three events will be held online, on October 7 and 21 and November 4 at 12:30 pm, and are free and open to the public. Additional free online events this fall semester include the Musicology Colloquium series and the Lunch & Learn series. New online recital events featuring Peabody Conservatory faculty and student artists are in the planning stages and details will be announced soon. Links to connect and all the latest updates will be posted at Peabody.jhu.edu/events.

This is an extraordinary time in which we all continue to operate. One of the major questions hovering over the last several months of planning at Peabody was the potential impact that the continued pandemic, changes in learning modality, and a deteriorating economic environment might have on enrollment this fall. At this time, I am very pleased to report enrollment has settled at 690 students, exceeding last year’s cohort of 674 students and far exceeding the revised assumptions for this academic year. Peabody has also focused intensively in recent years on increasing student diversity. This year that progress has continued. More than 17 percent of students this year identify as underrepresented minorities (defined by JHU as Black or African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders), an increase over last year’s 14 percent, which continues to position Peabody as a national leader in recruiting and building a more diverse student population.

As you can see, we may have been challenged by COVID-19, but we have not been slowed by it. And while we may be separated by distance, we are still very much a community looking forward to an outstanding year at Peabody. Please look for further updates as we move forward.

The Evolution Contemporary Music Series, founded and directed by faculty member Judah Adashi (MM ’02, DMA ’11, Composition), will hold its season kickoff event with recent George Peabody Medal winner and New Yorker music critic Alex Ross. Ross will discuss and share readings from his third book, Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music.

Founded by Kerri Lynn Slominski (BM ’09, Voice) and Elisabeth Halliday-Quan (’07, Voice; KSAS BA ’07, German), ROCopera is an opera collective aiming to broaden opera's reach in the Rochester, New York, area. Their first performance will be held virtually throughout the 12-day 2020 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival. Their performance pays homage to the popular MTV Classic "Total Request Live" by asking audiences to vote for their favorite opera arias and performing the most requested works.

The INSeries will present A Fairy Queen, an episodic podcast opera in the style of a classic radio drama based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream with concept and creation by artistic director Timothy Nelson (BM '04, Composition) and music by Henry Purcell. The podcast features Voice Professor Carl DuPont as Demetrius/Bottom, Melissa Wimbish (GPD ’11, Voice; GPD ’14, Chamber Ensemble) as Hermia/Flute, and John T.K. Scherch (MM ’17, Voice, Pedagogy) as Narrator. INSeries has also been awarded an OPERA America Innovation Grant, meant to enable companies to further their commitment to experimentation and innovation in the arts.

The Lift Music Fund, whose mission is to make achievement in music more accessible and equitable, is hosting a Mini-Concerts for Microgrants fundraiser series of online performances by professional musicians across the nation. The series will feature performances by Peabody alumni Ian Striedter (BM ’16. Trombone; MM ’17, Audio Sciences) on September 20; Shannon Fitzhenry (BM ’18, Violin) on October 6; and Sophie Fortunato (BM ’17, Violin) on October 7. Other Peabody alumni involved with the organization include Claudia Malchow (BM ’17, Viola), Jessica Korotkin (BM ’16, Cello), Bailey Jo Hutton (BM ’17, Voice, Music Education; MM ’17, Voice, Pedagogy), and Harry Oehler (BM ’16, Trombone, Music Education; MM ’18, Trombone).

Faculty artist Brian Ganz (AD ’93, Piano) will perform "A Tribute to Leon Fleisher" on the Community Concerts at Second series. Ganz is dedicating the program to his mentor Leon Fleisher, the legendary pianist who died on August 2 at the age of 92. A pre-concert talk with Marian Hahn, Singapore Conservatory of Music Chair in Piano, begins at 3:00pm.

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

Your responses to the Peabody Alumni survey will help shape our programming and ensure Peabody Alumni offerings benefit the entire alumni community. Your invitation to complete the survey will arrive in your email inbox or mailbox in the coming days. When you receive it, please take a few minutes to let us know your thoughts about alumni events, communications, and programming. Thank you!