$3 Million Mellon Foundation Grant will
Establish the Baltimore-Washington
Musical Pathways Initiative
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With a
just-announced award of $3 million in grant funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a new collaborative initiative in the Baltimore-Washington corridor will champion a collective approach to diversifying American classical music. The Baltimore-Washington Musical Pathways partners—the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra, the DC Youth Orchestra Program, and Levine Music—seek to transform the field of classical music through their sustained and combined efforts to support and serve young musicians from diverse backgrounds who aspire to careers in music. The mission of the Baltimore-Washington Musical Pathways is to prepare and support student musicians in grades 8 through 12 from communities historically underrepresented in U.S. orchestras for study at music conservatories or as music majors at four-year colleges and universities, leading eventually to professional opportunities with the country’s leading ensembles.
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I have often used this space to talk about the importance of diversity and inclusion at Peabody. For that reason I am especially pleased to share the news of the Mellon Foundation's multi-year grant supporting the Baltimore-Washington Musical Pathways collaborative, which seeks to diversify the landscape of the American classical music field. As noted above, the BWMP will bring Peabody together with cultural anchors in Washington, DC, building on and expanding existing programs like Peabody’s Tuned In program to maximize our regional impact.
I have frequently discussed the need to increase diversity in America’s orchestras and across classical music as an existential imperative. Changing demographics and the need to attract more diverse audiences in the future make increased diversity on our stages as fundamental to classical music’s survival as the creation of new work. This partnership will allow us to build exponentially on our individual ongoing efforts by tackling this critical area as a group of institutions committed to this cause in two cities, Baltimore and Washington, both rich with diversity. We want to make real change where it’s most needed – providing access and opportunity to a pool of diverse young musicians early on. I am proud to have Peabody as a major partner in this exciting project.
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Tuesday, January 28, 8:30 pm
Professor Manuel Barrueco, guitar, will perform Astor Piazzolla’s Double Concerto on tour with Solisti Aquilani at the
Aula Magna at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
Wednesday, January 29, 7:30 pm
Associate Professor Ah Young Hong (
BM ’98, MM ’01, Voice), soprano, will perform in György Kurtág’s
Kafka Fragments at
Seattle Symphony with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin.
Thursday, January 30, 7:30 pm
Associate Professor Randall Scarlata, baritone, will perform a recital with pianist Gilbert Kalish at Capistrano Concert Hall as part of Sacramento State's
New Millennium Series. Scarlata and Kalish, who were nominated for a Grammy in 2019 for their Schubert recording, will perform a program featuring Schumann's
Dichterliebe and songs by Charles Ives.
Thursday, February 13-Sunday, March 1
Allison Clendaniel (
BM ’12, Voice) will appear in the world premiere of a new opera,
The First Thing That Happens, with text and direction by Lola B. Pierson and score by the Horse Lords. The opera opens a new performance space,
The Voxel, in Baltimore.
Sunday, February 16, 8:30 pm
Two songs from
Elegy For A Prince, an opera composed by Sergio Cervetti (
BM ’67, Composition) based on Oscar Wilde's
The Happy Prince, will be performed by
The Distinguished Concerts Orchestra and Singers on Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage in New York City.
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Composition Professor Du Yun was featured in the UK's Classic FM's Decade List for winning the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first time in its history that all three finalists were women. She was also featured in Italian Rolling Stone in its story on the “Decade of Women Composers.”
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Voice faculty artist Elizabeth Futral appears on the cast album of
Tobias Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox, which won the GRAMMY award for Best Opera Recording on Sunday night. Esperanza Spalding's album
12 Little Spells, featuring guitar jazz faculty artist Matthew Stevens, also won a GRAMMY.
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Tim Nelson (
BM ’04, Composition) was mentioned in
The Washington Post’s Best of 2019 article for his work with the In Series. Anne Midgette wrote, “The most creative operatic work is still happening at smaller opera companies and … [the In Series] offered some memorable small takes on big works.”
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The CD
Speak, Be Silent, by Riot Ensemble with Preparatory alumna Sarah Saviet, was listed by
The New Yorker’s Alex Ross as one of the best Classical CD's of 2019. The CD includes works by Chaya Czernowin, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Mirela Ivičević, Liza Lim, and Rebecca Saunders.
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Pianist Xiaohui Yang made her Carnegie Hall debut on January 21 where she premiered Ballade by Shulamit Ran. She won the 2017 Naumburg Piano Competition, and this recital was part of the prize.
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Professor Judith Ingolfsson, violin, released the CD
La Belle Époque: Works by Eugène Ysaÿe, Théodore Dubois and César Franck with pianist Vladimir Stoupel. It features César Franck’s Violin Sonata and the rarities Théodore Dubois’ Violin Sonata and Eugène Ysaÿe’s
Poème élégiaque.
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Are you going on tour or performing at a major venue? Have you been invited as a guest lecturer at another major conservatory or university? Are you presenting your research at a national conference or collaborating with fellow Peabody faculty, students, or alumni on a major project? Has your student just won a major competition? We know you are doing amazing things in the world, let us help promote your work!
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