Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man from 1942 can sound like a stately flourish of wartime patriotism, but the composer was in part inspired by then Vice President Henry A. Wallace’s call that “the century which will come into being after this war—can be and must be the century of the common man.” It’s fitting that Copland’s majestic recognition of everyday people appears on “A Celebration of American Music,” the program that Peabody faculty and students will perform as part of the opening of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, the university’s new hub for exploring tomorrow’s brightest ideas today in our nation’s capital. For the grand opening taking place October 19, the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, new Peabody Graduate Jazz Ensemble, NEXT Ensemble, and distinguished faculty artist Denyce Graves travel to Washington to perform a concert that, in addition to Copland, includes “Three Dance Episodes” from On the Town by Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky’s suite from Pulcinella (1949 version), Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst for string orchestra, Dana Maiben’s “Vermont,” the 19th-century gospel song “Unclouded Day” by itinerant preacher Josiah Kelley Alwood, and more. For more concerts and events taking place at our Baltimore campus and now in Washington, D.C., please follow our concerts and events calendar.

By now you likely will have read or heard about the very exciting opening of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. This is a spectacular building and an anchor for the University in our nation’s capital. What you may not know is that, as a major performing arts higher education institution, Peabody has long sought a presence in Washington D.C. We’re thrilled to present an annual series of performances in a new and beautifully renovated theater as an important part of the programming in this building. The new theater provides a state-of-the-art venue for Peabody faculty, students, and alumni to expand their base of performances. In addition, building on our Next Normal symposiums, which began three years ago, we plan to host a series of symposiums with a national scope on issues pertinent to the arts. We also look forward to collaborating with Washington-based arts and cultural institutions on future programming.

Peabody will have a significant presence at the festivities being planned for the official dedication of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in mid-October. Some 200 of our students will be involved, including in the inaugural concert celebrating American music in the new theater on October 19. Peabody is proud to be a part of the launch of the Bloomberg Center, and looks forward to becoming a regular presence and contributor to the arts and culture scene in Washington D.C.

Sincerely,

Wednesday, October 4, through Sunday, October 8

A young woman takes a cosmic rocket ride through intricate mazes that mirror her inner struggle with mental illness in the 45-minute animation, chamber music, hip-hop, and dance piece The Galaxy Brain Experience. Recent graduates Joe Cahill (BM ’23, Music for New Media), Zoë Brielle Payne (BFA ’23, Dance), and co-producer Wenyun Liu’s multimedia work is staged five times during the Charm City Fringe Festival in Baltimore. The Galaxy Brain Experience runs evenings through October 8 at Le Mondo and tickets are available online.

Thursday, October 5, 7:30 pm EDT

Jonathan Taylor Rush (MM ’19, Orchestral Conducting) joins the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra as a guest artist for its 2023-24 season, leading the LPO through William Grant Still’s Festive Overture, Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, “Classical,” and Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1. The performance takes place at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans and tickets are available online.

Wednesday, October 11, through Saturday, October 14

Vida Goldstein was a left-wing, anti-war Australian suffragist who unsuccessfully ran for parliament multiple times in the early 20th century and whose life and efforts were largely forgotten after her 1949 death until second-wave feminism began resurfacing forgotten histories. Composer Jenny Game and librettist Caitlin Vincent (MM ’09, Voice) explore Goldstein’s life in their new The Blood Vote, a chamber opera with circus, that receives its festival premiere during the Melbourne Fringe Festival, October 11 to 14, at the Gasworks Arts Park; tickets are available online.

Sunday, October 29, 6:00 pm EDT

The Talea Ensemble’s current concert season explores words in music and the intrepid group partners with the equally fearless soprano and faculty artist Ah Young Hong (BM ’98, MM ’01, Voice) for a concert of intense vocal music. Hong and Talea play the US premiere of faculty composer Michael Hersch’s one step to the next, worlds ending, Hersch’s anonymous beneath the lemon trees, and Distinguished Composer in Residence Georg Friedrich Haas’ . . . wie stille brannte das Licht. The concert takes place at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew in New York City and tickets are available online.

Tuesday, October 31, through Thursday, November 2

The nonprofit BalletCollective in New York City has brought together choreographers, composers, dancers, and musicians to create new ballet works and installations since 2010. The Bergamot Quartet—Ledah Finck (BM ’16, MM ‘18, Violin); Sarah Thomas (BM ’17, MM ’19 Violin); Amy Huimei Tan (GPD ’20, Viola); and Irène Han (MM ’18, Cello)—provides the music to BalletCollective 2023 gala and performances, featuring works by composers Robert Honstein and Phong Tran for world premieres by choreographers Omar Román De Jésus and Troy Schumacher. 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 events page.

ARK RESOUNDING

Soprano Allison Charney (MM '91, AD '94, Voice), cellist Kajsa William-Olsson, and pianist Reiko Uchida started The ARK Trio as a vehicle for collaboration and quickly found their voice, cello, piano instrumentation musically rewarding with a limited rep. Ark Resounding (Novona Records), the trio’s debut album, features new works written for the group by composers Kim D. Sherman, Moshe Knoll, and Michael Ching. The album is available online.

House of Belonging

House of Belonging (Delos), the new album by the Grammy-winning choral ensemble Conspirare and the Miró Quartet, features works by nine composers, including faculty artist Kevin Puts' "Evergreen" with text by Hildegard of Bingen and a new arrangement of his "Home" for string quartet and chorus. The album is available online.

In The Meantime

Coby Siegel, an undergraduate jazz guitarist, released a debut EP of singer/songwriter pop titled In the Meantime. It can be found on iTunes.

It Floats Away From You

Soprano Corrine Byrne and trumpeter Andy Kozar offer composers an interesting mix of timbre possibilities with their Byrne:Kozar:Duo. For the duo’s It Floats Away from You (New West Recordings), eight composers—including Music Theory faculty artist Vid Smooke (MM ’95, Composition)—pull from a variety of text sources and sound ideas to create a rich, imaginative repertoire for the curious combination: Smooke’s “All Are Welcome Here" features the title phrase sung in 16 different languages accompanied by fleeting melodies. The album is available online.

Music Business...What is This?

Pianist and Assistant Professor Richard D. Johnson has long made music education and business part of his creative practice. He’s funneling a bit of that expertise into his new podcast, “Music Business . . . What is This?,” on which he offers pragmatic guidance about working with managers, club owners, and more. It can be found on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud.

The Before Times

The late actress Carrie Fisher once joked that “no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra,” a quip that composer Michelle McQuade Dewhirst set for the moving final song on The Before Times, the new EP by the New Orleans-based duo of saxophonist Alan Theisen and mezzo-soprano and Professional Studies lecturer Megan Ihnen (MM ’09, Voice), MIATp. “No Matter How I Go (Epitaph for Carrie Fisher),” all one minute and 22 seconds of it, is a compact example of the combination of art song wit and emotion that Ihnen and Theisen display over this disarmingly entertaining EP.

Great Music Teaching

The debut podcast from Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute features host Sean Jones, Peabody’s Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair of Jazz Studies, exploring “the careers, communities, and personal histories of different kinds of music teachers and provides a glimpse of the difference they’ve made in their students' lives” as Jones says. The series debuted September 21 and can be found online; new episodes are released Thursdays through October 26.