The Peabody LAUNCHPad Launch Grants support creative projects developed by third-year undergraduate and first-year master’s students in the Breakthrough Curriculum course “Pitching Your Creative Idea,” offered each spring. Grantees receive up to $5,000 in funding as well as mentorship and promotional support for their projects. Congratulations to the 2021 grantees, announced last month:

In a few short months, we have moved from seeing the dim light at the end of the tunnel of the pandemic, to watching the vista opening up wider each day as more people are vaccinated and as life returns to normal. Indeed, as we prepare for the fall, we look forward to welcoming all our students, faculty, and staff to campus. And with the decision by Johns Hopkins University to require vaccinations of all members of our community, we are confident that we’ll be able to operate in a normal way without masks or distancing, together safely again. At the same time (and this may sound strange), there are things we will take away from this shared COVID experience and keep, and build upon, in terms of the future.

We see the potential in hybrid work formats in a way that we never could have imagined a year ago. Similarly, we know that technology has the capacity to expand beyond physical boundaries, not necessarily in place of in-person modalities, but by expanding the footprint. And we know that there are key takeaways from work that Peabody has already been engaged in, as well as important things that we learned in hosting the international symposium, The Next Normal, a few months back. These are things that we intend to continue to focus on at Peabody and in helping lead future industry conversations around the growing importance and existential question of anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion for the performing arts, as well as the growing awareness that we need to build artistic institutions that are flexible, adaptable, and nimble in order to meet the challenges and opportunities of a changing world.

I am energized by being together again, and at the same time, challenging ourselves and our field with what we have learned in order to make the future for the performing arts as bright as we all would wish for. More immediately, I wish for all a reinvigorating and restful summer.

Fred Bronstein, Dean

Professor of Flute Marina Piccinini performs a recital in the Benedict Music Tent at the Aspen Music Festival. The Pacifica Quartet and violinist Robert Chen join her for a wide-ranging program featuring works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Amy Beach, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Director of Graduate Conducting Marin Alsop conducts and Jonathan Rush (MM ’19, Conducting) makes his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival as a guest conductor in "CSO: Celebrating America.” The program includes Laura Karpman’s All American, Stacy Garrop’s The Battle for the Ballot, and works by Carlos Simon and James P. Johnson.

BFA Dance musician and beatboxer Shodekeh joins Sō Percussion – Eric Beach (BM ’04, GPD ’05, Percussion), Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting – for a special performance as part of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts summer season. The program includes the world premiere of Shodekeh’s Vodalities: Paradigms of Consciousness for the Human Voice, commissioned by Caramoor.

Violin Professor Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel of Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel are the artistic directors of the International Bach Academy Eisenach 2021. Classes will take place in the Eisenach City Palace and Johann Sebastian Bach Music School and are open to all interested listeners.

The Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts Jazz Festival’s closing set presents Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies Sean Jones’ Dizzy Spellz featuring Brinae Ali.

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