Applications are now open for new low-residency master’s degree programs at the Peabody Conservatory, in Composition, Computer Music, and Guitar Performance. Combining a full academic year of distance learning with two compressed in-person summer sessions, the low residency programs allow students to complete a Master of Music in just 13 months of study, and for a lower overall cost than the traditional, in-person master’s degree. Students in the first cohort of Peabody’s low-residency master’s degree programs will spend four weeks on campus in June of 2022 before transitioning to fully remote learning for the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters. Their schedule of classes, private lessons, workshops, and seminars will conclude with a second four-week, in-person session in June of 2023. The deadline to apply for 2022 enrollment is December 1, 2021. Learn more at Peabody.jhu.edu/LowResMM.

As I write to you today, I am looking forward to being in full swing on the Mt. Vernon campus for the 2021-22 academic year. What a time this has been, and while we all recognize the continued challenges the pandemic represents, we are confident and prepared to safely move forward with a “normal” fall semester. 

  

Happily, Peabody came through last year better than we could have hoped for. We finished the 2021 fiscal year on track with our financial plan thanks to strong enrollment and record fundraising, and most important, on track with our academic programs.

 

Even as the new fiscal year is under way, I don’t want to let this moment pass without celebrating the Institute’s most successful fundraising year to date, raising $9,737,273 in support of our students, faculty, and programs and surpassing the FY21 fundraising goal by nearly 26 percent. This represents a remarkable 60 percent increase over prior year fundraising. This year’s results included securing Peabody’s third endowed professorship in just two years which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by an anonymous donor. The $1.25M gift commitment from Sandra Levi Gerstung and the Hecht-Levi Foundation will establish the Levi Distinguished Chair of Dance, joining two chairs established by Advisory Board member Marc von May last year in Vocal Studies and Professional Studies. An important strategic focus for future fundraising, philanthropic support for Preparatory programs also increased by 16 percent this past year thanks to a $1.25M gift to the Preparatory from JHU trustee William H. Miller. 

 

I am so grateful to these and all of our donors, and to the outstanding work of our Development and Alumni Relations team and the volunteers - especially members of our Peabody Institute Advisory Board - who worked so effectively and tirelessly to raise the fundraising aspirations for Peabody. It is in this context that we look forward to continued success, and begin this year fresh and looking to the future.

Fred Bronstein, Dean

Rosa Ponselle Distinguished Faculty Artist Denyce Graves performs the title role in the world premiere of The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson at Glimmerglass on the Grass in Cooperstown, New York. The play, written by Sandra Seaton, celebrates the founder of the National Negro Opera Company and includes selections from the company’s repertory and original music composed by Carlos Simon.

The Charm City Big Band, led by Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies Sean Jones and featuring faculty artists Tim Green and Warren Wolf, will perform alongside faculty artist Wendel Patrick in the Mable Lee "Queen of the Soundies" Centennial Celebration at the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center in Baltimore. The performance is available for both in-person and virtual viewing.

As a fellow at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute outside Chicago, Claire Galloway Weber (MM ’15, Voice) will perform works by Alban Berg, Libby Larsen, André Caplet, Charles Koechlin, Gunnar de Frumerie, and more in free live-streamed recitals featuring the Steans Program for Voice fellows.

Vocal studies instructor and opera stage director Garnett Bruce is the stage director for Chicago Summer Opera's production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni. In-person performances will take place at the Prairie Lakes Theatre in Des Plaines, Illinois.

PriceFest 2021: A New Black Renaissance, a virtual celebration of the music of composer Florence Price, will be led by a creative team including Jonathan T. Rush (MM ’19, Conducting), Daniel Sampson (MM ’19, Voice), and Jordan Randall Smith (’14, Conducting). The second annual festival will include the premiere of My Lisette, a documentary on the evolution of Haitian folksong; performances by Marquita Lister, Melissa Givens, and Kevin Wayne Bumpers; a mixed media event from artist Kamilla Arku, and more.

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