Three Peabody events will be live streamed in the next month. On Wednesday, January 31, at 8:00 pm, Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Artistic Director of Ensembles Joseph Young will lead the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in a performance featuring student competition winners, including Gu Wei's
Transience, for Orchestra, the winning work in the Macht Orchestral Composition Competition. On Friday, February 2, at 2:00 pm, pianist, writer, and composer Stephen Hough will speak as part of the Dean's Symposium Series. Faculty artist Amit Peled, cello, will join the Peabody Chamber Orchestra, led by Marin Alsop, for Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 on Saturday, February 17, at 8:00 pm. Watch these events live at
ustream.tv.
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FROM THE DEAN
We were delighted to make the
recent announcement appointing trumpeter Sean Jones as the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies at Peabody, an announcement marking a new era for Jazz Studies at the Conservatory. Sean comes to us from the Berklee College of Music, where he has served as chair of the Brass Department since 2014. His numerous other teaching and performance activities include artistic director of the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, Artist-in-Residence at San Francisco Performances, and a member of the SFJAZZ Collective. In addition, he serves as a member of the Jazz Education Network's Board of Directors and was recently appointed as artistic director of Carnegie Hall's NYO Jazz.
The appointment of Sean Jones comes at a particularly opportune moment. Jazz is a deep and meaningful part of the Baltimore story, and an essential contemporary American art form. Peabody's strong commitment to jazz and its critical points of intersection with many different aspects of musical creation and performance, as well as Peabody's strong commitment to citizen artistry, make this an ideal time and place to mark a new chapter for jazz at Peabody and in Baltimore. Sean Jones is an inspiring artist, an engaging and energetic leader, and a dedicated teacher - the perfect choice to lead this effort for our jazz students, across the Conservatory, and in the broader community.
I know we are all excited to watch Sean and his colleagues take Peabody's jazz program to new heights.
Fred Bronstein, Dean |
ON STAGE / OFF CAMPUS
Friday, January 19, 8:00 pm
Filipino trombonist Ricson Poonin (
MM '16, GPD '17, Trombone) will be a featured soloist on Ferdinand David's Trombone Concertino in E-flat with the
Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The orchestra will also perform Manuel P. Maramba OSB's Symphony Ode "La Naval" and Peter Tchaikovsky's
"Pathetique" Symphony, led by Herminigildo Ranera.
Saturday, January 20, 8:00 pm
The world premiere of
Crossroads by faculty composer Douglas Buchanan (
MM '08, Composition, Music Theory Pedagogy; DMA '13, Composition) will be performed by the
Dallas Chamber Symphony, directed by Richard McKay (
DMA '11, Conducting), and the
Dallas Street Choir. The work draws on Buchanan's experiences working with street choirs and weaves in the history of the blues and poetry by persons experiencing homelessness.
Sunday, January 21, 7:30 pm
Barbara Schneider (
MM '98, Violin) has organized a
benefit concert for the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico, a small island heavily damaged in Hurricane Maria. Musicians from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Peabody Preparatory faculty members Ivan Stefanovic, violin, and Troy Stuart (
GPD '94, Cello); the Lyric Brass Quintet with Larry Williams (
BM '88, GPD '90, French Horn); and Peabody alumni Dariusz Skoraczewski (
BM '94, GPD '96, Cello), Marcia Kamper (
BM '98, GPD '00, Flute), and Lukasz Szyrner (
GPD '97, Cello) will perform music by Gaubert, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Ewald, and Ewazen. The concert will take place at the Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore.
Saturday January 27, 1:00 pm
Thompson Street Opera Company will present the Chicago premiere of
Uncle Alex by Joshua Bornfield (
DMA '13 Composition; MM '14, Music Theory Pedagogy) with libretto by Caitlin Vincent (
MM '09, Voice), as part of a multi-disciplinary event called
Faulty Systems. The work was commissioned by Washington National Opera as part of the American Opera Initiative in 2013.
Composition Department Chair Michael Hersch (
BM '95, MM '97, Composition) will be the subject of
American Visionary, a Utah festival that celebrates his artistry with presentations of three evening-length works -
The Vanishing Pavilions,
Last Autumn, and
On the Threshold of Winter.
On the Threshold of Winter also received its Chicago premiere with Ensemble Dal Niente and Ah Yong Hong (
BM '98, MM '01, Voice), January 18 and 20.
Peabody Events highlights select off-campus or live-streamed performances featuring Peabody performers. For other events, please visit our Peabody Institute Concerts Facebook page. For the complete weekly list of concerts at Peabody, subscribe to Events at Peabody at peabody.jhu.edu/news.
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ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS
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Peabody Dean Fred Bronstein's December 7 post for the Americans for the Arts' ArtsBlog, titled "Enacting Change in the Performing Arts World Begins with Changing the Conservatory Culture," was ArtsBlog's second most read post of 2017. In it, Dean Bronstein discusses the necessity of evolving conservatory training to meet the needs of art and music in today's world.
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Washington Garcia (
MM '98, DMA '03, Piano) was awarded the medal for Outstanding Cultural Achievement by the Ecuadorian National Assembly. This is the highest recognition the Ecuadorian Government gives to an individual who has demonstrated excellence in the arts. Garcia also had his debut with the Omaha Symphony and performs regularly throughout the U.S.
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Michelle Kiec (
MM '98, DMA '04, Clarinet) has been named dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Kutztown University, in Kutztown, Pa. Kiec balances a career as a musician and administrator. As a clarinetist, she has performed with the Harrisburg Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Lancaster.
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Cory Palmer (
MM '07, Double Bass) won the principal bass position with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in New York. Prior to joining the RPO, he was principal bass of the Canton Symphony Orchestra in Ohio from 2012 to 2016.
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The Music Academy of the West named Yuan Qi (
GPD '17, Viola) a Zarin Mehta Fellow. As a part of the fellowship, she's participating in a training program with the New York Philharmonic. Qi and nine other instrumentalists began an immersive 10-day training experience, with lessons, concerts, and seminars, on January 18.
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RECENT RECORDINGS
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Fear Not is a collection of songs written and performed by Cameron Blake (
MM '07, Violin). The CD features 12 original songs containing a diversity of style and instrumentation performed by 50 musicians, including strings, brass, a jazz combo, and choirs.
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The debut album by Les Ordinaires with Leela Breithaupt (
BM '93, MM '96, Flute) reveals the intimate sound world inside the private chambers of France's Louis XIV, exploring the depths of human emotion that Baroque art sought to express.
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Andrew Cooperstock (
DMA '88, Piano) has released a two-disc recording featuring both collections originally written for friends of Bernstein and larger works. Bernstein's
Bridal Suite, for piano four hands, is recorded here for the first time in its entirety. A celebration of Bernstein's centenary, this recording features works from throughout his career.
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Julien Xuereb (
MM '15, GPD '17, Guitar/Pedagogy) released a recording of his newest composition, which depicts the experience of looking at several distant objects in space. The inspiration was drawn from a unique outdoor performance scenario in which Xuereb played guitar and the residents of the Springwell Senior Living Community observed stars through a telescope.
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