Musician, educator, and a leading researcher of performing arts health, Kris Chesky joins the Peabody Conservatory and the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the School of Medicine as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Performing Arts Health at the Johns Hopkins University. Chesky investigates issues at the intersection of music and health, advocating for health policy and safety standards for music students and performing artists, as well as increased specialized training for music educators to integrate research and clinical care for performing artists into education. He comes to Peabody from the University of North Texas College of Music, where he was the founding co-director of the Texas Center for Performing Arts Health. “The fact that Johns Hopkins, as a premier research institution with a prestigious conservatory, is embracing these challenges in performing arts health speaks loudly in and of itself and will resonate broadly, and definitely has the potential to impact the disciplines of music and dance,” Chesky said in an interview with the Johns Hopkins Hub. “This is an incredible opportunity to innovate, to grow, and to lead.”

If you follow this space, you know that there is a continuous through-line in all activities connecting the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Peabody. We believe this commitment is vital—especially so in a field that historically has lacked a broad range of creative voices. Accordingly, Peabody has identified diversity as a strategic pillar and seen focused growth in the numbers of underrepresented faculty and students since 2015. The number of faculty members who identify with underrepresented backgrounds has increased from 5 percent to 15 percent of the faculty, and our BIPOC student cohort has grown from 10 percent to 18 percent of students. In addition, Peabody has been working intentionally to broaden and diversify the range of creative voices by benchmarking and driving forward a plan to expand dramatically the types of music and art being studied and performed here, from classical to all forms of American music and dance, including contemporary art music, jazz, and hip-hop. And our commitment to diversity inspired the launch of Peabody Premieres, a new recording initiative dedicated to highlighting the works of underrepresented composers. In addition, last year Peabody added China Wilson to our executive team as our inaugural Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to help lead this important work.

Our response to the recent Supreme Court decision severely curtailing the use of race as a factor in admissions policies is to reaffirm Peabody’s steadfast commitment, alongside Johns Hopkins University’s, to creating and supporting a diverse and inclusive campus community. As we work in the weeks to come to determine the impact of this legal ruling on Peabody’s practices and programs, we will do so with a keen understanding of how important a diverse student body is to the future of the performing arts and a firm resolve to continue to increase access and opportunity in our field. That commitment has not changed, nor will it change, and is now more important than ever.

Sincerely,

Friday, July 7, 8:00 pm EDT

Initially formed in 2012, trumpeter Peter Evans’ Rocket Science ensemble includes British saxophonist Evan Parker and expands Parker’s multiphonic and microtonal experimentations alongside pianist Craig Taborn and Peabody faculty artist Sam Pluta on electronics. Evans, Pluta, and Taborn are joined by electronics artist and MacArthur fellow Ikue Mori for a rare Rocket Science live appearance at the Brooklyn Music School; tickets are available online.

Friday, July 7, 8:30 pm EDT

New York City-based composer and percussionist Devin Gray (BM ’06, Jazz Percussion), a member of Peabody Jazz’s first graduating class, returns to Baltimore this month while touring with his latest release, Most Definitely (Rataplan Records). Gray’s ninth album as band leader is his first solo electroacoustic outing, and captures the rhythmically playful and mercurial Gray in a thoughtful, meditative mood that showcases the drum kit’s emotionally expansive range. Gray is joined by trumpeter Dave Ballou and electronics artist and current graduate student Levi Lu at the Red Room at Normals Books and Records.

Saturday, July 15, 8:00 pm EDT

Joseph Young (AD ’09, Conducting), Peabody’s Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Artistic Director of Ensembles, makes his Carnegie Hall debut leading NYO2 through Leonard Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On the Town, Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto featuring soloist Jennifer Koh, and selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet; tickets are available online. Following the Carnegie Hall debut, Young, Koh, and NYO2 take this program to the Dominican Republic for a pair of concerts.

Tuesday, July 25, 8:00 pm EDT

Peabody’s Richard and Elizabeth Chase Chair of Jazz Studies Sean Jones is also the artistic director for Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz, comprised of young artists between the ages of 16 and 19 from around the country; its alumni include current Peabody jazz students Ebban and Ephraim Dorsey, Ethan Bailey-Gould, Hannah Mayer, Koleby Royston, and Nico Wohl. At the end of the month Jones and NYO Jazz embark on its first European tour with special guest Dee Dee Bridgewater—but first, they play Carnegie Hall; tickets are available online.

Friday, July 28, TBA

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)—joins the faculty of Arts Letters Numbers' 2023 Creative Music Intensive that runs July 15 to 30 in upstate New York. In addition to teaching sessions and workshops, the quartet collaborates with a handful of composers to premiere new works at a July 28 concert. See the Arts Letters Numbers website for more details.

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

Celtic Migration - Journeys Home

Celtic Migration - Journeys Home, as conceived and performed by Diana Cantrelle McKinney (MM ’12, Voice, Pedagogy), is an exploration of Celtic and American folk music as people immigrated to the United States, and features pianist Aejin Kim (MM, GPD ’17, Vocal Accompanying). It can be found on various online and streaming platforms. 

Kemet: The Black Land

Peabody jazz faculty Javier Nero’s sophomore release, Kemet: The Black Land (Outside in Music), features the composer/trombonist’s eclectic and nimble writing and arranging for large ensemble, with special guest trumpeter Randy Brecker and fellow Peabody faculty Sean Jones, Warren Wolf, and Tim Green. 

Missing Scenes

The intrepid, collective octet of composers and performers/improvisers known as the Wet Ink Ensemble return with Missing Scenes, the third outing for its 20-plus member large ensemble. Featuring new works by ensemble composers Kate Soper and Alex Mincek, and Peabody faculty artist Sam Pluta’s elusively anxious “Actuate/Resonate,” the album was recorded at the DiMenna Center in New York by Pluta and current graduate student Levi Lu.

New Morse Codes

New Morse Codes—the duo of cellist Hannah Collins and percussionist Michael Compitello (BM ’07, Percussion)—debuted a new music video on the I Care if You Listen website. The work, composer Viet Cuong’s (BM ’11, MM ’12, Composition) Next Week’s Trees, was originally commissioned by the California Symphony during Cuong’s 2020-23 Composer-in-Residency.