Leon Fleisher, the revered American pianist and conductor who taught at the Peabody Conservatory for 60 years, passed away at a Baltimore hospice on August 2. Famously a child prodigy, Fleisher made his debut with the New York Philharmonic when he was 16 years old and was hailed as “the pianistic find of the century.” He went on to international renown and a prolific performing and recording career, most notably making recordings with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra that are recognized as among the great collaborations in the concerto repertoire. When focal dystonia cost him the use of his right hand, Fleisher channeled his musicality into the piano repertoire for left hand, took up conducting, and renewed his dedication to teaching at Peabody, where he has inspired hundreds of students since 1959. It would be several decades before combined therapies allowed him to regain the use of his right hand, leading to an extraordinary return to performance and recording. A documentary film about his amazing life story, Two Hands, was nominated for a 2007 Academy Award. In 2013, Sony Classical issued a 23-CD box set of his entire recorded output. Leon Fleisher held the Andrew W. Mellon Chair at the Peabody Conservatory. He continued teaching and conducting online master classes into the final weeks of his life. If you would like read more about the life of Leon Fleisher or share your memories of him, please visit his faculty page.

Things change quickly. When I last wrote in this space, we had just announced plans to begin the fall semester with a mix of in-person performance activities and online classes. The COVID-19 pandemic was trending in a positive direction, supporting the idea of a cautious return to campus. In the weeks that followed, the public health situation across the country deteriorated, leading Peabody to make the difficult decision to return to fully remote instruction for the fall semester. While we are disappointed not to be returning to campus in the short term, our preparations for the coming academic year have always included a focus on strengthening our capabilities and infrastructure for remote instruction, given that under our hybrid plan all classroom instruction was to remain online with most of our international students participating exclusively online. With this level of preparation, I know that our students and faculty together can maximize the potential for artistic and educational advancement during these exceptional times.

We also now have a unique opportunity to combine the best of what traditional performing arts training offers at Peabody with state-of-the-art technological training, creative approaches to programming and performance, and the artistic flexibility needed for an unpredictable world. The performing arts will survive this pandemic, but things may not look quite the same in the future. I know Peabody students will be better prepared to carry music and dance forward in new ways. We have emphasized values of adaptability and flexibility in the training of our students in recent years through the Breakthrough Curriculum. The current situation is a real-world example of how quickly things change and how they will continue to change, impacting how performing arts organizations and artists operate in the future.

Finally, the opening of this academic year is extraordinary for another, sad reason. This is the first September in 61 years that we will begin our year without Leon Fleisher in our midst. We were blessed to have Leon with us for six decades – Peabody was his home since 1959. Leon’s gifts as a musician, artist, pianist, and teacher were only matched by his charm, wit, intelligence, and warmth as a human being. It seems simplistic in a way to say that there was no one else like Leon – but that is the essence of it. We will all miss Leon’s genius and his wonderfully, big-hearted presence.

Fred Bronstein, Dean

Ravinia, where Director of Graduate Conducting Marin Alsop recently started her stint as chief conductor and curator, is presenting a 20-minute weekly variety show webcast, RaviniaTV, every Friday at 7:00 pm CT. Alsop was featured in the second episode on July 10.

Inna Faliks (BM ’99, MM ’01, GPD ’03, Piano) has been presenting weekly online “Corona Fridays” concerts. She wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times about “How isolation is a golden opportunity for musicians,” where she also reflected on her time as a student of Leon Fleisher.

A film of the 2015 production at Peabody of On the Threshold of Winter by Composition Professor Michael Hersch (BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition) featuring associate professor of voice Ah Young Hong (BM ’98, MM ’01, Voice) is available in its entirety online.

As composer-in-residence for the Chautauqua Opera, Frances Pollock (MM ’15, Voice) has created a song cycle with its 20 Young Artists. The works are responses to this unique moment in the world and embrace the isolation virtually all singers in the opera field are experiencing today.

Jonathan T. Rush (MM ’19, Conducting), Daniel Sampson (MM ’19, Voice), and Jordan Randall Smith (’14, Conducting) are creative directors for the inaugural International Florence Price Festival, the first annual classical music festival in the U.S. named after a woman of color. It features discussions on the significance of Price and her contemporaries, as well as her music. 

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