Peabody Campus Transformation | | The Peabody Institute has shared its plans to pursue the construction of a new performance, education, and student services building on the former site of the Residence Towers. Proposed programming for the new student-centric building will include spaces dedicated to enriched learning, research, practice, rehearsal, student services, and dining facilities. The space will also house the Center for Performing Arts and Health, improving student access to health and wellness services, while embedding pioneering performing arts research practices in medicine, nursing, and public health on the Peabody campus. Once completed, the building will add to Peabody’s existing performance halls and enhance the institute’s connection to the surrounding communities with a new, flexible performance venue presenting free performances open to all. Read more at the Hub. | | |
This fall marked the opening of the Peabody Residential Commons, formerly the Waterloo Apartments, as apartment-style housing for more than 250 mostly freshmen and sophomores. Over the last year, much work was done to prepare for this move, including building improvements, new furniture inventory, security enhancements, and IT upgrades. It was gratifying to hear the positive response from parents during move-in in August, and favorable reviews continue to pour in from students. We look forward to additional property enhancements to come.
With the move to the Residential Commons complete and the decision made to pursue a complete rebuild on the current Residence Towers site, we have set our sights on a new student-centric building allowing for state-of-the-art spaces that will best serve our students and faculty. Those needs include more and improved practice space, additional classroom and rehearsal space, and a new flexible performance venue, along with student support services and expanded dining.
Of course, we are also investing in the rest of campus. The scope of Peabody’s cross campus improvements has already included modernization of elevators, restroom renovations, new classroom furniture, new security technology, and additional cosmetic improvements. Major renovations in Friedberg Hall, including new mechanical and electrical systems, acoustic upgrades, and cosmetic improvements were also successfully completed in April 2026. And we are nowhere near done. There is now a continuing process to assess and prioritize additional cross-campus improvements to be completed over the next few years.
I am so excited as we find ourselves in a once-in-a-century transformational moment for Peabody. As we move forward, we continue to work closely with Mount Vernon community organizations as well as elected officials and Baltimore City to get input and seek all approvals necessary. We look forward to sharing additional details as the design phase advances. More to come soon!
| | Honor the Impact | Nominate a Peabody Alum | |
Do you know a Peabody graduate who’s making a meaningful difference in their field or community? Help us recognize their contributions by submitting a nomination for the 2027 Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Awards. Honor their impact—nominate today!
Award categories include:
- Community Champion – Building bridges and lifting others
- Global Achievement – Making an international impact
- Outstanding Recent Graduate – Rising star from the class of 2016 to 2026
- Heritage Award – Championing Peabody and Johns Hopkins through enduring service and dedication
- Distinguished Alumnus/a – Exemplifying excellence and impact
- Public Service – Serving with heart and purpose
For the full description of each award, please visit Alumni Association Awards | Alumni Association at alumni.jhu.edu.
Submit your nomination to Peabody’s Alumni Relations Office HERE before December 1.
| | More news about Peabody alumni, faculty, and students can be found below and online. Please keep sending us your news: career achievements, fellowships awarded, competitions and prizes won, commissions earned, albums released, and whatever else you’re currently pursuing. | | | | Pianist Antonio Ajero, a master’s student in the studio of faculty artist HieYon Choi, took home first prize and the Teachers’ Choice Award in the Collegiate Artists division of the Sonare International Piano Competition in Seattle in September; the award includes a $4,000 cash prize. | | | | Dierdre Dawkins, Franki Graham | Dance faculty artist Deidre Dawkins received the Outstanding Dance Educator in PK-12 (Established) Award from the National Dance Education at the organization’s national conference in Albuquerque, NM. Franki Graham, senior department chair of Preparatory Dance, was honored by the Maryland Dance Education Association with the 2026 MDEA Outstanding Leadership in Dance Education Award, a recognition of statewide leadership. | | | | Agustin Muriago, associate professor of keyboard skills, led master classes, worked with undergraduate students Tiago Ducuron, Aflat Gao, and Katherine Hu, and performed as part of the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Piedmont, Italy, in July. His participation in this festival was made possible by a 2025 Faculty Professional Development Grant. The grant program supported conference presentations, research projects, performances, and more for 32 Peabody faculty members. | | | | Composer George Tsz-Kwan Lam (MM ’25, Composition & Music Theory Pedagogy) has joined the faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Music as teaching assistant professor of music theory and Music Theory Coordinator. | | | | Composition doctoral student Zhitao Lin debuts the interactive audiovisual work From Gesture to Phrase: Real-Time Dance-to-Music Recomposition at IRCAM Forum Workshops Tokyo in November, an international meeting for music and sound technologies specialists. The work is informed by Lin’s Liminal, an interactive audiovisual work he presented at the 50th International Computer Music Conference in Boston, the SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Real-Time Live! Showcase in Hong Kong, and the IRCAM Forum Workshops 2026 Paris. | | |
Frida, October 9, 5:30 pm EDT
Scotland-based American guitarist/educator Stephen Morrison (BM ’78, MM ’82; Guitar) performs a musical portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright at the architect’s “Fallingwater” at Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Tickets are available online.
Tuesday, October 12, 7:00 pm CEST
Gemma New (MM ’11, Conducting) makes her debut at the Staatskapelle Berlin, leading one of the oldest orchestras in the world through Jessie Montgomery’s Strum, Joseph Haydyn’s final symphony, and Benjamin Britten’s Serenade, featuring tenor Stephan Rügame. The concert takes place at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and tickets are available online.
Wednesday, October 13, 7:00 pm EDT
Saxophonist and master’s student Kevin Brewster brings his Black Renaissance band, which includes Peabody jazz graduate students Wanye Williams and Joshua Watkins, to the Keystone Korner in Baltimore; tickets available online.
Friday, October 23, 7:00 pm EEST
Violinist Vadim Gluzman, Distinguished Artist in Residence, joins the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra for the Estonian premiere—and ECM Records recording—of Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Violin Concerto No. 3 Conversations with the Unknown, which is dedicated to Gluzman, in Tallinn. The concert takes place in the Estonia Concert Hall and tickets are available online.
Friday, October 30, 7:00 pm BST
Current DMA student and Scottish-Indian guitarist Samrat Majumder returns to Scotland for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Big Guitar Weekend festival to perform the lute music of John Dowland and Johann Sebastain Bach Oct. 30; tickets available online.
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Peabody Notes highlights select off-campus performances featuring Peabody performers. For other events, please visit our Peabody events page.
| | American Music Festival | October 16-18 | | Peabody’s American Music Festival unites thought leaders, students, and musicians for three days of performances and conversation highlighting the diverse sounds that shaped a nation. Join us at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. as we celebrate America’s music from bebop to hip hop. | | |
Brass for Uncommon Times
The all-star collective Brass for Uncommon Times large ensemble includes faculty artists Velvet Brown, Javier Nero, and Fran Vielma and alumni Teodora Adzharova (MM ’11, GPD ’13, DMA ’20, Piano), Jermaine Fryer (MM ’20, Euphonium, Music Education Euphonium), Meredith Fuller (DMA ’25, Tuba), Christy Klenke (GPD ’13, Horn), Jordan Prescott (MM ’19, DMA ’24, Organ), and Jasmine Pigott (DMA ’24, Tuba) performing seven 21st-century works reflecting contemporary uncertainty and crises. Brass for Uncommon Times (Naxos) is available to stream or purchase online.
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The Carlisle Sessions with Floyds Row
Early music specialists Andrew Arceci (BM ’08, Viola da Gamba and Upright Bass) and soprano Emily Noël (MM ’06, Vocal Studies) anchor the classical-folk hybrid Floyds Row ensemble’s extended play The Carlisle Sessions (Big Round Records), which explores early and historical music through a contemporary lens.
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César Orozco and SonAhead
Composer/pianist César Orozco (GPD ’24, Jazz Piano) won a 2025 Latin Grammy for his arrangement of “Chameleon,” the lead single from his recently released César Orozco and SonAhead (Puntilla), the Cuban/Venezuelan composer’s exploration of son, Cuba’s distinct version of Afro-Caribbean dance music.
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Passion from the Podium: Seven Lessons to Inspire Effective Music Rehearsals
Teacher-conductor Matthew J. Roeder (MM ’00, Music Education) draws on his decades of experience directing high school and college bands to offer pragmatic advice about leading engaging music rehearsals in Passion from the Podium (GIA Publications, Inc.), which includes perspectives from wind band conducting colleagues from around the country.
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