Peabody Institute
Encyclopedia
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
is a renowned conservatory
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles
Maryland Route 139
Maryland Route 139, known locally for most of its existence as North Charles Street, runs through Baltimore City and through the Towson area of Baltimore County. On the north end it terminates at a traffic circle with Bellona Avenue near Interstate 695 and at the south end it terminates in Federal...
and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.
History
Founded in 1857 by philanthropistPhilanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
George Peabody
George Peabody
George Peabody was an American-British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Trust in Britain and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and was responsible for many other charitable initiatives.-Biography:...
, it is the second-oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States, next to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Completion of the Grecian
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
-Italian
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
building housing the Institute, designed by Edmund George Lind
Edmund George Lind
Edmund George Lind was an English-born American architect, active in Baltimore, Atlanta, and the American south.Lind was born in Islington, now a part of London, England; his father, Alexander Lind, was an engraver who had fought on the British side at the Battle of Bunker Hill...
, was delayed until 1866 due to the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Under the direction of well-known musicians, composers, conductors, and Peabody alumni, the Institute grew from a local academy into an internationally-renowned cultural center through the late 19th and the 20th centuries.
Since 1977, the institute has operated as a division of the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, consistently ranked as one of America's top universities. Because of this affiliation, Peabody students are exposed to a liberal arts curriculum that is notably more extensive than those typically available in other leading conservatories; similarly, Hopkins students have access to a world-class musical education and experience that they might not have access to at another university of such stature.
Peabody is one of 156 schools in the U.S. that offer a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree. It houses two important libraries: the historical George Peabody Library
Peabody Institute Library
The George Peabody Library, formerly known as the Library of the Peabody Institute, is the 19th century research library of The Johns Hopkins University. It is located on the Peabody campus at Mount Vernon Place in Baltimore, Maryland...
established when the institute opened in 1866, and the Arthur Friedheim
Arthur Friedheim
Arthur Friedheim was a Russian-born pianist, conductor and composer who was one of Franz Liszt's foremost pupils.Friedheim was born in Saint Petersburg in 1859. He began serious study of music at age eight...
Library, a music library includes more than 100,000 books, scores, and sound recordings.
Peabody Children's Chorus
The Peabody Children's chorus is for children ages 6–18. It is divided into three groups: Training Choir, Choristers, and Chamber Singers, grouped by age in ascending order. They practice weekly in Towson or Columbia, Maryland, and sing in concerts biannually, under the instruction of Doreen Falby, Bradley Permenter, and Ruriko Osawa. The Chamber Singers, ages 12–18, frequently perform with other groups, such as the Baltimore Symphony OrchestraBaltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is a professional American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland.In September 2007, Maestra Marin Alsop led her inaugural concerts as the Orchestra’s twelfth music director, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra.The BSO Board...
, The Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society
Baltimore Choral Arts Society
The Baltimore Choral Arts Society is a music organization in Baltimore, Maryland that manages a full orchestra, chorus and chamber chorus. Performance venues include the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, as well as Goucher College's Kraushaar Auditorium and frequent stops throughout...
, and have toured both regionally and internationally.
Notable attendees
- Tori AmosTori AmosTori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
— (Prep.) American-born pianist who has sold over 12 million records. - Dominick ArgentoDominick ArgentoDominick Argento is an American composer, best known as a leading composer of lyric opera and choral music...
— A leading composer of lyric opera and choral music. - Carter BreyCarter BreyCarter Brey is an American cello virtuoso. He had a prolific solo career from 1981 until 1996 when he became the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, a position he still holds today.-Biography:...
- Principal cellist, New York PhilharmonicNew York PhilharmonicThe New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
. - Richard CassillyRichard CassillyRichard Cassilly was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954 and 1990...
— Leading interpreter of Wagnerian Tenor repertoire - Angelin ChangAngelin ChangAngelin Chang is a Grammy® Award-winning classical pianist and professor of music at Cleveland State University. She heads the university's keyboard studies program and coordinates the university's chamber music program...
— Grammy-award winning classical pianist - Martha ClarkeMartha ClarkeMartha Clarke is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions. She is the creator of plotless, dreamlike works that are perhaps described by the term "moving paintings. Her work frequently emphasizes striking...
— (Prep.) Choreographer and dance director. - Richard Wayne DirksenRichard Wayne DirksenRichard Wayne Dirksen was an American musician and composer, who served as Organist and Choirmaster of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., from 1977 to 1988. Previously he was Assistant Organist and Choirmaster from 1942 to 1964...
— Graduated magna cum laude in June 1942, later organist-choirmaster at the Washington National CathedralWashington National CathedralThe Washington National Cathedral, officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Of neogothic design, it is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world, the second-largest in... - Virgil FoxVirgil FoxVirgil Keel Fox was an American organist, known especially for his flamboyant "Heavy Organ" concerts of the music of Bach. These events appealed to audiences in the 1970s who were more familiar with rock 'n' roll music and were staged complete with light shows...
— Concert organist and recording artist. - Philip GlassPhilip GlassPhilip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
— (Prep.) Composer of opera and contemporary music. - Hilary HahnHilary HahnHilary Hahn is an American violinist.Hahn was born in Lexington, Virginia. Beginning her studies when she was three years old at Baltimore's Peabody Institute, she was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age ten, and in 1991, made her major orchestral debut with the...
- (Prep.) Violinist. - Michael HedgesMichael HedgesMichael Alden Hedges was an American composer, Acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Background:...
- Composer, Grammy Award-winning (1998) guitarist. - Michael HerschMichael HerschMichael Nathaniel Hersch is an American composer and pianist.-Biography:Initial inspiration and musical educationBorn in Washington, D.C., and raised in Reston, Virginia, Hersch was introduced to classical music at the age of 18 by his younger brother Jamie, who showed him a videotape of Georg...
— American composer. - Kevin KennerKevin KennerKevin Kenner is an American concert pianist.-Biography:At the age of 17, Kenner participated in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and was awarded the 10th prize and a special prize from the jury called Honorable Mention...
— American-born pianist, winner of top prize in International Chopin Competition, bronze in International Tchaikovsky Competition. - Custer LaRueCuster LaRueCuster LaRue is a soprano vocalist of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. She specializes in Renaissance music and traditional Folk music such as the Child ballads and music collected in Appalachia during the early 20th century....
- American soprano, specialist in music of the Renaissance and vocal solist of the Baltimore Consort - Ellis LarkinsEllis LarkinsEllis Larkins was an African-American jazz pianist born in Baltimore, Maryland, perhaps best known for his two recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, the albums Ella Sings Gershwin and Songs in a Mellow Mood .Larkins was the first African American to attend the Peabody Conservatory of Music, a...
— First African-American to attend the conservatory. - James Morris — Wagnerian baritone, Grammy winner and Metropolitan Opera star.
- Tommy NewsomTommy NewsomThomas Penn "Tommy" Newsom was a saxophone player in the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, for which he later became assistant director. Newsom was frequently the band's substitute director, whenever Doc Severinsen was away from the show or filling in for announcer Ed...
— Saxophonist for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night.... - Awadagin PrattAwadagin Pratt- Life :When he was 3 years old, Pratt moved with his parents to Normal, Illinois, where Illinois State University had offered his mother a position as a professor of social work and his Sierra Leone-born father, Theodore, one as a physics professor...
— Concert pianist, violinist and conductor, winner of Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Competition. - Lillian SmithLillian Smith (author)Lillian Eugenia Smith was a writer and social critic of the Southern United States, known best for her best-selling novel Strange Fruit...
(1897–1966) — Author and social critic (two enrollments, no degree) - David SpelmanDavid SpelmanDavid Spelman is a New York-based music producer and curator working in recordings, films and live events- Early life :...
– Founder and Artistic Director of New York Guitar FestivalNew York Guitar FestivalThe New York Guitar Festival is a music festival founded by radio host and author John Schaefer and musician, producer and curator David Spelman, who serves at the festival's Artistic Director...
, music supervisor in the film industry. - John Charles ThomasJohn Charles ThomasJohn Charles Thomas was a popular American opera, operetta and concert baritone.-Birth, schooling and stage debut:...
- Opera and concert baritone and member of the Metropolitan Opera company in the 1930s and '40s. - André WattsAndré WattsAndré Watts is a classical pianist and professor at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University.-Life and early performances:...
— Concert pianist, Grammy winner and professor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. - Paul WellsPaul Wells (musician)Paul Wells was an American pianist, composer, music educator, and writer on music. Born in Carthage, Missouri, he was educated at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University. After solo appearances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, he pursued further studies...
, concert pianist - Hugh WolffHugh WolffHugh Wolff is an American conductor.He was born in Paris while his father was serving in the U. S. Foreign Service, then spent his primary-school years in London. He received his higher education at Harvard and at Peabody Conservatory...
- Conductor, currently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music. - Charles A. ZimmermanCharles A. ZimmermanCharles A. Zimmermann was an American composer of marches and popular music. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, he was appointed bandmaster at the United States Naval Academy in 1887 at the age of 26. He served as the Academy's bandmaster until his death from a brain...
(1861–1916) - Bandmaster at US Naval AcademyUnited States Naval AcademyThe United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
1887 to 1916, composer of Anchors Aweigh. - Mem NahadrMem NahadrMem Nahadr , is a jazz vocalist best known for the performance of the song Butterfly, composed by Yoko Kanno and lyricized by Chris Mosdell for Cowboy Bebop...
— (Prep.) African American Performance Artist, pianist and singer-songwriter. Attended from age ten to fourteen.
Notable faculty
- Diran AlexanianDiran AlexanianDiran Alexanian was an Armenian cello teacher. He studied cello with Friedrich Grützmacher in Leipzig, as well as played chamber music with Johannes Brahms and violinist Joseph Joachim...
, cello - Marin AlsopMarin AlsopMarin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
, conducting - Manuel BarruecoManuel BarruecoManuel Barrueco is a Cuban virtuoso classical guitarist. He was born in 1952 in Santiago de Cuba, on Cuba's southeastern shore. He has toured in the U.S., Europe and Japan, and serves on the faculty of Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland.-Biography:...
, guitar - Garnett BruceGarnett BruceGarnett Bruce is a prominent American opera director.Bruce began his training as a choirboy at the Washington National Cathedral while he attended St. Albans School...
, opera - Elliott CarterElliott CarterElliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
(1946-48), composition - Jay ClaytonJay ClaytonJay Clayton is an internationally acclaimed avant-garde vocalist and jazz educator.- Early years :...
, jazz - David FedderlyDavid FedderlyDavid Fedderly is an American orchestral tuba player and teacher.-Life and career:As a fifth-grader in Silver Bay, Minnesota Fedderly's first choice of instrument was drums, but there were too many drummers already. Trumpet and trombone weren't available either, so he was offered a Sousaphone...
, tuba - Leon FleisherLeon FleisherLeon Fleisher is an American pianist and conductor.-Early life and studies:Fleisher was born in San Francisco, where he started studying the piano at age four...
, piano - Pamela FrankPamela FrankPamela Frank is an American violinist, equally well known as a soloist and as a proponent of chamber music.-Biography:She was born in New York City, the daughter of two pianists, Claude Frank and Lilian Kallir. She studied under Shirley Givens using the Givens Method, unlike many of her...
, violin - Asger HamerikAsger HamerikAsger Hamerik , was a Danish composer of classical music.Born in Frederiksberg , he studied music with J.P.E. Hartmann and Niels Gade. He wrote his first pieces in his teens, including an unperformed symphony...
, Director 1871-1898 - Michael HerschMichael HerschMichael Nathaniel Hersch is an American composer and pianist.-Biography:Initial inspiration and musical educationBorn in Washington, D.C., and raised in Reston, Virginia, Hersch was introduced to classical music at the age of 18 by his younger brother Jamie, who showed him a videotape of Georg...
, composition - Ingrid JensenIngrid JensenIngrid Jensen is a Canadian jazz trumpet player.Jensen is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and Malaspina University in Nanaimo, British Columbia. She has been nominated for several Juno awards, winning one with her first release, Vernal Fields...
, jazz/trumpet - Nicholas MawNicholas MawJohn Nicholas Maw was a British composer.-Biography:Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Maw was the son of Clarence Frederick Maw and Hilda Ellen Chambers. He attended the Wennington School, a boarding school, in Wetherby in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was 14...
(1935–2009), composition - Anthony McGillAnthony McGillAnthony McGill is the principal clarinetist for the Metropolitan Opera. McGill is originally from Chicago, Illinois, growing up in the city's Chatham neighborhood....
, clarinet - Gustav MeierGustav MeierGustav Meier is the director of the Orchestra Conducting Program at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He is also Music Director of the in Connecticut.-Biography:...
, conducting - Edward PalankerEdward PalankerEdward Palanker is an American clarinetist and university professor.-Education:Mr. Palanker graduated from The Manhattan School of Music and attended the Mannes College of Music. His principal clarinet teachers where Leon Russianoff and Eric Simon and he studied bass clarinet with Joe Allard...
, clarinet - Marina PiccininiMarina PiccininiMarina Piccinini is an Italian American virtuoso flautist. She is noted for her performances of compositions by Mozart and Bach, and has performed with many of the world's top orchestras and conductors.-Biography:...
, flute - John Shirley-QuirkJohn Shirley-QuirkJohn Shirley-Quirk CBE is an English bass-baritone.He was born in Liverpool, England, and sang in his high school choir. He played the violin and was awarded a scholarship. While studying chemistry and physics at Liverpool University, he studied voice with Austen Carnegie...
, voice - Robert van SiceRobert van SiceRobert van Sice is an American percussionist and marimba player. He has toured and recorded extensively, currently teaches at the Yale School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and was recently invited to join the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music...
, percussion - Barry TuckwellBarry TuckwellBarry Emmanuel Tuckwell AC, OBE , is an Australian horn player who has spent most of his professional life in the United Kingdom and the United States.- Early life and education :...
, horn - Frank ValentinoFrank Valentinoright|thumb|Valentino, ca. 1940sFrancesco Valentino was an American operatic baritone. He is perhaps best remembered for his performances under Arturo Toscanini.-Life and career:...
, voice - John WalkerJohn Walker (organist)John C. Walker , more familiarly known as John Walker, is an American concert organist, choirmaster, and CD recording artist. Walker has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe...
, organ