Channeling Pablo CasalsTwo Peabody Institute recitals exactly one century apart: Same venue. Same music. Same cello, even. The difference: This time, it’s not Pablo Casals. It will be Peabody faculty member Amit Peled, recreating Casals' Feb. 12, 1915, Baltimore concert on the now-280-year-old instrument that Casals himself played. Read more here and here.
Orchestrating classical music’s futureReports of the death of classical music have been greatly exaggerated. Fred Bronstein, the new dean of the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins, sees a changing landscape for his students’ art. How can he help them bring their music to the masses? What does he see as the 21st century mission of America’s oldest music conservatory? Read more here.
Old technique meets high-techOne of the most important skills of a professional musician is sight-reading, the ability to play from a score you’ve never seen before. But practicing this difficult skill is also terribly inefficient, requiring two people – one to perform and the other to obscure the passage being played while the player “reads” ahead. But, yes: Now there’s an app for that. Two Peabody Institute faculty members have built an iPad program called ReadAhead to make sight-reading practice a one-musician job. Read more at page 11 here.
It’s more than just largeBig band jazz is a whole ‘nother thing from playing in small ensembles. Just ask anyone who’s come out of the Peabody Jazz Orchestra. Faculty bassist Michael Formanek teaches his students how to be both hip and professional even within the structure that comes with music-making at (pardon the expression) scale. Read more here.
Meaning through human movementCutting-edge pedagogy, choreography and collaboration form the foundation on which Peabody Dance has built its 100-year history. Celebrating its centenary this March, the program develops students as human instruments, taking them far beyond the simple learning of steps. Read more here.
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