Today the box office at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University opens for its 2017-18 season and, for the second year, all concerts at Peabody are free. This is the debut season of Peabody’s recently appointed Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Artistic Director of Ensembles Joseph Young, whose first performance of the season will be with the Peabody Chamber Orchestra in a performance of Dvořák’s Othello Overture and works by Handel and Schubert on Tuesday, September 19.
Concerts begin on Friday, September 15, at 8:00 pm, with new faculty artist Tony Arnold, soprano, performing György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments. Arnold and guest violinist Movses Pogossian have worked extensively with the composer, and, together, they have performed Kafka Fragments in over 30 venues. Several other new faculty artists will make their Peabody debuts this year including Jeremy Filsell, organ, on Friday, October 27; William Burden, tenor, on Wednesday, January 24; and Velvet Brown’s MOJATUBA Tuba and Dance Fusion on Friday, February 9
Other season highlights include:
- New this year — the Peabody Chamber Orchestra, performing Baroque and early-Classical-era works and smaller orchestral works of the present day, and the Peabody Studio Orchestra, making its debut on Halloween with popular music from movies.
- Peabody Symphony Orchestra concerts led by Maestra Marin Alsop (September 28), the legendary Leon Fleisher (October 11), and former BSO Music Director David Zinman (April 21).
- Two mainstage operas: Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (November 15 – 18) and Massenet’s Chérubin (March 14 – 17); plus a chamber opera (February 8 – 11) by Dead Man Walking composer Jake Heggie.
- Events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Peabody Institute’s 1977 affiliation with the Johns Hopkins University, including a collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Clinic presenting a symposium and concert inspired by the work of Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Robert Lowell (December 8).
- Several concerts celebrating 30 years of the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble (December 8, 10 and April 19, 20, 22).
- The Dean’s Symposium Series, welcoming teaching artist Eric Booth (September 20), pianist Stephen Hough (February 2), and arts commentator Greg Sandow (March 7).
- Our always-popular weekly Noon Recital series, this year moving to Fridays.
The two new ensembles debuting this year (Peabody Chamber Orchestra and Peabody Studio Orchestra) were created as part of the Conservatory’s Breakthrough Curriculum in Music Leadership and its reimagined ensembles program, designed to move student musicians through a variety of musical experiences more similar to what they might experience in the professional world.
The Peabody Box Office opens today, Wednesday, September 6, to reserve free tickets for September and October concerts. Also new this year, Peabody will release tickets on the first business day of the month preceding the concert. For more information, call the box office number at 667-208-6620 or visit the events calendar at peabody.jhu.edu/events, where tickets can also be reserved online.
