The Peabody Conservatory has named the next round of student participants for several of its signature community-based learning experiences, including the Young Artist Development Series, Peabody Musicians-in-Residence, and InterPLAY. Established and shaped over the last several years, each of these programs provides students with unique opportunities to develop their musicianship as well as their skills in programming, communications, community engagement, and teaching.
“Opportunities like these are central to the philosophy behind our new Breakthrough Curriculum,” notes Fred Bronstein, dean of the Peabody Institute. “Success in today’s world for young musicians is increasingly linked with how they embrace their roles as citizen-artists and the development of critical skills needed to find and connect with diverse audiences. These programs help our students grow as artists while, at the same time, enriching the communities in which they are placed.”
The Young Artist Development Series, designed to bring the study of musical performance into the context of community engagement, is a partnership between Peabody and El Paso Pro-Musica, under the artistic direction of Zuill Bailey. As 2018-19 Young Artist Development Series fellows, a percussion trio comprised of DMA candidates Brendan Betyn, Benjamin Mapes, and Mark DeMull will travel to El Paso, Texas, this fall for a weeklong engagement including concert appearances, media interviews, master classes, and outreach events at local schools and other public venues. Bailey, a Grammy-Award winning cellist and Peabody alumnus, will serve as mentor to the trio throughout their fellowship in El Paso.
The Musicians-in-Residence program places student musicians in residential senior living communities, where they live rent-free in exchange for musical services. Frequent performances and open practice sessions make regular live music a part of the community residents’ experience while developing the students’ skills in performing, presenting, and programming. 2018-19 Musician-in-Residence and GPD cellist Elias Leceta Gómez-Nebreda will take up residence at Springwell in Baltimore’s Mount Washington neighborhood. Edenwald, in Towson, will host master’s degree student and Baroque cellist Jamie Gallupe.
InterPLAY is a teaching and performance collaboration between the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and the Peabody Conservatory. Launched in 2016, it brings advanced Peabody students to UMBC to coach and mentor students there. The residency culminates in a public performance emphasizing contemporary programming and audience engagement. This year’s InterPLAY participants from Peabody will include master’s degree voice student Daniel Sampson and Natasha Talukdar, a graduate student in piano, leading a project focused on the African-American spiritual; and Mark Liu, GPD candidate in viola, and DMA piano performance candidate Sahun “Sam” Hong. Performances are scheduled on December 8 and 9 in UMBC’s Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.
“Each of these programs has been life-changing for past participants, personally and professionally – they see new and expanded opportunities for their futures,” says Sarah Hoover, associate dean for innovation, interdisciplinary partnerships, and community initiatives at Peabody. “We can’t wait to see what this year’s participants will accomplish.”
