Performances are free and open to the public, welcoming audiences to experience acclaimed soloists, ensembles, festivals, and more at the state-of-the-art venue in downtown D.C.
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University today announced the fall 2024 programming for its Peabody Performance Series at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in downtown Washington, D.C., presenting free public performances by the Conservatory’s esteemed faculty, alumni, students, and special guests. Spanning concerts, multi-day festivals, and symposia, the fall season shines a spotlight on diverse contemporary artistic practices and explores the vital role of music in democracy and public discourse. Highlights include a three-day program performed by the renowned International Contemporary Ensemble centering Black and Brazilian perspectives in contemporary music; performances of new works by incarcerated composers; a production of the new opera and we, each by Peabody faculty composer Michael Hersch; and the world premiere of a new work by Christopher Trapani.
Launched in 2023, the Peabody Performance Series is a flagship program of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center, located at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the heart of Washington, D.C. With both daytime and evening events taking place throughout the week, the Peabody Performance Series offers an outlet for community members, Penn Quarter employees, visitors, students, and faculty alike to access performing arts programming from preeminent composers, performers, and scholars. As part of Johns Hopkins University’s expanded and continuously evolving arts and culture offerings, the Hopkins Bloomberg Center was established as a new D.C. cultural hub, acting as a forum for multidisciplinary research, education, and public impact. In addition to the Peabody Institute, the Center is also home to the School of Advanced International Studies, the Carey Business School, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and the forthcoming School of Government and Policy and soon-to-open Irene and Richard Frary Gallery.
“This season we bring a fresh and eclectic array of musical performances and arts events to the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor, continuing to showcase Peabody’s accomplished students and faculty while introducing an ever-growing range of large-scale events, which bring acclaimed artists and scholars to our home at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center,” said Fred Bronstein, Dean of the Peabody Institute. “As we enter our second season in the space, we look forward to welcoming returning audiences as well as inviting new ones to engage with the arts and explore their intersections with technology, policy, and civic issues.”
“Nearly a year after the Hopkins Bloomberg Center’s inauguration, we have observed the strong connections and rich cultural dialogue that it has stimulated across our D.C. and Baltimore campuses and larger Hopkins communities,” said Cybele Bjorklund, Executive Director of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center. “Supported by the cross-pollination of our various graduate schools, cultural programs, dedicated arts spaces, and public art installations within the Center, the Peabody Performance Series presents a unique opportunity for our D.C. community to not only attend performances by leading composers, musicians, and dancers, but also to engage in broader conversations about the arts and democracy across diverse perspectives.”
Peabody Performance Series
Fall 2024 Programming
Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
12:30 pm
Peabody faculty violinist Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel perform a recital featuring Rebecca Clarke’s sonatas.
Polyaspora Festival
September 25–27, 2024
7:00 pm
The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C will host Polyaspora, a three-day festival celebrating Black and Brazilian perspectives in contemporary music and featuring evening concerts from the globally renowned International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). The concerts will spotlight composers including Leila Adu-Gilmore, Marcos Balter, Andile Khumalo, Jeffrey Mumford, Tebogo Monnakgotla, and Jocy de Oliveira, as well as new works written by Peabody Conservatory students. The festival is curated by Felipe Lara, 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Music and Associate Professor and Chair of Composition at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University and George Lewis, ICE Artistic Director and Professor at Columbia University, and is supported by a Johns Hopkins University Nexus Award.
The Future is Now II
Wednesday, September 25, 2024, 7:00 pm
This program features seven newly composed premieres by Peabody Conservatory students, scored for chamber ensembles.
Composing While Black
Thursday, September 26, 2024, 7:00 pm
Presenting new Afrodiasporic music from contemporary Black composers, the program will feature sonically audacious music by Nicole Mitchell, Jeffrey Mumford, Andile Khumalo, Leila Adu-Gilmore, and Tebogo Monnakgotla. The performance will be preceded by a pre-concert talk with Leila Adu-Gilmore at 6:00 pm.
Antropofagia
Friday, September 27, 2024, 7:00 pm
Featuring today’s leading musical voices of the Brazilian diaspora, the program explores the complexities and intersections of identity, race, history, and cultural ethos, with works by Felipe Lara, Jocy de Oliveira, Igor Santos, Marcos Balter, Arthur Kampela, and Michelle Agnes. It is preceded by a pre–concert talk with Dr. Alejandro L. Madrid and Felipe Lara at 6:00 pm.
Faculty and Friends
Wednesday, October 2, 2024|
12:30 pm
Faculty member Brad Balliett is joined by Mikael Darmanie, Sam Suggs, and fellow faculty member Bryan Young to perform a program featuring new works for bassoon, including works by incarcerated composers and by Cortez, Balliett, Messiaen, Mukherjee, Bao He, and Coltrane.
Brad Balliett, bassoon
Bryan Young, bassoon
Sam Suggs, bass
Mikael Darmanie, piano
and we, each
Sunday, October 13, 2024
4:00 pm
A new opera by Peabody Professor of Composition Michael Hersch debuts at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center shortly after its world premiere in Baltimore. Created in collaboration with poet and memoirist Shane McCrae, and we, each explores the treacherous territories of relationships—between individuals, within societies, and, ultimately, the collapse of both. The production is produced by contemporary classical music organization Mind on Fire, directed by James Matthew Daniel, conducted by Tito Muñoz, and features acclaimed vocalists Ah Young Hong and Jesse Blumberg with musicians Emi Ferguson, Gleb Kanasevich, Adda Kridler, Leah Asher, and Coleman Itzkoff.
Music and Democracy
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
12:00 pm
Peabody student ensembles perform pivotal works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Ludwig van Beethoven as part of Art and Democracy Day at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center.
Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8, Opus 130
Peabody Chamber Music Ensemble
Led by Annie Fullard, Professor and Sidney M. Friedberg Chair of Chamber Music
Ludwig van Beethoven, Egmont Incidental Music, Op. 84
Peabody Chamber Orchestra
Soprano soloist, TBA
Led by Joseph Young, Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Artistic Director of Ensembles, Assistant Professor and Chair of Conducting and Ensembles
Peabody Graduate Jazz Ensemble
Friday, November 1, 2024
12:30 pm
A new ensemble created to spotlight Peabody’s graduate students in Jazz Studies takes the stage, directed by acclaimed drummer Allison Miller. The Graduate Jazz Ensemble comprises recipients of Peabody’s selective Graduate Jazz Fellowship, which emphasizes community-engaged artistry to develop expressive, flexible, creative, and collaborative musicians who are deeply invested in making an impact with their art. The ensemble provides developing artists with a platform to compose and perform original works, while gaining experience in roles of leadership and giving back to the community as educational artists.
College Music Society Showcase Concert
Friday, November 8, 2024
6:30 pm
Peabody hosts a concert showcasing performers convening for the National Conference of the College Music Society, a forum for issues related to music and higher education, including composition, ethnomusicology, world music, music education, music in general studies, musicology, performance, and theory.
From Synthesizers to AI: Where Technology and Engineering Shape Sound
November 15, 2024
2:30 pm—Dean’s Symposium on the Arts and AI
4:00 pm—Multimedia Performance and Professorship Celebration
Explore emerging trends at the intersection of technology and the performing arts with a Peabody Dean’s Symposium, multimedia performance, and celebration of Thomas Dolby as the inaugural Taylor A. Hanex Professor of Music for New Media. The event will also feature interactive installations from Peabody’s Recording Arts & Sciences, Acoustics, and Sonic Arts programs.
Tony Arnold, soprano, and Sahun Sam Hong, piano
Friday, December 6, 2024
12:30 pm
Peabody faculty vocalist Tony Arnold and alumnus pianist Sahun Sam Hong perform works by Hugo Wolf, Anton Webern, Helmut Lachenmann, and a world premiere by Christopher Trapani.
Programming is subject to change. The Peabody Performance Series will continue in spring 2025, with dates to be announced in the coming months.
All programs in the Peabody Performance Series are free and open to the public with advance registration. The series will also be available via livestream at video.ibm.com/channel/Peabody-Live. To view the full schedule of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center events and reserve tickets, please visit washingtondc.jhu.edu/upcoming-events. To learn more about the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center arts & culture programming, please visit https://washingtondc.jhu.edu/arts-culture/.