This summer, the Peabody Preparatory will bid farewell to a beloved and longstanding faculty member. Doreen Falby, director of the Peabody Children’s Chorus, will retire in August after completing the group’s summer tour.
For decades, the Peabody Children’s Chorus has provided a wealth of vocal training and ensemble opportunities for children ages 6 through 18. Shortly after moving to Maryland in 1989, Falby, a native of Scotland, wanted her sons to be in a chorus. So she started one the next year in Columbia, Maryland. Within a few years, families were enrolling their children by the hundreds, and in 1992, the choir became affiliated with the Peabody Preparatory.
Today, the Peabody Children’s Chorus continues to serve young singers through eleven ensembles that meet on three campuses (Towson, Columbia, and Howard County). Many singers have grown up with PCC, enrolling as 6-year-olds and only leaving upon graduating high school. There are auditioned choirs for different age groups, an ensemble for changing voices, and three non-auditioned chorus prep classes for 5- to 9-year-olds. For a long time, Falby taught every student herself, but in recent years, the faculty has grown to include five assistant directors, along with two accompanists and two full[1]time staff members.
“I can’t begin to express what a gift it is to work alongside such a creative, dedicated, and collegial team,” Falby says. “Every one of them is committed to making PCC the best possible place for our students.”
It’s hard for Falby to pick a favorite memory: There are so many.
“I could fill a book with stories from our tours,” she says, “like the time we had to walk, in full concert uniform, across wooden boards that formed a makeshift bridge into St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, carefully hiking up our long skirts to avoid the flood-waters. Or learning to waltz in Vienna, hula in Hawaii, or dance at a ceilidh in Scotland.”
Among those memories are notable performances, including collaborations with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop, and at famous cathedrals such as St. Paul’s in London, St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, and Notre Dame in Paris.
But for Falby, the real magic of the Peabody Children’s Chorus has been in their weekly rehearsals. “We encourage our students to make space for beauty in their lives—to delight in a musical suspension, hear mystery in an ancient chant, feel the power of musical phrasing, or appreciate the exquisiteness of a poem. We set high expectations, and then, we insist on kindness. And we laugh a lot. These are the values I hope will always remain at PCC.”
“Thirty-five years of history is unbelievable,” says Maria Mathieson, executive director of the Peabody Preparatory. “When you think about the number of students who have been influenced — it’s generations of students. If you talk to somebody and they say they were in Children’s Chorus, there is just this love and pride. And that’s Doreen. That’s her legacy.”
Friends and alumni of the Peabody Children’s Chorus can attend their spring performance on May 11 at Shriver Hall. After that, Falby will accompany the group on a summer tour through France.
“As I prepare to retire, my heart is full of gratitude for the countless students who have filled my life with their voices, curiosity, and courage,” Falby says. “Watching them grow as musicians and as human beings has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.”
