Music Theory Associate Professor Jenine Brown investigates the psychological effects of various harmonic progressions, publishing her research in journals such as Music Perception and the Journal of New Music Research. Earlier this year she received a 2023 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award, which will fund the Peabody Harmony Lab, a cognition lab with a comprehensive focus on the perception of harmonic syntax.
“This award allows me to build a team and resources to continue some of the research that I’ve published in the past,” Brown says. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to dive more deeply into a topic that I’m so passionate about.”
Brown and Sam Pluta, associate professor of Computer Music, are two of the 37 early-career faculty members across Johns Hopkins who received 2023 Catalyst Awards, which are grants of up to $75,000 aimed at launching young faculty on a path to a sustainable career. Pluta plans to continue developing artificial-intelligence-driven software instruments to research machine listening and learning.
Music Theory Associate Professor Jenine Brown investigates the psychological effects of various harmonic progressions, publishing her research in journals such as Music Perception and the Journal of New Music Research. Earlier this year she received a 2023 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award, which will fund the Peabody Harmony Lab, a cognition lab with a comprehensive focus on the perception of harmonic syntax.
“This award allows me to build a team and resources to continue some of the research that I’ve published in the past,” Brown says. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to dive more deeply into a topic that I’m so passionate about.”
Brown and Sam Pluta, associate professor of Computer Music, are two of the 37 early-career faculty members across Johns Hopkins who received 2023 Catalyst Awards, which are grants of up to $75,000 aimed at launching young faculty on a path to a sustainable career. Pluta plans to continue developing artificial-intelligence-driven software instruments to research machine listening and learning.
Eight faculty projects were selected for Peabody’s Dean’s Excellence Accelerator Grants, underwritten by the university, that advance professional activity in the areas of performance, creative work, research, scholarship, and teaching.
These grants will support recording projects for Composition Professor Oscar Bettison (a portrait album with Courtney Orlando and Alarm Will Sound); Vocal Studies Associate Professor Carl DuPont; Strings Professor Judith Ingolfsson; and Composition Chair Felipe Lara; research by Elizabeth Futral, the Marc C. von May Distinguished Chair of Vocal Studies; Liberal Arts Assistant Professor Meryl Lauer; and Jazz Assistant Professor Richard Johnson; and commissioning support for Director of Choral Studies Beth Willer.
Johnson was also one of three Peabody faculty awarded one of 40 Nexus Awards by the Office of the Provost, which support convening, research, and teaching efforts at Johns Hopkins in Washington, D.C., opening this fall. Johnson is convening a music conference. Professor and Director of the Graduate Conducting Program Marin Alsop will hold master classes with Peabody students and the National Symphony Orchestra. And Composition Chair Felipe Lara will co-curate a festival with composer George Lewis showcasing Black, Brazilian, and Peabody composers.All three events take place in 2024.
At summer’s end the Peabody LAUNCHPad career services office awarded its 2023 Launch Grants, supporting the projects of five undergraduate and graduate students. Conducting graduate student Max Eidinoff is developing a notation software program for creating graphic scores. Guitar graduate student David Manzanares is creating a college application aid for classical guitar students from Title 1 schools in Austin, Texas. Undergraduate oboe student Elizabeth Perez-Hickman is recording an album of historically marginalized composers. Graduate composition student Sebastian Suarez-Solis is working on a free, open-access digital sample library. And rising piano senior Taylor Wang aims to program monthly concerts with Peabody students at a local homeless shelter.
