The Peabody Preparatory’s annual spring recital has been named to honor the Preparatory’s longtime director, Lynn Taylor Hebden, who died in February 2013. Held on May 4, the Lynn Taylor Hebden Recital featured students who were selected through the Part-Recital Competition judged by professional musicians.

Hebden had a 70-year history with the Peabody Institute. She began studying at the Preparatory in 1942, riding the streetcar to Mt. Vernon Place to take lessons with Josephine McLaughlin. She continued her training in the Conservatory, studying in the voice studio of Frank Bibb, and earning a Teacher’s Certificate in 1951. She was one of the first students to receive an Artist Diploma in voice, and she was invited to join the Preparatory faculty in 1952 and the Conservatory faculty in 1963.

She was appointed director of the Preparatory in 1971 (the former title of the Preparatory leader) and served in that position until 1983, when she was appointed director of alumni relations. She moved to part- time in 1994 and officially retired in 1995, but continued to be a valuable resource and friend to many faculty, staff, and alumni until her death on February 3, 2013.