Peabody Institute

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For the other Peabody Institute, see Peabody Institute (Danvers, Massachusetts).
Peabody Institute
Information
Type Private
Established 1857
Director Jeffrey Sharkey
Campus Urban
Website www.peabody.jhu.edu
Peabody Institute, c. 1902
Peabody Library
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peabody Institute.

The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a music school and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere neighborhood of northern Baltimore, Maryland facing the Washington Monument circle at the corner of North Charles and East Monument Streets (also known as intersection of Mount Vernon Place and Washington Place).

Founded in 1857 by philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869), it is the second-oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States, next to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio.

History

George Peabody founded the Institute with a bequest of about $800,000 from his fortune made in Massachusetts and Baltimore (where he lived from 1815-1835).

Completion of the Grecian-Italian west wing building housing the Institute, designed by Edmund George Lind, was delayed until its initial dedication in 1866 due to the Civil War.[1] Under the direction of well-known musicians, composers, conductors, and Peabody alumni, the Institute grew from a local academy into an internationally-renowned cultural center through the late 19th and the 20th centuries.[2]

Since 1985, the Institute has operated as a division of The Johns Hopkins University, which was founded in 1876, by the will of local merchant who had died three years earlier, Johns Hopkins (1795-1873). Prior to being granted divisional status, Peabody Institute and JHU worked together under an affiliation agreement (1978 to 1985). The affiliated George Peabody Library in the east wing of the building which was completed later in 1878, functioned for a time as a division of the city's free public library system, the Enoch Pratt Free Library from 1966 to 1982, which had been conceived, organized and endowed by Peabody's friend and fellow Bay Stater, Enoch Pratt, (1808-1896). Both Peabody and Pratt were inspirations and models for steel industrialist and millionaire Andrew Carnegie, (1835-1919) as he began his philanthropy especially with public library buildings in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Peabody is one of 156 schools in the United States that offer a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree. It houses two libraries: the historical George Peabody Library established when the Institute opened in 1866, known for its collection of 19th Century books and the Arthur Friedheim Library (named for Russian-born pianist/conductor Arthur Friedheim), a separate music library added to supplement the Institute's original library (now the separate George Peabody Library in the east wing) that includes more than 100,000 books, scores, and sound recordings.

The conservatory was later supplemented by a preparatory school, auditorium/music hall, art gallery, public research library, with lecture series, and gold, silver and bronze medals, and certificates with money prizes for top honor graduates of Baltimore's public secondary schools; the all-male Central High School (now Baltimore City College) and female Eastern and Western High Schools. "Peabody Prizes" are awarded to high school graduates beginning the following year at commencement exercises and continue for 122 years as an honored annual tradition with public announcements to city's media.

Peabody Children's Chorus

The Peabody Children's chorus is for children ages 6–18. It is divided into three groups: Training Choir, Choristers, and Cantate, grouped by age in ascending order. They practice weekly in Towson or Columbia, Maryland, and sing in concerts biannually under the instruction of Doreen Falby, Bradley Permenter, and Julia Sherriff. Cantate, ages 12–18, frequently perform with other groups, such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, and have toured both regionally and internationally.

Notable attendees

Notable faculty

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wierzalis, Bill and Koontz, John P., Images of America: Mount Vernon Place (2006) p. 60-61. Arcadia Publishing ISBN 0-7385-4238-5
  2. ↑ Holland, Bernard (January 4, 1990). "The Peabody, Ready or Not, Is Pushed to Go Out on Its Own". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-09. 

External links

Academic divisions
Buildings
History
Publications
Sports
Student life
Colleges and Universities in Baltimore

Coordinates: 39°17′50″N 76°36′54″W / 39.2973°N 76.615°W / 39.2973; -76.615

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