The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University

From the 2010-2011 Academic Year

Patricia Graham won the Peabody Conservatory's 2011 Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award, joining the five other current or former members of the Music Theory faculty to also receive this award since its inception in 1992.

Ildar Khannanov organized the Society for Music Theory in Russia and became the vice-chair of its scientific council. Detailed information is published in the Newsletter of the SMT.  He had two articles in English accepted for publication, by the International Congress on Music Signification in Acta Semiotica Fennica and by the Estonian Conference on Music Theory in Res Musica. In addition, he had two articles published in Russian, in the Musicological Journal of Moscow Conservatory and in the 8th Issue Rachmaninoff on the Watershed of History, and published two translations and a review of Dmitri Tymoczko's book in Problemy Muzykal'noi Nauki, isse 9.
In April, Dr. Khannanov took a Peabody undergraduate student Mr. Ivan Moshchuk to Kharkov, Ukraine, where they read their papers on music of Chopin and Rachmaninoff. Moshchuk's paper will be published this year and he also will play at the next Rachmaninoff Festival there.
In June, Dr. Khannanov delivered  a block-lecture (5 lectures) at the Gnesins Academy of Music, for the graduate students and the faculty, on abstract writing. He  read his paper on Yuri Kholopov at the International Conference on Russian music at Durham University, UK, this July, and will read a paper at the International Conference in Musicology at Oxford University, UK. In addition, he will read a paper on late Beethoven at the upcoming EUROMAC in Rome, at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (will chair a panel on Analysis and Hermeneutic). There will be a federation of societies for music theory established and he organized a delegation of Russian theorists to attend this important forum. And, the last but not the least, my book Music of Sergei Rachmaninoff: Seven Musical-Theoretical Etudes is coming out of Compozitor-St. Petersburg Publishers (300 pages and 150 musical examples) and the book Soviet Music Theory: Aspects of Musical Form and Analysis is in the process of preparation at the Indiana University Press.

Dr. Khannanov and Ivan Moshchuk in Kharkov, Ukraine

Courtney Orlando continued to shine as one of the most prominent new music violinists in the country, performing with the Deviant Septet, Alarm Will Sound and on many other concerts. Among the highlights:
The inaugural concert of The Deviant Septet took place this past May. Comprised of the instrumentation for Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat, the Deviants plan to fulfill Stravinsky's dream of this instrumentation becoming as popular as that of Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire.  To that end, they are working with composers to write new pieces and/or arrange existing works for this instrumentation.  Upcoming concerts include a version of L'Histoire in which the instrumentalists perform the speaking parts (with yours truly performing the role of The Soldier); a collaboration with Sleeping Giant, a composer collective formed at Yale; and a performance of Stockhausen's Tierkreis.  For more information, visit the Deviants at www.deviantseptet.com.
Alarm Will Sound enjoyed its second year as Ensemble in Residence at the Mizzou New Music Festival at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Also in residence were composers Roger Reynolds and Anna Clyne, as well as eight student composers.  The group premiered works of Reynolds and two of its own composers, Matt Marks and Payton MacDonald, as well as works of the student composers.  Fun was had by all.  For more information, visit the festival's website at www.newmusicsummerfestival.missouri.edu.
This fall, Alarm Will Sound will take part in Krakow's Sacrum Profanum festival. At the festival, the group will perform two concerts.  One is a portrait of works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang.  The other begins with the premiere of Polish composer Alexandra Gryka's einerjedeneither, and is rounded out with works of John Adams.  From Krakow, the group will travel to Bolzano, Italy, to perform a concert of AWS's "greatest hits", including electronica covers and pieces by the group's composers.  Following the concert in Italy, AWS will return to New York to record works by John Adams.  For more information, visit AWS's website at www.alarmwillsound.com.
On September 29th, Courtney will perform Ligeti's Trio for violin, horn, and piano, and Martin Bresnick's Trio for violin, cello, and piano at Brooklyn's Bargemusic.  For more information, please visit Bargemusic's website at www.bargemusic.org.

In 2010–11, Joel Puckett was named to National Public Radio's list of the top 100 composers under the age of 40, and visited the following schools as Guest Composer (listed in chronological order): The University of Michigan, The University of Texas at Austin, Michigan State University, University of Miami, James Madison University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He also appeared as Composer-In-Residence/Guest Conductor for the Nebraska Bandmasters Association, where he conducted the Nebraska All-College Band in performances of Daugherty, Bryant, Mackey and Puckett’s The Shadow of Sirius (Sara Frisof as soloist) as well as the premiere of Stolen. Performances associated with these visits had him working with soloists including violinist Marjorie Bagley, and flutists Amy Porter, Marianne Gedigian, Richard Shermanand Trudy Kane, This fall, he will continue his travels with visits to the University of Colorado (Boulder), the University of Southern California and Oklahoma State University. 
His flute concerto The Shadow of Sirius was recorded at the University of Michigan, with Amy Porter and soloist and at the University of Texas, Austin, with Marianne Gedigian as soloist in sessions produced by the reigning Grammy Award Classical Producer of the Year, David Frost. His violin concerto Southern Comfort was recorded at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro with Marjorie Bagley as soloist. Additional performances included those in Orem, Utah; Baton Rouge, LA; Nashville, TN; Waco, TX; Lubbock, TX; Lisbon, Portugal; Tuscaloosa, AL; Detroit, MI; Tempe, AZ; Chicago, IL; Washington, D.C.; West Hartford, CT; Lincoln, NE; Tokyo, Japan; Long Beach, CA; Waterville, ME; Omaha, NE; as well as many others.
Among the reviews Dr. Puckett's music earned last year, the Washington Post (March 1, 2011) described the February performance of This Mourning by the City Choir of Washington as follows: "The work is an overpowering re-creation of the scene's horror and pandemonium. The chorus quietly mouths emotionally charged lines from Dickinson's poetry, their words clashing against throbbing drum tremolos and the orchestra's charging bows. Some uncertain moments from the performances distracted little from the gripping score."

David Smooke has been serving as the Peabody representative on the organizing committee of the International Symposium on Synchronous Distance Learning, which will take place simultaneously around the world on October 5–6, 2011 (8am–12pm, EDT), working closely with representatives from Yong Siew Toh (Singapore), the Manhattan School of Music and the Royal College of Music (London). All Peabody community members are welcome to watch the conference in the Marbury Room on those dates, and to attend the distance masterclass with the Jazz Band and the Director of Jazz Studies at MSM at 11am on October 6 in Cohen Davison that will close this conference. An additional collaborative conference between doctoral composition students at the Royal College of Music and Peabody arose out of this process.
He co-founded a new ensemble for experimental music performance, League of the Unsound Sound (LotUS), including Peabody faculty members Courtney Orlando and Michael Formanek, that gave  concerts to great acclaim at the the Windup Space (Baltimore), Catholic University of America (DC), SUNY Fredonia, and Mercyhurst College (Erie, PA). Other concerts including Dr. Smooke's music included at the 2010 International Double Reed Society National Conference, the 2010 Society for Composers National Conference, throughout the U.S. and in Amsterdam and Luxembourg. Criminal Element, his nonopera, toured the East Coast with Rhymes With Opera and received a favorable review from the Baltimore Sun. He also performed toy piano improvisations as part of LotUS and on various other concerts in the region.
In addition, Dr. Smooke published 50 weekly columns in NewMusicBox, the online magazine of the American Music Center; presented as a visiting guest composer at Mercyhurst College, SUNY Fredonia, Westminster Choir College, and the University of North Carolina School for the Arts; and was awarded prizes through the 2011 Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, the Ensemble Périphérie, and Sequenza21/The Manhattan New Music Project. 

Dr. Kip Wile is finishing a term on the Executive Board of the Music Theory Society for the Mid Atlantic.

He is also continuing work on the new Music Theory Intensive track for first-year students, which was implemented for the first time in 2009-2010.

DEPARTMENT MEETINGS

The faculty of the Music Theory Department will meet on the following dates in 2011-12. All meetings are on the first Thursday of the month (except for the first meeting, which is on the second Thursday in September.) All meetings will be held from 12:00-1:30 p.m. in the Marbury Room.

FALL SEMESTER
September 8
October 6
November 3
December 1
 

SPRING SEMESTER
February 2
March 1
April 5
May 3

Students who wish to have petitions considered should submit them in writing to the Chair, David Smooke, one week in advance of scheduled meetings.