The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University

Judah Adashi has been honored with composition awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the ASCAP and BMI Foundations, and the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Adashi directs the composition program at the Peabody Preparatory, and is an adjunct member of the music theory faculty at the Peabody Conservatory. His principal composition teachers have been Nicholas Maw and John Harbison; he holds degrees from Yale University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University.

 

Randy Bauer's work embraces composition, performance, improvisation, theory, and scholarship.  His compositions have received several national awards (including three ASCAP Morton Gould awards and an ASCAP jazz composer's award) and have been premiered by such groups as the Brentano String Quartet, eighth blackbird, Nash Ensemble of London, Synergy Vocals, New Millennium Ensemble, Network for New Music, and many others.  Performances have taken place throughout the United States and Europe.  He is also an accomplished jazz pianist and composer, active in performance and recording.  He has been a fellow at Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and also received a major fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. His principal composition teachers include Steve Mackey, Paul Lansky, Chen Yi, and Ronald Caltabiano.  He holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University (PhD).  

Armando Bayolo received his B.M. in music composition from Eastman School of Music, his M.M. in music composition from Yale University, and his D.M.A. in music composition from the University of Michigan.  He has studied music composition with Samuel Adler, Joseph Schwantner, Christopher Rouse, Jacob Druckman, Martin Bresnick, Ingram Marshall, Roberto Sierra, George Tsontakis, Michael Daugherty, Sydney Hodkinson, Bright Sheng and Evan Chambers.  His awards include a Rackham Merit Fellowship from the University of Michigan, Top Prize in the 2000 competition of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño, selection for the 2007 Symposium for New Band Music at Virginia Tech University and a Brandon Fradd Fellowship in Music Composition from the Oscar I. Cintas Foundation for Cuban and Cuban-American artists.  His performances and commissions include those for the National Gallery of Art Orchestra and Vocal Arts Ensemble, the Euclid and Degas Quartets, the Aspen Music Festival, the Syracuse Society for New Music, the Western Piedmont Symphony, cellist Philip von Maltzahn, conductors Carlos Carrillo and Michael Wittenburg, pianists Winston Choi and Ellen Elders, among others.  Also active as a conductor, Bayolo is founder and Artistic Director of Great Noise Ensemble in Washington, D.C.  His music theory interests include the music of Louis Andriessen and The Beatles.  He is a former faculty member at Reed and Hamilton Colleges.  

John Crouch has been the first prize winner of the Prix d'Ete composition prize for his solo violoncello piece Her Light, Extinguished, and the recipient of the Otto Ortmann Award for composition. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. Mr. Crouch holds a B.M. cum laude, with honors, in composition, from the University of Arkansas, where he studied with Robert Mueller and James Greeson, and a M.M. in composition from The Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Bruno Amato and Michael Hersch. Mr. Crouch is currently in the D.M.A. degree program for composition at The Peabody Conservatory.

 

Travis Hardaway earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts at St. John's College and a D.M.A. in Composition and Theory at Boston University. He studied composition with Douglas Allanbrook, George Tsontakis, Charles Fussell, Marjorie Merryman. Previously, Dr. Hardaway taught at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

 

Sarah Kuzmak earned a B.S. in Music Education at Towson University and a M.M. in Music Theory Pedagogy from the Peabody Conservatory. Sarah recently completed her coursework at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where she was studying music theory and aural skills with Gary Karpinski while pursuing her PhD. Previously, Ms. Kuzmak taught theory and ear training at UMass as well as the Peabody Conservatory. She is also a church accompanist playing at several local churches.
 

Joel Puckett is a composer who is dedicated to the belief that music can bring consolation, hope, and joy to all who need it. The Washington Post has hailed him as both "visionary" and "gifted" and the head critic for the Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith, hailed his newest piece, This Mourning, as "being of comparable expressive weight" to John Adams' Pulitzer Prize winning work, On the Transmigration of Souls.  Born on the south side of Atlanta, Joel is the son of a dixie-land jazz musician and a classical tubist. He spent his childhood improvising with his father and learning the fundamentals of both concert and popular music. He has recently completed his D.M.A. in composition from the University of Michigan, where he studied with William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty.  Puckett’s music for wind band has enjoyed great success. His work Ping, Pang, Pong, which was written for Michael Haithcock and the University of Michigan Symphony Band, has been performed by some of the best college and professional ensembles in the country including The President’s Own Marine Band. Written just 3 years ago, this piece has now seen over 40 performances with many more scheduled for this season.  Puckett is the recipient of the first American Bandmasters Association/University of Florida Commission.  The award, which was funded by a generous grant from the University of Florida band program, includes a $10,000 commission to create an ‘artistic work’ for wind band to be premiered in Miami at the ABA Convention in March 2008.  Joel has served as an adjudicator for national competitions for young composers, such as the SCI/ASCAP competition.  He also frequently gives guest lectures and master classes.  He most recently has lectured at City College in Harlem, NY; Indiana University in Bloomington, The University of Texas—Austin, Michigan State University, Baylor University and Western Washington University.  Joel has previously served on the music faculties of Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA and Towson University in Baltimore, MD.