The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University

Below is a calendar of upcoming events and news items.  Please use the menu links (to the left) for "In the Spotlight" or submitting your own event/news.

Congratulations to Rose!

Rose Hammer (BM '04) was recently interviewed for Baltimore's very own City Paper.

"One of those new personalities is 23-year-old baritone saxophonist Rose Hammer. The Peabody Institute graduate jazz and computer-music student was exposed to the Red Room and free improv through bassist Evan Lipson, finding her way into the local free community-she now plays in John Berndt's Multiphonic Choir and the Baltimore Afro-Beat Society-through the Crap Shoots. She performed in High Jinx 2004 and makes her High Zero debut this year."

Read the article here, where she discusses performing in High Zero (a large free improvisation music festival held yearly in Baltimore).

Check out Rose at her upcoming performances:
May 13th, 10pm, 504 Franklin W. Franklin, 5th Floor - Baltimore Afrobeat Society
June 3rd, Red Room - Death in the Maze (Rose Hammer - saxes, John Berndt - saxes, Samuel Burt - clarinet, Paul Neidhardt - percussion)
May 8th, Peabody - Computer Music Departmental Recital

Saxophone Departmental Recital

March 17th, 2005 @ 8pm - Goodwin Recital Hall

This semester's Departmental Recital comes as the finale for a saxophone extravaganza.  Hot on the heels of a Brian Sacawa Masterclass and Brian Bubnash's explosive senior recital, the department kicks off Spring Break with some bare-hand, no-holds-barred, performances:

• "Prelude, Cadence, et Finale" by Alfred Desenclos, with Zach Herchen
• "The Big Turtle Fanfare from the South China Sea" by Gyorgy Ligeti, with Michael Straus
• "Quartet - I. Partie" Op. 109 by Alexander Glazunov, with Brian Bubnash, Melissa Jordan, Ryan Lee, and Colin Riley
• "Scaramouche" by Darius Milhaud, with Sam-Jong Shim
• "Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano" by Edison Denisov, with Cara Salveson
• "L'Histoires" by Jacques Ibert, with Melissa Jordan
• "Alley Dance" by Benjamin Boone, with Zach Herchen, Sam-Jong Shim, Jeremiah Baker, and Cara Salveson
  

Brian Sacawa Masterclass

 In a recent masterclass at The Peabody Conservatory, Brian Sacawa (GPD Saxophone '02) worked with current students.  His knowledge of the compositional backgrounds and musicality brought insight and motivation.  Pieces included:

• Sequenze IXb by Berio, with Michael Straus
  
• Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano by Denisov, with Cara Salveson
  
• San Antonio by Harbison. with Mel Jordan

Saxophone Departmental Recital

November 20th, 2005 - Goodwin Recital Hall

The Saxophone Departrment will be unleashing their Redpartmental Recital!  Considered to be a masterpiece by many well-respected Baltimorons, the Departmental Recital, or DR for short, will feature the following heart-stopping action: 

• "Doo Da" Alto Sax Trio - William Albright
• "Histoire du Tango" arranged for sax quartet - Astor Piazzola
• "Seventh Heaven Rag" for sax quartet - Steven Rush
  
• "Fugue in E Major" arranged for sax quartet - Bach
• "Come Down Heavy" for Alto Sax, Violin, and Piano - Evan Chambers
• "Weapons of Mass Distortion" for Sax, Tape, and Video
  

Congratulations to Cory!

C.R. Kasprzyk (MM Saxophone, MM Composition '05) has been appointed professor of saxophone at Morgan State University. He will also join the faculty at the Maryland Conservatory and anticipates other job offers in the coming weeks.

Aside from his new teaching posts, he is taking an active roll in the ever growing Creative Access Outreach Group, preparing a solo soprano saxophone recital of diverse nature (Bach, Scelsi, Risset, Improv, ect.), booking solo concerts throughout the country (The Red Room in Baltimore MD, CCRMA at Stanford University), and writing a new work for orchestra. For more information see www.crkasprzyk.com

Congratulations to Maureen!

Maureen Walsh (BM Saxophone '05) made her debut with the National Symphony Orchestra performing Florent Schmitt's Legende. The Washington Post wrote: “Saxophonist Walsh brought consummate skill and interpretive sensitivity to the Schmitt, capturing every ounce of its dusky innuendos and mystical exoticism while lending the piece’s sonorous landscape a full measure of plein-air feeling.”