Jeffrey Sharkey

Director of the Peabody Institute

May 10, 2013

Dear Peabody Colleagues,

After seven years I have decided not to seek another term as Director of The Peabody Institute. I have notified President Daniels of my decision and an announcement to the University from the president will be sent shortly. I will continue in my position until a successor has been appointed.

We have accomplished much together for the benefit of our great Institute. We have an energetic and rejuvenated National Advisory Council that I am confident will provide strong support during this transition period. I am delighted with the gains we have made in fundraising, reaching a new high of close to $8 million annually compared with $3-4 million when I first became director. I am delighted that we have successfully launched our new campaign which will provide critical funding for our key priorities of scholarships and faculty support.

I celebrate with all of you the quality of our faculty and students and our central position in the cultural landscape of our city, university and nation. I am proud of the faculty appointments we have made together and the advances we have launched in community cultural engagement.

I look forward to continuing to work with you during the coming academic year and wish you all a rewarding summer.

Yours sincerely,

Jeffrey Sharkey, Director
Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University

Sharkey to step down as director of JHU's Peabody Institute

Biography

Pianist, composer and veteran music educator Jeffrey Sharkey became director of the Peabody Institute on September 1, 2006.

He is responsible both for 650 undergraduates and graduate students in the Institute's Conservatory, and for the Peabody Preparatory, a community music and dance school serving 1,800 students from early childhood through adulthood.

Before coming to Peabody, Mr. Sharkey had been dean of the Cleveland Institute of Music since 2001, serving as the chief academic officer of its college division. He was director of music at the Purcell School in London from 1996 to 2001, and head of composition and academic music at Wells Cathedral School, also in England, from 1990 to 1996.

He is a 1986 graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and earned a Master of Music degree in composition from Yale University in 1988 and a Master of Philosophy from Cambridge University a year later. His teachers have included pianists John Browning, Boris Berman, and Peter Frankl, and composers Aaron Copland and John Corigliano.

Mr. Sharkey was a founding member of the Pirasti Piano Trio, which recorded with ASV Records in the United Kingdom and toured throughout Europe and the United States. Since returning to America, he has played in Trio Zannetti and performed regularly with members of the Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Institute faculty. His compositions have been performed by the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of Leonard Slatkin and in chamber concerts in the United States and Britain. In frequent collaboration with his wife, cellist Alison Wells, he remains an active participant in chamber music performances, including recent appearances in France, England, Singapore, and the U.S.

Staff

Stephen Amrhein, Administrative Assistant to the Director
410-234-4700, samrhein@peabody.jhu.edu

Jan Rau, Director's Office Coordinator
410-234-4702, jmclean@peabody.jhu.edu