The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University

Cherie Stellaccio is vocal/general music specialist in the Music Education Division at Peabody Conservatory, Johns Hopkins University. She also is coordinator of the Peabody Saturday Series workshops for elementary and middle school teachers in general music.


Prior to her appointment at Peabody, Dr. Stellaccio taught courses in voice and music education at Anne Arundel Community College, University of Maryland College Park, and Salisbury University. She is an experienced Orff-Schulwerk instructor and has taught music in elementary and middle schools in Illinois, New York, Maryland and Japan. She has conducted numerous children’s choirs and held the post of assistant conductor for the Bachmeistersingers of Annapolis.

In addition to her responsibilities at Peabody, Dr. Stellaccio continues her choral and solo activities. She has sung under the baton of James Levine, Riccardo Muti, and Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos. She was awarded the Indiana State Music Association’s American Music Performance award, and she performed extensively for the Artists-in-Education program of the Maryland State Arts Council.

Dr. Stellaccio has been an active clinician at the state, regional, and national levels. She is author of articles published in Teaching Music, China Music, Southeastern Journal of Music Education, and The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education. Her most recent publications include chapters in Innovations in Music Teacher Education (University of Oklahoma Press) and The Early Childhood Curriculum: Current Findings in Theory and Practice (Teachers’ College Press). Her strong international interests have earned her invitations to speak at the Institute of Chinese Traditional Music, Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing; The International Symposium on Teaching World Music, Dartington College of the Arts, Devon, UK. Dr. Stellaccio served three years as music education and action research clinician for the American Professional Partnership for Lithuanian Education; and in 2008 she was an invited speaker at the meeting of the International Society for Music Education, Bologna, Italy. An advocate for strong education in the arts, Dr. Stellaccio was a featured speaker at the July, 2000 conference, Children at Risk: The American Experience in Theory and Practice, Vilnius, Lithuania. 


A music education leader in the state of Maryland, Dr. Stellaccio is a past president of the Maryland College and University Educators Association. In that capacity she initiated the Action Plan for Meeting Professional Development School Requirements in Music Teacher Certification, and she directed the Maryland Music Educators’ Mentorship Program. She has authored numerous articles for the Maryland Music Educators Journal on topics pertaining to multicultural music education, choral music education, and music teacher education. Dr. Stellaccio has led workshops for the Maryland State Department of Education’s Common Threads Institute, a series of workshops for middle and high school arts educators. She has been a curriculum consultant for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and a consultant to the Westat Group working on the Maryland Assessment of Fine Arts Education Project; and she served five years as curriculum assessment consultant for the Department of Fine Arts, Wicomico County (MD) Public Schools and was a presenter for the Maryland Assessment Group.



Dr. Stellaccio holds a B.M. and B.M.E. from Illinois Wesleyan University, an M.S. from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction (music education) from the University of Maryland. She has completed post-doctoral work at George Mason University and Westminster Choir College of Rider University.