The Student Teaches the Teacher Reply

Susan Weiss and Yin Zhu

On a steamy afternoon in late June, deep in the basement of Leakin Hall, Peabody associate professor of musicology Susan Weiss is working with a student who recently completed the veteran teacher’s course on the history of musical instruments.

Weiss’ co-teacher, Nathan Scott, has given her the summer to make her own instrument, a practical component to the class that the students experience but that Weiss is unable to undertake during the months she is teaching. On this day, Weiss and Yin Zhu (MM ’19, Vocal Accompanying) are chiseling away at wood that is supporting the shape of the cello they are crafting by hand.

Joe Rooney Appointed Peabody Associate Dean for Finance and Administration Reply

Joe Rooney has been appointed associate dean for finance and administration at the Peabody Institute effective May 13, 2019, following a national search. Rooney is an accomplished nonprofit executive with more than 20 years of experience as both chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Most recently, Rooney has served as deputy director of the metropolitan policy program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., where he has led finance and accounting, grant/contract administration, and human resources functions, and participated in strategy development and planning since 2014. Prior to that, Rooney served as chief operating officer at Arts Presenters, a national service organization for performing arts venues, artists, agents, managers, and related professionals as well as vice president, operations at The New 42nd Street, focused on redevelopment of Times Square. No stranger to Baltimore, Rooney held a number of positions at Center Stage earlier in his career including serving as director of operations. Rooney is a certified executive coach and earned an MBA from Columbia University.

What a Night Reply

by Margaret Bell

It’s 8:00 on a Tuesday night. Just a normal weekday night for most but not for the Rush family. Jeanette and Victor Rush’s oldest daughter Kymberli Joye performed live yesterday on national television as a contestant on The Voice. Tonight they find out if she advances further in the competition. But they’re not at a viewing party, they’re in Peabody’s Friedberg Hall waiting for their son Jonathan, a master’s conducting student, to appear onstage to lead the final movement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D major in the Peabody Conductors’ Orchestra concert. The Rushes, who have traveled to Baltimore from Connecticut, are doing their best to support two of their three children in big moments of their musical careers at precisely the same time.

The Kennedy Center’s Deborah Rutter to Speak at Peabody Commencement, Leon Fleisher to be Awarded the George Peabody Medal, May 23 Reply

Deborah Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will address the graduates at the Peabody Conservatory’s Commencement ceremony, which begins at 10:00 am on Wednesday, May 23, in Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall. Rutter is considered one of the most influential arts administrators in the nation and respected internationally for her leadership of the world’s busiest performing arts center.

Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon Named Visiting Artist in Jazz Studies Reply

Ten-time Jazz Journalists Association Trombonist of the Year Wycliffe Gordon has been named a Visiting Artist in Jazz Studies at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University for the 2018-19 academic year. Gordon will conduct lessons and master classes with Peabody students during his fall and spring semester residencies on campus.