Sam Kaestner Founds Stretto Reply

Sam Kaestner (BM ’00, Clarinet) founded Stretto, which works to enhance the interactivity between audiences and performers during a livestream. Stretto was named a finalist for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards 2021.

Amit Peled Founds Every Child Deserves a Voice Reply

Cello Professor Amit Peled began the Every Child Deserves a Voice program through Mount Vernon Virtuosi with the goal to raise funds to purchase 1,000 string instruments to be distributed to schools in the Baltimore and Montgomery County school systems. The program recently received a donation of an 1850 German-made cello from Czechoslovakia from Holocaust survivors Ned Spindel and his late wife, Shulamit Spindel.

Christine Lyons Shares 2021-22 Concert Season Reply

Christine Lyons (MM ’16, Voice) has performed as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten with IlluminArts Miami in October and in a concert of art songs set to Emily Dickinson’s poetry with Lyric Fest at the Academy of Vocal Arts in December. Lyons will perform as Nella in Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with OnSite Opera in New York City in March and in May will make a house debut with Florida Grand Opera in the title role of George Frideric Handel’s Agrippina.

Anastasia Pike Completed the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative’s Meta-Leadership Training Reply

Anastasia Pike (MM ’07, Harp), a former student of Jeanne Chalifoux, recently completed the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative’s Meta-Leadership Training program through the joint Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Government’s Center for Public Leadership. She was one of 50 out of 2 million active duty military spouses eligible to be selected for the fully-funded program.

Rory Powell Featured on Cover of Bloom Magazine Reply

Rory Powell, a Harp student of Michaela Trnkova has been featured on the cover page of Bloom magazine. Powell is a recipient of The Edith Hamilton Scholarship, which accentuates the studying of the effectiveness of music therapy as way to help children with developmental delays.