Matt Bacon Records, Publishes, Performs Reply

Matt Bacon (BM ’10, Guitar) has been working on many different projects in India, both for international and local audiences. In June, he toured Thailand as part of the Thailand Isan Guitar Festival where he was also a judge. He also judged the competition and performed at the Indian Institute of Information Technology Design & Manufacturin’s annual festival.  He also played on “Music Mojo” which is a major TV show in India. Bacon has been active in the recording studio, with EPs already released and other recordings and albums with upcoming release dates. “The Crossover” shows a singer/songwriter side to Bacon, and is available on iTunes and Spotify.  Bacon also recorded on the Transports concept album “No Parking” which was released in June and was sponsored by the French Embassy. They joined together French lyricists with musicians based in India and partnered through his school – KM Music Conservatory. He also recorded guitar for A R Rahman’s film “24” and recorded and performed guitar as part of the IndiX Indie100 series, which encouraged collaborations of Australian music producers with Indian indie bands, with a release upcoming in July. Bacon has also arranged, transcribed, and published a number of pieces. He transcribed a dozen Indian Raag-based compositions for classical guitar which being published in June by Mel Bay titled “Elements of Indian Music Volume 1.”  His first solo guitar composition “Masala Blues” was published, and he is currently working on an upcoming Bollywood movie soundtrack. He has also arranged pieces by Debussy and Bartok for solo guitar, with pending publication next year. Bacon has also used his voice in interviews and features in the Times of India newspaper, an interview and performance of Albeniz on Kappa TV in Kerala, and gave a number of guest lectures at Bangalore’s Berserk Music Festival.

Serap Bastepe-Gray Wins Discovery Award Reply

Faculty artist Serap Bastepe-Gray (BM ’96, MM ’99, Guitar) is part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers which has been chosen to receive a 2018 Johns Hopkins Discovery Award for their proposal, “Step Into My Brain: Experiencing Depressive Brain with Virtual Reality.” The team also includes Lucy Bucknell (Arts & Sciences), Haris Sair (Medicine), Dr. Haris Sair (Medicine; Neuroradiology) and Annette Porter (Arts & Sciences).

Thomas Viloteau Joins Guitar Faculty Fall 2019 Reply

French guitar phenomenon and author of “In the Black Box, Technique(s) of the Classical Guitar” Thomas Viloteau will join the Peabody Conservatory guitar faculty beginning in fall 2019.

Byeong Woo Lee Performs for North and South Korean Presidents in Historical Meeting Reply

Byeong Woo Lee (GPD ’98, Guitar; GPD ’00, Chamber Ensemble) recently performed for Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae In at the Korean Demilitarized Zone during a historical meeting between the two countries. Lee played his solo guitar piece Bird alongside a traditional Korean musician and a boy who sang at the winter Olympics. Also in attendance were 40 representatives from both countries.

The Charm City Trio Named Finalist in Competition Reply

The Charm City Trio, made up of Peabody guitar students Jordan Colquitt, Tobias James, and Joseph Tollefsen, has been selected as one of the three finalists at the Southern Guitar Festival Ensemble Competition. The group was invited to perform in the competition finals during the festival in Columbia, S.C., in June 8-10.