Peabody Institute - Notable Attendees

Notable Attendees

• Tori Amos — (Prep.) American-born pianist who has sold over 12 million records.
• Dominick Argento — A leading composer of lyric opera and choral music.
• Alicia Berneche -- International Opera singer
• Carter Brey - Principal cellist, New York Philharmonic.
• Richard Cassilly — Leading interpreter of Wagnerian Tenor repertoire
• Angelin Chang — Grammy-award winning classical pianist
• Martha Clarke — (Prep.) Choreographer and dance director.
• Richard Wayne Dirksen — Graduated magna cum laude in June 1942, later organist-choirmaster at the Washington National Cathedral
• Joshua Fineberg - American composer.
• Virgil Fox — Concert organist and recording artist.
• Philip Glass — (Prep.) Composer of opera and contemporary music.
• Hilary Hahn - (Prep.) Violinist.
• Ronn McFarlane - Lutenist, Baroque and Renaissance music interpreter
• Michael Hedges - Composer, Grammy Award-winning (1998) guitarist.
• Michael Hersch — American composer.
• Kevin Kenner — American-born pianist, winner of top prize in International Chopin Competition, bronze in International Tchaikovsky Competition.
• Custer LaRue - American soprano, specialist in music of the Renaissance and vocal soloist of the Baltimore Consort
• Ellis Larkins — First African-American to attend the conservatory.
• James Morris — Wagnerian baritone, Grammy winner and Metropolitan Opera star.
• Mem Nahadr — (Prep.) African American Performance Artist, pianist and singer-songwriter. Attended from age ten to fourteen.
• Tommy Newsom — Saxophonist for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
• Awadagin Pratt — Concert pianist, violinist and conductor, winner of Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Competition.
• Lillian Smith (1897–1966) — Author and social critic (two enrollments, no degree)
• David Spelman – Founder and Artistic Director of New York Guitar Festival, music supervisor in the film industry.
• John Charles Thomas - Opera and concert baritone and member of the Metropolitan Opera company in the 1930s and '40s.
• André Watts — Concert pianist, Grammy winner and professor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.
• Paul Wells, concert pianist
• Hugh Wolff - Conductor, currently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music.
• Charles A. Zimmerman (1861–1916) - Bandmaster at US Naval Academy 1887 to 1916, composer of Anchors Aweigh.