A member of the Peabody faculty since 1982, Mark Cudek founded the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble in 1988 and the Peabody Consort in 1996. He is also Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, a founding member of the Baltimore Consort, and founder and director of the high school early music program at Interlochen Arts Camp.

A performer specializing in early plucked strings, Mark has made appearances at the Boston Early Music Festival; Tage Alter Musik, Regensburg; the Glasgow International Early Music Festival; the Spoleto Festival, Charleston; and performed at other venues including the Vienna Konzerthaus, Teatro Nacional de Panama, New York’s Metropolitan Museum, and the Kennedy Center. He has performed as a guest artist with Apollo’s Fire, the Catacoustic Consort, Folger Consort, Hesperus, Piffaro, Pomerium, and the Western Wind. Selected recent performances include appearances at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the Sonoma Bach Festival, the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, the Houston Early Music Society, Early Music Now in Milwaukee, the San Francisco Early Music Society, the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, and at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Mark’s discography includes 25 recordings on the Dorian, Windham Hill, Linn, Greenhays, Golden Apple, Maggie’s Music, and Koch labels. His lute transcriptions and entabulations have been published by Mel Bay and Lyra Music. His radio and television credits include NPR, CBC, the BBC, Voice of America, and CNN’s World Beat and he can be heard in the films Hunter’s Moon and Sleepy Hollow.

Mark earned his B.F.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his M.M. from the Peabody Conservatory. Early Music America honored him with its 2001 Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding Collegium Director and its 2005 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Early Music Education. He is the 2014 recipient of the Global Achievement Award from the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association.