Notable Alumni & Fast Facts
Fast Facts
The student body of about 800 students is half graduate students and half undergraduates. Students come from more than 40 states and 30 countries.
Peabody alumni are award-winning composers, recording engineers at the highest levels of their industries, teachers at all levels of education, and performing members and conductors of more than 35 professional orchestras, including the Baltimore, National, Chicago, and Cleveland orchestras, as well as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics.
Peabody alumni and current faculty have won more than 17 Grammy Awards as well as Guggenheim fellowships, MacArthur grants, Emmy Awards, and Avery Fisher Career Grants, among other prizes.
There are nearly 1,000 solo and ensemble performances and events at Peabody between September and May of each year.
More than 90% of Peabody students receive scholarships.
The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University trains and prepares the next generation of artists to shape the future of their fields and their communities. A leader at the intersection of art and education, with a sustained focus on excellence and innovation, Peabody equips alumni to become socially conscious leaders who can respond to and thrive in today’s changing performing arts landscape.
Notable Conservatory Alumni
Brass
- Richard Antoine White (BM ’96, Tuba), tubist, author, and professor at the University of New Mexico
- Dontae Winslow (BM ’97, MM ’99, Trumpet), touring and recording artist, composer, arranger, conductor, and songwriter whose credits include Netflix, HBO, BET, the 2022 Academy Awards, and three Super Bowls
Composition
- Paola Prestini (BM ’95, Composition), composer and Co-Founder/Artistic Director of National Sawdust
- Michael Hersch (BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition), Guggenheim Fellowship-winning composer, pianist, and Peabody professor
- Jonathan Leshnoff (BA ’95, Anthropology; BM ’95, MM ’97, Composition), Grammy-nominated composer
- Amy Beth Kirsten (DMA ’10, Composition), Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship-winning composer
- Jake Runestad (MM ’11, Composition), Grammy-nominated composer
- Elijah Daniel Smith (MM ’20, Composition), composer and President’s Fellow at Princeton University
Computer Music
- Matthew Burtner (MM ’97, Computer Music), Emmy-winning composer, professor at the University of Virginia, Co-Director of the Coastal Futures Conservatory, and founder of music/environmental nonprofit EcoSono
Conducting
- Joseph Young (AD ’09, Conducting), Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra, and Peabody Conservatory’s Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Artistic Director of Ensembles
- Gemma New (MM ’11, Conducting), Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award
- Jacomo Bairos (GPD ’11, Conducting), co-founder and conductor of the Nu Deco Ensemble contemporary chamber orchestra
- Lee Mills (AD ‘12, Conducting), Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony and 2022 Solti Foundation Resident at Lyric Opera of Chicago
- Alexandra Arrieche (AD ’14, Conducting), Principal Conductor of the Antwerp Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Henderson and Olymphia Symphony Orchestras, and winner of the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship
- Paolo Bortolameolli (GPD ’15, Conducting), Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Esperanza Azteca (México), and Principal Guest Conductor of Filarmónica de Santiago (Chile)
- Jonathan Rush (MM ’19, Conducting), Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
- Michael Repper (DMA ’22, Conducting), Grammy-winning Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony and Principal Conductor of Sinfonía por el Perú
Guitar
- David Starobin (BM ’73, Guitar), Grammy-nominated guitarist, producer, and composer founder and Director of A&R at Bridge Records
- Manuel Barrueco(BM ’75, Guitar), Grammy- and Latin Grammy-nominated guitarist and Peabody professor
- Meng Su (PC ’09, GPD ’11, MM ’16, AD ‘18, Guitar; GPD ’15, Chamber Ensemble), Latin Grammy-nominated guitarist and recording artist
Music Education
- Tonya McBride Robles (BM ’95, Music Education; PC ’95, Voice), Vice President of Expanded Education at the New England Conservatory of Music
Percussion
- Daniel Marcellus (BM ’06, Jazz), drummer and Ableton Live artist for performers including Harry Styles, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Blood Orange
- Victor Caccese (BM ’11, Percussion), Terry Sweeney (BM ’13, Percussion), and Ian Rosenbaum (BM ’08, Percussion), three of the four members of the Grammy-nominated Sandbox Percussion
- Ji Su Jung (BM ’16, GPD ’17, Percussion), Avery Fisher Career Grant winner Peabody and Curtis Institute faculty
Piano
- André Watts (AD ’72, Piano), Grammy Award-winning pianist
- Jory Vinikour(’83, Piano), Grammy-nominated harpsichordist
- Kevin Kenner (BM ’86, Piano; MM ’89, Piano; AD ’89, Piano), Chopin Competition-winning pianist and recording artist, professor at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music
- Awadagin Pratt (PC ’89, Piano; PC ’89, Violin; GPD ’92, Conducting), Acclaimed pianist and conductor, founder and Artistic Director of the Art of the Piano Festival
- Angelin Chang(DMA ’98, Piano), Grammy Award-winning pianist
Recording Arts & Sciences
- Lawrence Manchester (BM ’94, Percussion; BM ’95, Recording Arts and Sciences), Grammy and Emmy Award-winning music producer and recording engineer
- Karl Wingate(MA ‘14, Recording Arts and Sciences), Grammy-nominated engineer/mixer for artists including Gwen Stefani, Steve Lacy, Norah Jones, Jessie Reyez, and Sara Bareilles
- Joel Watts(BM ’14, Horn; BM ’15, Recording Arts; MM ’15, Audio Sciences), Grammy Award-winning Boston Symphony Orchestra recording engineer
Strings
- Kim Kashkashian (BM ’73, Viola), Grammy Award-winning violist
- Becky Starobin (BM ’73, Violin), President and Co-Owner of Bridge Records
- Carter Brey (BM ’76, Cello), principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic
- Paul Avgerinos(BM ’81, Double Bass), Grammy Award-winning New Age recording artist
- Bing Wang (BM ’89, Violin), associate concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
- Sel Kardan (BM ‘91, MM ‘92, Viola), President and CEO of the Colburn School
- Zuill Bailey(BM ’94, Cello), Grammy Award-winning cellist
- Michael Stepniak (MM ‘98, GPD ‘99, Viola), Dean of Shenandoah Conservatory
- Igor Yuzefovich (MM ’03, Violin), concertmaster of BBC Symphony Orchestra and professor at the Royal Academy of Music
- Juliette Jones (BM ’08, Violin), Chief Operating Officer of Alamo Records and co-founder of music production company RootStock Republic
- Maggie O’Connor (BM ’13, MM ’14, Violin), Grammy Award-winning fiddler/violinist
Voice
- James Morris(’68, Voice), Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone
- Alysia Lee (MM ’06, Voice), President of Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, founder and Artistic Director of Sister Cities Girlchoir, and Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow
- Michael Maliakel (BM ’12, Voice), star of Aladdin on Broadway
- Alexandra Razskazoff (BM ’14, Voice), 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition-winning soprano
Woodwinds
- Camille Delaney-McNeil (MM ’11, Flute), Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Beckmen YOLA Center
- Amir Farsi (BM ’16, Flute), Carnegie Hall Ensemble Connect Fellow
Notable Preparatory Alumni
- Tori Amos, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and multi-platinum recording artist
- Cyrus Chestnut, acclaimed jazz pianist
- Martha Clarke, MacArthur ‘Genius’ choreographer
- Marilyn Crispell, pianist and 2025 NEA Jazz Master
- Philip Glass, BAFTA Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated composer and pianist
- Hilary Hahn, Grammy Award-winning violinist
- Camara Kambo, Emmy Award-winning and Grammy-nominated composer
- Santa J. Ono, 15th president of the University of Michigan