George Peabody Medal Recipients
The George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Dance in America is the highest honor bestowed by the Peabody Institute. It has been presented annually since 1980, originally as the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America. The name of the medal was updated in 2023 to be inclusive of more of the performing arts and to reflect the addition of a Dance degree in Conservatory.
The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University has awarded the Peabody Medal to the following distinguished composers, performers, philanthropists, scholars, and business and civic leaders.
2025Rakim |
 |
2024Misty Copeland Stevie Wonder |
  |
2023Terence Blanchard |
 |
2022Herbie Hancock |
 |
2021Renée Fleming |
 |
2020Alex Ross |
 |
2019Tori Amos |
 |
2018Leon Fleisher |
 |
2016Yo-Yo Ma |
 |
2015Jessye Norman |
 |
2014Kim Kashkashian |
 |
2013Pete Seeger |
 |
2012Roy Haynes Benjamin H. Griswold, IV |
  |
2011Marni Nixon |
 |
2010Libby Larsen James Levine |
 |
2009Michael M. Kaiser |
 |
2008Sir Ken Robinson |
 |
2007Quincy Jones |
 |
2006Gilbert Kalish |
 |
2005George Crumb |
 |
2004John Corigliano |
 |
2003Andre Previn |
 |
2002Richard Goode Bobby McFerrin |
  |
2001Isaac Stern |
 |
2000Philip Glass |
|
1999Eileen Farrell Leonard Slatkin |
|
1998Anne Wiggins Brown |
|
1997Jacques T. Schlenger Barry Tuckwell |
|
1996David Zinman Wynton Marsalis |
|
1995Robert O. Pierce Melvin A. Steinberg Hugo Weisgall |
|
1994Jerome Hines Mstislav Rostropovich Billy Taylor |
|
1993Dominick Argento |
|
1992Josef Gingold Charles Rosen Randolph S. Rothschild |
|
1991Robert Mann Ruth B. Rosenberg Eileen Southern |
|
1990Steven Muller Robert Shaw André Watts |
|
1989Marilyn Horne |
|
1988Wilfred Bain David Lloyd Kreeger |
|
1987Gian Carlo Menotti Oscar Peterson Nicolas Slonimsky |
|
1986Boris Goldovsky |
|
1985Sidney M. Friedberg Joseph Meyerhoff Julius Rudel William Schuman |
|
1984Elliott Carter Todd Duncan William Schwann |
|
1983Milton Babbitt Ella Fitzgerald Paul Fromm |
|
1982Elliott W. Galkin Benny Goodman Gunther Schuller Roger Stevens |
|
1981Peter Herman Adler Marian Anderson Carleton Sprague Smith |
|
1980Leonard Bernstein Eubie Blake John Brademas |