The 2015 recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award, Dr. Stanley Cornett, tenor, is beginning his thirty-fifth year this fall as a member of the voice faculty at Peabody. His studio is comprised of voice majors including students of all voice types and degree levels. Until 2017, and for thirty years, he also taught classes in Vocal Pedagogy and Oratorio Literature. Previous to coming to Peabody, he was Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor (1983-1987).

Through his work as a teacher and pedagogue, Dr. Cornett has helped many students place in major vocal competitions and perform in important venues nationally and internationally (see Links to “About My Students,” “Studio Alumni News,” and “My Studio” on this website). Currently (Spring, 2022), he was honored to have three alumnae (2 sopranos, 1 mezzo soprano) who were National Semi-Finalists in the Metropolitan Opera Council/Lamont Competition on the stage of the Met on April 24.  Two of the three advanced to the Grand Finals Concert on May 1, 2022, both performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, with one named as one of six Grand Finals Winners.  Dr. Cornett often serves as Adjudicator for major vocal competitions, consultant for various articles and publications, and is featured in master classes and summer residencies. Since 2014, he has been a regular member of the voice faculty (and master class presenter) at The Amalfi Coast Music & Arts Festival in Maiori, Italy.  He was previously Co-Director of the Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, New York for five years, and was a featured teacher at the ARIA International Summer Music Academy in London, Ontario, the Bel Cantanti Summer Opera Festival, the Bethesda Summer Music Festival, and the Young Artists of America vocal program. Cornett received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland, with additional studies at the Juilliard School and the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh, England. He is regularly listed as a biographee in Who’s Who in America.

As a performer, Stanley Cornett has enjoyed a versatile career of more than thirty-five years, in repertoire spanning nine centuries and myriad genres. He has consistently been praised by the press for his beauty of tone and elegant style. (See Links to “Opera Reviews” and “Concert Reviews” on this website). Performing over thirty operatic roles, he has appeared with the New York City Opera, the Washington Opera, the Baltimore Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Syracuse Opera, Mobile Opera, Dayton Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Skylight Opera, and Summer Opera of Washington. He has been soloist with many of America’s major orchestras with conductors Robert Shaw, Christopher Hogwood, Eduardo Mata, David Atherton, Hugh Wolff, Gustav Meier, Christian Badea, Martin Isepp, David Stahl, Peter Bay, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Jeffrey Rink, Robert Shafer, Norman Scribner, J.Reilly Lewis, Robert DeCormier, Lyndon Woodside, Thomas Dunn, Tom Hall, Richard Westenburg, Carl St. Clair, and John Oliver. Orchestral appearances include the symphony orchestras of Dallas, Atlanta, San Diego, Baltimore, Rochester, Syracuse, Omaha, Des Moines, Charleston, and New Mexico, as well as the National Symphony, the Shinsei-Nippon Symphony in Tokyo, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra, and the Pacific Symphony. On the oratorio stage, Cornett has performed as soloist in New York at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall for the Oratorio Society of New York and Musica Sacra, in Boston at Symphony Hall and Jordon Hall with the Handel and Haydn Society and Chorus Pro Musica, and extensively in Washington and Baltimore at the Kennedy Center, the National Cathedral, and Meyerhoff Hall, and with every major choral group in the area. He has appeared with Washington’s Theater Chamber Players, the Folger Consort, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and the Library of Congress Concert Series’ radio broadcasts. Festival appearances include the Bethlehem Bach Festival, the Rochester Bach Festival, the Washington Bach Festival at the Kennedy Center, and the Aldeburgh Festival in England. Cornett has been featured in the national television broadcast “The Glory of Christmas” with the Louisville Bach Society as well as numerous other broadcasts on PBS and NPR. He was previously Winner of the Oratorio Society of New York Competition, and Finalist in the prestigious Walter Naumburg Competition and the Young Concert Artists Competition, among others. As a performer, Cornett was represented by IMG Artists Management.

Cornett is married to Associate Professor and Vocal Coach Eileen Cornett, Keyboard and Vocal Studies faculty at Peabody. They live in Baltimore, where they have enjoyed raising their two daughters, Lydia and Emily.