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Peabody Conservatory .   Peabody Conservatory was founded in 1868 by a well-known patron of art George Peabody. Peabody now is a division of the John Hopkins University and takes its own place as one of world-famous music centers poised to define the contribution of music in our lives as we enter the twenty-first century. The mission of the Peabody Conservatory is to provide aspiring professional artists with the musical skills and acute perceptions necessary to sustain a career in music, whether as solo or ensemble performers, composers, teachers, recording engineers, critics or scholars. Peabody Conservatory has become an acknowledged leader in the cultural life of Maryland and has built a reputation that is truly international. Among the leading musicians who have served on the Peabody faculty are composers Henry Cowell, Elliott Carter, Peter Mennin, Ernst Krenek, Benjamin Lees, Earle Brown, and Hugo Weisgall; violinists William Kroll, Louis Persinger, Oscar Shumsky, and Roman Totenberg; cellists Ado Parisot and Zara Nelsova; pianists Harold Bauer, Ernest Hutcheson, Mieczyslaw Munz, Reginald Stewart, and Erno Balogh; scholars Nadia Boulanger, Otto Ortmann, and Nicolas Slonimsky. The Conservatory’s present faculty is in the same distinguished tradition, and includes prizewinners in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, as well as Guggenheim fellows and Fulbright grantees. Peabody’s teachers and alumni appear as soloists and recitalists across the country and around the world, conduct workshops, lecture in colleges and universities, make recordings, and serve as jurists for international competitions from Texas to Tokyo, from Brussels to Moscow. Among its most illustrious alumni are pianist André Watts, vocalists James Morris and Richard Cassilly of the Metropolitan Opera, the Pulitzer Prize winner composer Diminick Argento, and bandleader Tommy Newsom. The Peabody Conservatory of Music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

Lori Hultgren (Soprano)

Soprano Lori Hultgren, the Minnesota native is an alumnus of Indiana University where she received her Bachelor, Master, and post graduate work in Voice. While attending Indiana University she had the opportunity to perform a wide variety of roles from opera and musical theatre, including the title role in Carmen, Despina in Cosi fan Tutte, Laurey in Oklahoma, and Mrs Anna in The King and I.

L. Hultgren has performed as a young artist for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis where she sang the role of Marthe in their production of Faust. She returned to St. Louis as an Artist in Residence in their touring production of The Barber of Seville as Berta. Ms Hultgren has also performed frequently with Nashville Opera in their young artist program, as well as singing on the main stage as Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, and as Mary in their production of Der Fliegende Hollander.

In this past season, L. Hultgren appeared as Maddalena in Rigoletto, as Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, as well as singing a concert version of Les Contes d’Hoffmann in the role of Giullietta. She made her soprano debut singing the title role in Richard Strauss’ opera Ariadne auf Naxos with the Peabody Conservatory. She has performed both in opera and in concert with the Annapolis Opera, Baltimore Opera, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Nashville Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and Detroit Symphony.

Catrin Rowenna Davies, mezzo soprano, is a first year student in the Graduate Performance Diploma program at the Peabody Conservatory in the studio of Marianna Busching. Previously, she studied with Beatrice Unsworth at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, where she received an Advanced Diploma in Voice Performance with honors and won the Monmouth Choral Society Prize and the Valetta Iacopi Memorial Prize.

Tenor Chad Freeburg, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, recently completed the Master of Music program at the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied voice with Dr. Stanley Cornett. At Peabody, Mr. Freeburg appeared in productions of operas Ariadne auf Naxos (Strauss), Cosi fan Tutte (Mozart), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten) and Egisto (Cavalli). Concert credits at Peabody include Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Handel’s Messiah, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony alongside with John-Shirley-Quirk, Janice Chandler, and Marianna Busching.

Mr. Freeburg is a frequent oratorio performer, appearing as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony, Handel Choir of Baltimore, Bach Choral Society of Baltimore, Columbia Symphony - to name but a few. The Baltimore Sun has praised Mr. Freeburg, describing his “Deposuit potentes” with Annapolis Symphony’s Magnificat as “equal parts dash and elegance”.

Baritone Timothy Scott Mix began his career with the Washington Opera Chorus at the age of 18. Since then he has performed as a soloist with the Washington Opera, Baltimore Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera companies. His orchestral engagements include the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Yuri Temirkanov, as well as the Yaroslavl orchestra, and the Handel Choir of Baltimore. Mr. Mix has performed numerous times with the Peabody Conservatory.

T.S. Mix has been first prizewinner in a series of national competitions. In 2001 he completed his undergraduate degree from the Peabody Conservatory and currently has studies with Russell Penney and John Shirley-Quirk and coaching with Vera Danchenko-Stern and Dr. Michael Cordovana, which helps him greatly.

Vera Danchenko-Stern (piano)

Pianist Vera Danchenko-Stern was born to a professionally musical family. She graduated with honours from the esteemed Gnessin Institute of Moscow, upon which V. Danchenko-Stern was invited to join its staff. She balanced her teaching duties with a growing public demand that led to tours as an accompanist throughout Russia and Europe.

In 1979 Ms Danchenko-Stern immigrated to Canada where she was asked to join the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She continued to perform in concerts with her brother, an internationally renowned violinist and other artists such as Rivka Golani, Martin Beaver and Leonid Karpinski. She was soon requested for the Meadowmount Summer School of Music.

Since 1990 Washington has become V. Danchenko-Stern’s new home where she has become very active in the musical scene. Her concert appearances have included accompanying violinists Pavel Pekarsky, renowned Albert Markov and Ilya Kaler, the Triple Prize gold-medal winner of the Tchaikovsky, Paganini and Sibelius Competitions.

Ms. Danchenko-Stern’s expertise as a Russian diction coach led her to be involved in the productions of The Tsar’s Bride and Boris Godunov at the Washington Opera.

Ms. Danchenko-Stern was recognized by the Who’s Who of American Women for demonstrating outstanding achievement in her field; her biography is included in the Centennial edition.

Currently Ms. Danchenko-Stern serves on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory of Music and Catholic University of America.

V. Danchenko-Stern was recognized by the Who’s Who of American Women for demonstrating outstanding achievement in her field; her biography is included in the Centennial edition.   

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Oberlin Conservatory (Oberlin, USA)