A new model for arts training is in full swing at the Peabody Conservatory, where students are developing skills in optimal performance, career development, and citizen artistry to meet the demands of today’s ever-changing performing arts landscape.

Launched in fall 2017, Peabody’s Breakthrough Curriculum helps today’s artists build the skills they need to not only perform at the highest standards but also take a leadership role in reinforcing the value of the arts in modern society. At the same time, Peabody students benefit from a collaborative focus on performing arts wellness, which now includes the Peak Performance Fundamentals program and the Johns Hopkins Rehabilitative Network Clinic for Performing Artists, a multidisciplinary occupational health care clinic and wellness center for musicians and dancers on the Peabody campus, the first of its kind affiliated with a music school.

A diverse roster of faculty artists is charged with implementing the Breakthrough Curriculum. More than 50 faculty appointments have been made over the last two years including artists like Peabody alumnus Joseph Young, who in June 2017 was named the Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Artistic Director of Ensembles at the Peabody Conservatory, and Sean Jones, an internationally acclaimed trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and educator who joined the faculty in January 2018 as the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies.

Photo: Hailed as one of the most gifted conductors of his generation, Peabody alumnus Joseph Young is the Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Artistic Director of Ensembles at the Peabody Conservatory. Here he is conducting a rehearsal of the Peabody Modern Orchestra.