About the Artists

The artists featured in the Artists in Action and the Artist Interviews sections are also instructors for courses in the Breakthrough Curriculum led by the Peabody LAUNCHPad career services office. To provide diverse examples of artist careers and foster stronger mentor networks within the student population, the expertise of each artist is available to students beyond the sections they teach. Below is a brief bio for each artist and the audio podcast for the full interview.

Brad Balliett

Brad Balliett^[1] enjoys being a musical omnivore, focusing equal parts of his career on composing, playing bassoon, and teaching artistry. Brad is principal bassoon of the Princeton Symphony, a member of Signal and Metropolis Ensemble, a founding member and former Artistic Director for Decoda, a member of the composer-collective band Oracle Hysterical, and on faculty at The Peabody Institute, The Juilliard School, and Musicambia. Brad spends as much time as possible outside, observing birds and trees.

Audio interview of Brad Balliett with Zane Forshee.^[2] (44:44 min)

Jeannie Howe

Jeannie Howe is the Executive Director of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance ^[3](GBCA), an organization founded by artists and organizations to work toward common goals of critical importance both locally and nationally, and to act as a voice for the cultural community. Since 2012, she has overseen a significant increase in membership and programs have grown to include artists awards, professional development (including programs for aspiring arts administrators of color) and region-wide audience development efforts including CultureFly.org. Prior to joining the GBCA, Howe was founder and president of BayCliff Associates and provided management and fundraising consultation for various nonprofit clients, including Everyman Theatre in Baltimore for whom she led a successful $17.7 million capital campaign. Howe currently serves on the Boards of The Leadership Alumni Council (President), Baltimore National Heritage Area (Secretary), and the Baltimore Orchard Project. She holds a B.A. in Theater from St. Mary’s College of MD, and a M.A. in Theater from Miami University of Ohio.

Audio interview of Jeannie Howe with Zane Forshee.^[4] (49:04 min)

Andrew Kipe

With over 20 years of experience in orchestra management, Andrew Kipe is currently the Assistant Dean of Performance Activities at The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. As executive director of the Louisville Orchestra, his leadership vision focused on redefining the role of an orchestra in its community with unique experiences that defied the conventional orchestral performance. Kipe served in leadership roles with the Phoenix Symphony, the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra, and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Audio interview of Andrew Kipe with Zane Forshee.^[5] (39:28 min)

Alysia Lee

Alysia Lee’s^[6] full-circle role as an artist, arts educator, teaching artist and arts advocate, gives her a broad perspective of the arts ecosystem. A Kennedy Center Citizen Artist, she is the Founder and Artistic Director of Sister Cities Girlchoir^[7], the El Sistema-inspired, girl empowerment, choral academy in Philadelphia, Camden, and Baltimore in its tenth season.

She recently ended her tenure as the arts education policymaker for the Maryland State Department of Education across five arts disciplines: music, dance, visual art, theatre, and media arts. This year Alysia debut as series editor of Hal Leonard’s Exigence for Young Voices, the new choral series uplifting Black and Latino composers for young choir ensembles. Lee also is on the faculties of Longy School of Music of Bard College and Peabody Conservatory. Lee is also a proud Chorus America board member.

Audio interview of Alysia Lee with Zane Forshee.^[8] (60:31 min)

Christina Manceor

Christina Manceor^[9] is a percussionist, career educator, and entrepreneur who integrates problem solving and collaboration to enhance and innovate experiences for students, audiences, and arts organizations. Currently, she works at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University as Assistant Director of the LAUNCHPad career services office, and serves as adjunct Professional Studies faculty for Peabody’s innovative Breakthrough Curriculum. She also performs as a freelance musician, pursuing artistic collaborations in chamber music, world music, orchestra, jazz, and improvisation. She co-founded the flute and percussion ensemble Duo Sila,^[10] and also performs with the samba band Bateria Terra Maria and the Kris Johnson Group, a jazz/funk/soul fusion band based in Detroit. Christina earned her B.M. in Percussion Performance with a minor in Performing Arts Management at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and completed her M.M. in Percussion Performance at Peabody. Currently she is pursuing an Ed.D. at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, specializing in Entrepreneurial Leadership in Education.

Audio interview of Christina Manceor with Zane Forshee.^[11] (49:04 min)

Wendel Patrick

Wendel Patrick/Kevin Gift^[12] majored in both music and political science at Emory University and earned his M.M. in Piano Performance as a scholarship student at the Northwestern University School of Music in Illinois. Patrick is a winner of the 2015 Baker Artist Awards’ Mary Sawyers Baker grand prize and was a member of the faculty at Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland from 2001 to 2013 teaching piano, introduction to music theory, music history and electronic music production. He has taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art and at Loyola University Chicago where he was Department of Fine and Performing Arts Guest Artist-in-Residence for 2019.

Wendel Patrick is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Music Engineering and Technology at The Peabody Music Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University. He teaches “Hip Hop Music Production: History and Practice,” the first course of its kind to be taught at a major traditional music conservatory in the United States. Recently named the new host of “Artworks” on Maryland Public Television/PBS, Patrick is currently a 2021–2022 Harvard Nasir Jones Fellow at The Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.

Audio interview of Wendel Patrick with Zane Forshee.^[13] (42:17 min)

Lara Pellegrinelli

An ethnomusicologist by training, Lara Pellegrinelli is a freelance journalist and scholar with bylines in The New York Times and the Village Voice. Pellegrinelli began reporting locally in New York for WNYC and has been a contributor to NPR‘s^[14] arts coverage since 2008, reporting stories that have been heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition. In 2021, Pellegrinelli led a team of reporters in a data analysis of the NPR Music Jazz Critics poll, published on NPR Music as “Equal at Last? Women In Jazz, By The Numbers.” Pellegrinelli received her Ph. D. in music from Harvard University. Her dissertation, “The Song is Who? Locating Singers on the Jazz Scene,” is the first ethnographic study of jazz singing. She currently teaches at The New School in New York City.

Audio interview of Lara Pellegrinelli with Zane Forshee.^[15] (59:11 min)

CJay Philip

CJay Philip is the Artistic Director of Dance & Bmore,^[16], a Baltimore-based ensemble with a unique fusion of community conscious movement, original music, and spoken-word. Dance & Bmore also designs community programs for youth, families, and elders with dozens of teaching artists bringing DAB’s five programs to over a thousand Baltimore residents each year.

Philip’s work in the community has garnered her a Baltimore Social Innovators Award, an Arts Advocate Award, and a Champion of Courage Award. She is currently a Robert W. Deutsch Fellow^[17] and was part of the first cohort of Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellows.

Before relocating to Baltimore, Philip worked on Broadway in productions of Hairspray, Big the Musical, Street Corner Symphony, and toured in Dreamgirls and Legally Blonde. As a writer/directer/choreographer she has traveled the world creating award-winning productions and collaborations. Philip teaches Interdisciplinary Collaboration at Baltimore School for the Arts and is a certified practitioner of Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process.

Audio interview of CJay Philip with Zane Forshee.^[18] (58:50 min)

Adam Rosenblatt

Chicago-based percussionist and performer Adam Rosenblatt^[19] has a penchant for finding interesting and uncommon ways to present and perform contemporary music.  He is a fixed member of Chicago-based ensemble Beyond This Point^[20] and mixed ensemble Something Out There, both of which focus on the ambiguous space between musical and theatrical performance. Rosenblatt has performed in venues ranging from Berghain in Berlin with experimental electronic duo Matmos to Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York, and in festivals ranging from Maerzmusik Festival in Berlin with the Ictus ensemble to the Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend with Baltimore-based indie rock group Horse Lords.

He earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from the Peabody Conservatory and a Master of Music Degree from the Yale School of Music, both under the tutelage of Robert van Sice.

Audio interview of Adam Rosenblatt with Zane Forshee.^[21] (45:01 min)

Jessica Satava

Jessica Satava is a passionate advocate for the power of symphonic music to activate and unite communities. In 2022, she was appointed Executive Director of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra^[22] in South Carolina. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra^[23] in Pennsylvania. Under her leadership the orchestra has enjoyed its first year of fiscal balance in recent memory due to the aggressive pursuit and achievement of revenue goals, implementation of an innovative digital approach to fundraising and audience development, strategic board recruiting, and the initiation of key community partnerships to support inclusion and access for all. Jessica served previously in artistic and operations roles at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Audio interview of Jessica Satava with Zane Forshee.^[24] (40:09 min)

Khandeya Sheppard

Khandeya Sheppard^[25] is a steelpan musician, educator, and arts administrator with a wide range of solo and ensemble performance experiences in the United States and Trinidad and Tobago. She is a member of the LAUNCHPad team and serves as the Manager of Community Partnerships at Peabody.

Sheppard is a solo performer, Pan Masters Steel Orchestra^[26] member, music director, and leader of NEXUS Band and Dynamic Steel Project,^[27] creator and co-founder of the Black Berklee Network, and founding member of the HBCU Jazz Education Initiative.^[28]

Audio interview of Khandeya Sheppard with Zane Forshee.^[29] (44:46 min)

Ian Tresselt

With over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit arts sector, Ian Tresselt helps creatives, entrepreneurs, designers, students, and visionaries tell authentic stories. He is a collaborator with the Edie Demas Group and leading the cultural sector, design thinking strategy, capital projects and campaigns, nonprofit arts management, and international production and touring. He has worked for numerous organizations including the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, Classic Stage Company and The New Victory Theatre in New York, and Everyman Theatre in Baltimore.

Audio interview of Ian Tresselt with Robin McGinness.^[30] (50:57 min)