Stevie Wonder and Misty Copeland are coming to Baltimore, but not to sing or dance.
Both will deliver addresses for the Peabody Conservatory’s spring graduation ceremonies on May 22.
Copeland, the first African-American woman to become a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, will speak to Peabody undergraduates during a morning ceremony, and Wonder will speak to graduate students in the afternoon.
Copeland and Wonder will receive the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Dance in America, the highest honor bestowed by the Peabody Institute, part of the Johns Hopkins University. Wonder will also receive an honorary doctorate degree from Hopkins during its university-wide commencement ceremony at Hopkins Field on May 23.
“Stevie Wonder and Misty Copeland have dedicated their lives to making art and to lifting up others through music and dance, inspiring audiences and setting powerful examples for generations of younger performers,” said Peabody Dean Fred Bronstein, according to the JHU Hub. “I cannot imagine two more fitting speakers to send our graduating student artists out into the world to make their own impact.”
Past George Peabody Medal recipients include: Terence Blanchard; Herbie Hancock; Renee Fleming; Tori Amos; Leon Fleisher; Yo Yo Ma; Jessye Norman; Pete Seeger; Quincy Jones; Wynton Marsalis; Marilyn Horne, Andre Watts; Ella Fitzgerald; and Leonard Bernstein. Copeland will be the first dancer to receive a Peabody medal, presented annually since 1980.
These will be the Peabody Conservatory’s 142nd graduation exercises. Peabody is conferring 94 Bachelor of Music degrees; nine Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees; 131 Master of Music degrees; 11 Master of Arts degrees; 14 Graduation Performance Diplomas; three Artist Diplomas; and 17 Doctor of Musical Arts degrees.
Peabody’s 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. graduation ceremonies will be held in Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall on the Peabody campus in Mount Vernon. In-person attendance is ticketed and reserved for graduates and their families and guests, but the event will also be livestreamed. More information is available at www.peabody.jhu.edu/graduation.
Hopkins to confer six honorary degrees
Wonder is one of six people who will receive honorary degrees from Hopkins during its commencement ceremonies on May 23.
Others include: vocalist Renee Fleming; architect and artist Maya Lin; investor and philanthropist William H. “Bill” Miller III; Utah Sen. Mitt Romney; and political scientist Janice Stein. Romney is Hopkins’s 2024 Commencement speaker.
Michael Bloomberg receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
Business leader, philanthropist and Hopkins graduate Michael Bloomberg is one of 19 people who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden in a ceremony last week at the White House.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. Biden honored Bloomberg for revolutionizing the financial information industry and for transforming the state of education, the environment, public health and the arts in New York City as its mayor from January 2002 to December 2013.
Other medal recipients last week were: former U. S. Vice President Al Gore; former Secretary of State John Kerry; Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky; astronaut Ellen Ochoa; actress Michelle Yeoh; and Baltimore native and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
