Peabody Conservatory Announces New Director of Chamber Music

Fred Bronstein, Dean of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, has announced the appointment of violinist Annie Fullard as Director of Chamber Music and Sidney M. Friedberg Chair of Chamber Music for the Conservatory. She will assume her role in fall 2024.

A founding member of the renowned Cavani String Quartet, Fullard is a leader in the field of chamber music advocacy and education. She currently serves as the Charles and Mary Jean Yates Chair in Chamber Music at The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, prior to which she was a Co-Director of the Orchestral Program at Cleveland State University, alongside her fellow Cavani ensemble members. Her previous faculty positions include Coordinator of String Chamber Music at The University of Michigan and serving as a member of the Quartet-in-Residence at The Cleveland Institute of Music.

Fullard has taught and performed throughout the 50 states and abroad at notable education institutions and performance venues including The Perlman Music Program, New World Symphony, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Juilliard Summer Arts Program in Shanghai, Chautauqua Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Beaujolais (France) Stage, and a Mozart Anniversary Tour of Austria and the Czech Republic, among others. In addition, she has served as a juror for some of the country’s most prestigious competitions including The Washington International, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Saint Paul String Quartet, and Chicago Chamber Music.

“With a distinguished performance career and dedication to teaching the next generation of professional artists, I am thrilled that Annie Fullard is joining Peabody’s faculty of world-class performers and educators,” said Townsend Plant, Peabody’s Senior Associate Dean of Institute Affairs. “Building on the exemplary chamber music program developed under current Director and Chair Michael Kannen, she will bring new energy to the program, further strengthening Peabody’s offerings and helping students excel as creative and collaborative artists and leaders within their communities.”

While in residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Fullard and her fellow Cavani ensemble members collaborated with Grammy-award winning violinist Peter Salaff on seminar presentations designed to teach audience development and community connectivity skills to musicians. Fullard has also curated chamber music residencies in communities around the country and founded Friday Night Chamber Music for pre-college age music students.

“I am incredibly thrilled and honored to join the esteemed Peabody Conservatory, an institution that maintains a powerful legacy while embracing the vision of a more expansive and inclusive arts world,” said Fullard. “Working as a team with Peabody faculty and leadership, I am excited to lead a program that demonstrates the power of chamber music to create connection and empathy and empowers students to effectively communicate the profound beauty of repertoire from the past, present, and future. I envision our students as future collaborative leaders in the arts and will encourage them to see the world from a chamber music perspective. To borrow from the words of the late great John Coltrane, ‘When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups.’”

Fullard is the co-author of a forthcoming book on the beneficial impacts of musical collaboration, The Art of Collaboration: Chamber Music Rehearsal Techniques & Teambuilding (Oxford University Press, 2024), co-written with Dorianne Cotter-Lockard, Ph.D. She has significant experience speaking about the value of collaboration and generative team development, in and beyond the field of chamber music, through her work with the Cavani String Quartet presenting The Art of Collaboration Seminar: Coaching Strategies and Techniques—Building Empowered and Collaborative Teams by Applying Principles of Chamber Music Pedagogy at universities, conservatories, and business schools around the country.

As a member of the Cavani String Quartet, she has been the recipient of The Naumburg Chamber Music Award, The Cleveland Quartet Award (Eastman), and a prize-winning laureate of the Banff International, Fischoff, Coleman, and Carmel Chamber Music competitions. Other accolades for the Quartet include The Guarneri String Quartet Award for Artistic Excellence from Chamber Music America, Ohio Governor’s Award for The Arts, ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, and Musical America’s Young Artists of the Year. The Quartet is featured in the 2022 short documentary film TOGETHER! Beyond Beethoven with The Cavani Quartet.

At Peabody, Fullard will lead the Chamber Music program, which is an essential part of every student’s artistic development at the Conservatory. Michael Kannen, who has led the program for more than 20 years and received the 2019 Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award, will remain on the faculty. Peabody’s teaching model and its unique Breakthrough Curriculum reflect the Conservatory’s rich heritage and dynamic ethos, balancing a deeply held dedication to excellence in classical arts training with an innovative focus on the contemporary needs of artists seeking to launch a career in today’s shifting performing arts landscape.

More information on all of Peabody’s leadership, innovative programs, and initiatives is available at peabody.jhu.edu.

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