Terence Blanchard is set to receive the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Dance in America.
The iconic jazz musician will address the graduates during the Peabody Conservatory’s graduation ceremonies on Wednesday, May 24.
Presented annually since 1980, the George Peabody Medal is the highest honour bestowed by the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Previous recipients include Roy Haynes, Quincy Jones, Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and Leonard Bernstein. Last year’s recipient was Herbie Hancock.
“We are thrilled to have the privilege of honouring Terence Blanchard, whose remarkable and inspiring achievements in music across multiple genres, from the concert stage, to film, and now opera, are making an indelible mark on American culture,” Peabody Conservatory dean Fred Bronstein said in a statement. “Fresh off his most recent success with the Metropolitan Opera’s acclaimed new production of Champion, Terence Blanchard is the very embodiment of a 21st-century citizen artist, someone who so intentionally and thoughtfully continues to expand his own artistic horizons and those of his audiences through his powerful creations and performances.”
A highly decorated and widely respected trumpeter and composer, Blanchard is a five-time Grammy winner, a two-time Oscar nominee and, as of last year, an Emmy nominee.
In his work as an educator, Blanchard has held positions at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, the Berklee College of Music, the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of Miami, and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz.