Peabody faculty member Peter Landgren will replace current director Robert Sirota in October after Sirota leaves the school to assume the presidency of the Manhattan School of Music.
The choice of Landgren as interim president for the 2005-2006 school year was announced on June 28 by President William Brody.
During Landgren's interim directorship, a group of University members will begin a search for a new director.
"Provost Knapp and I will be announcing soon the organization of a national search for a new Peabody director. In the meantime, I look forward to working with Peter and thank him for taking on this important new assignment," Brody said. Landgren will serve as director until a new leader is identified.
In a June 27 e-mail to the Hopkins campus, Brody expressed his regret at Director Sirota's departure.
"Disappointed as I am to lose such a talented colleague and good friend, I fully understand Dr. Sirota's decision to accept this new challenge," said Brody. "Having spent a decade deeply immersed in the renewal of the Peabody, culminating in the completion last year of a stunning renovation of its Mount Vernon campus, Bob is ready to return much of his focus to his work as a composer."
Sirota, who was appointed director of the Institute in 1995, completed the $26.8 million expansion of the Peabody campus during his tenure, turning what Brody called "an aging and, in some respects, crumbling edifice" into "a wonderful monument to music, with some of the finest facilities in the world." In addition to fostering physical transformation, Sirota also instituted new policies within the school that Brody believes "strengthened it immensely." Brody added that Sirota was instrumental in making Peabody a more central part of Baltimore and with the founding of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore.
Landgren, a faculty member at Peabody since 1981, began his career in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and is currently its associate principal horn. For the past two years, he has served as the head of the Peabody Institute Change Team, designed to improve the school's education and ultimately make it a stronger institution.
Landgren also co-chaired Peabody's Undergraduate Committee, and was a member of the Institute's Academic Council. He is the 2003 recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award.
