Peabody Harmony Project(PHP) is a Peabody preparatory student-run 501(c)(3)non-profit organization to use the transformative power of music to open up life-changing experience to students and local communities free of charge. We have two wonderful program: educational program and community outreach program.
The mission The Peabody Harmony Project is dedicated to elevating communities through the transformative power of music. We fulfill this mission by providing free music tutoring to elementary and middle school students who might otherwise lack access to musical education. Additionally, we enrich the community by performing at senior living centers, hospitals, community festivals, and similar venues, all at no cost. Our efforts are aimed not only at nurturing young musical talents but also at bringing the joy and healing power of music to diverse audiences, especially those who are underrepresented and underserved.
Board of Directors
Michael Shi, the co-founder and President of the Peabody Harmony Project, is a Junior at Glenelg High School in Maryland. Michael has played the clarinet for 8 years and is currently a rotating principal clarinetist with the Peabody Youth Orchestra (PYO). Prior to PYO, he played the clarinet in the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, Howard County GT Bands, his School's Symphony Band/Marching Band, and the AllState Junior Band. Michael was accepted into the Juilliard Winds Summer Camp in 2021 and 2022. He has won multiple national and international music competitions. He has been invited to perform at the Gala Concert at Bosendorfer Hall in Vienna, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. Besides music, Michael is a competitive tennis player, serving on his school's varsity tennis team and playing at local tennis clubs. He is also a strong advocate for community upliftment and contributes hundreds of hours to community service each year, supporting both musical and non-musical organizations. This includes the Clarksville Youth Care Group, a multi-award-winning, student-led nonprofit organization where he serves as an Assistant Outreach Manager, and the Doremi Project, where he is a featured clarinet tutor. Michael is recognized for his excellent leadership abilities. He is the co-founder and president of his school's Young Investors Society club and the co-founder and head coach at the Howard County Chinese School's Summer Tennis Camp.
Emily Shi, the co-founder and Vice President of Peabody Harmony Project Inc., is a sophomore at Glenelg High School in Maryland. She studies at the Pre-Conservatory Violin Program, which supports and challenges the most advanced, serious, and gifted violinists at the Preparatory. Young artists in this program play at an advanced level and display the artistic potential to pursue a performance career in music. Currently, Emily is a co-concertmaster at the Peabody Youth Orchestra and a lead violinist in the Academy Chamber under the guidance of Dr. Christian Tremblay, Chair of the Peabody Preparatory String Department. Her private teacher is Ms. Rebecca Henry, the former Chair of the Peabody Preparatory String Department.
Prior to joining Peabody Prep, Emily had successfully led school GT orchestras and county GT orchestras as concertmaster. She was the 3rd chair out of 63 students in the violin section for the 2023 All State Junior Orchestra and served as Assistant Concertmaster in five concerts during the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra European trip. Emily is a multi-award winner in various music competitions, both national and international. As a result, she has been invited to perform at the Gala Concert at Bosendorfer Hall in Vienna, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and Carnegie Hall in New York City, twice. She studied at the National Philharmonic Orchestra Summer String Institute every year before the pandemic. Emily also studied piano for 5 years and won numerous awards in piano competitions. She composes music pieces when inspired and has won three national/international composition competitions in 2020 and 2021. Emily loves to spread music through her volunteer tutoring and performances in local communities. She is the co-founder and president of her school's Young Investors Society club and the co-founder and head coach at the Howard County Chinese School Summer Tennis Camp with Michael Shi. She aims to positively influence others with her vision and hardworking attitude. Ava Angeles, Secretary of Peabody Harmony Project Inc., is 15 years old and is a sophomore attending Stanford Online High School. She began her musical studies on the violin at the age of 4 and currently studies with Dr. Christian Tremblay at Peabody Preparatory where she is also a member of the Pre-conservatory Violin Program. Over the years she has won numerous awards at violin competitions, including the DePaul Concerto Festival, Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, and Se jong Violin Competition in Chicago, IL. She was a Fellow of the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, a merit scholarship program for underrepresented youths in classical music, from 2019-2022 and was a recipient of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Artists of Tomorrow violin scholarship from 2021-2022. She is an alumna of The Juilliard School Sphinx
Performance Academy summer program, which she attended on full scholarship in 2019. She has performed regularly at community concerts, public school education events, and public and private functions in Chicago since she was 5 years old. Aside from violin, she is also proficient in playing the piano, dagu(Chinese drums), and guzheng (Chinese zither) for which she won the silver medal in the Youth International Chinese Musical Instrument Competition in 2022. She has a particular interest in music composition and has had her original works performed by professional musicians as part of the John Adams Young Composers Program. In terms of academics, her major interests lie in mathematics and astrophysics. She was awarded the Honor Roll in the American Mathematics Competition 8 in 2022. She has written two astrophysics research papers as first author, one of which has been peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Double Star Observations while the other is currently undergoing final peer review for publication in the Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. In April 2023, she accepted an invitation to present her research paper and speak at a workshop at the Northeast Astro-imaging Conference held in New York, and in May 2023, she was invited to present her research paper as a poster in the Astronomy Education Conference held in the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics in the University of Toronto. Jiles Defosse, Treasurer of Peabody Harmony Project Inc., is a 13 years old violinist from Annapolis. He took interest in the violin at age 4.5. Jiles is a member of the Peabody pre-conservatory violin program and the Peabody youth orchestra, for which he is serving as concertmaster for one of the programs in 2023-2024 session. Jiles also was a part of the 2022/2023 Maryland All-State Junior Orchestra. After winning the Chesapeake Youth Orchestra concerto competition, Jiles made his first solo orchestra debut at age 11 playing Mozart violin concerto No 3. He also was a featured soloist with Roxborough Orchestra. Jiles is grateful for the opportunities to be coached by Christian Tremlay, Rebecca Henry, Qing Li, Stephan Jackiw, Cho-Liang Lin and Stanley Cornett in masterclasses. In the past summers, Jiles has participated in the Heifetz institute summer program 22' and 23' and Ascent music festival 23'. Jiles also plays violin along with youth church choir in Sunday Masses, where he finds great satisfaction to be able to bring joy through his violin to people of all ages, He is honored and excited to be part of the Harmony project and will treasure the experience for life. Currently an 8th grader at Bates Middle School, his favorite subject is Math. When not playing music, he loves reading books, and watching two-set videos.
|
Members of Peabody Harmony Projects
|