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Cellist and educator Amit Peled on why learning the language of music creates better citizens

Amit Peled (standing, far L) conducts the Baltimore-based Mount Vernon Virtuosi. It is an innovative chamber orchestra of exceptional young musicians who are in transition from their studies to a professional career. Photo: MVV
Amit Peled (standing, far L) conducts the Baltimore-based Mount Vernon Virtuosi. It is an innovative chamber orchestra of exceptional young musicians who are in transition from their studies to a professional career. Photo: MVV

Part of success is looking back at the path that got you there. On the Record is in its homestretch -- ending October 3. We’re using some of our last shows to listen back to guests from whom we’ve learned a lot, and to talk with them again. Like the acclaimed cellist Amit Peled -- a professor at Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute and founder and conductor of the Mount Vernon Virtuosi. In 2018 Peled told us how it came to be that he plays the cello of Pablo Casals, and later, how he collaborated with Marni Fogelson and illustrator Avi Katz to publish “A Cello Named Pablo,” a book that exhorts children to pursue their dreams. Now Peled joins us to talk about the Mount Vernon Virtuosi, The Music House and what has come next!

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'