The 2015 recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award, Dr. Stanley Cornett, tenor, recently retired after thirty-six years as professor on the Voice Faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. His studio included singers of all voice types and degree levels, and he also taught courses in Vocal Pedagogy and Oratorio Literature. Dr. Cornett continues to teach privately at his home, as well as at festivals and summer programs. Previously, Dr. Cornett served as Assistant Professor of Voice at theUniversity of Michigan School of Music, was Co-Director of the Seagle Music Colony, and was voice faculty member and master class teacher at the Amalfi Coast Music & Arts Festival in Italy.

Through his longstanding work as a teacher and pedagogue, Dr. Cornett has guided numerous singers to success in major vocal competitions and professional engagements nationally and internationally. Recent examples include 2022, when three alumnae (two sopranos and one mezzo-soprano) were National Semi-Finalists in the Metropolitan Opera/Laffont Competition on the stage at the Met; two advanced to the Grand Finals, with one named a Grand Finals Winner. Concurrently, another soprano alumna was an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera; a recent tenor alumnus was a finalist in the Premiere Opera International Vocal Competition and a Regional Finalist and Audience Choice Award recipient in the Metropolitan Opera/Laffont Competition; and a recent soprano graduate was both Finalist in the Jensen International Vocal Competition and Prizewinner in the Camille Coloratura Competition. Over a three-year span, a baritone alumnus performed the title role in Aladdin on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, and he appeared as the featured headliner singer in Christmas with The Tabernacle Choir, broadcast nationally on PBS.

As a performer himself, tenor Stanley Cornett has enjoyed a versatile performing career of more than thirty-five years in repertoire spanning nine centuries and myriad genres, and has consistently been praised by the press for his beauty of tone, elegant style, and compelling stage presence. His operatic credits include more than thirty roles with companies such as the New York City Opera, Washington Opera, Baltimore Opera, Mobile Opera, and Hawaii Opera Theatre.

He has appeared as soloist with many of America’s leading orchestras with conductors including Robert Shaw, Christopher Hogwood, David Atherton, and Eduardo Mata, with such orchestras as the Dallas, Atlanta, San Diego, Charleston, New Mexico, Omaha, National, and Baltimore symphonies, as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as tenor soloist at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York and Musica Sacra; at Boston’s Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall with the Handel and Haydn Society and Chorus Pro Musica; and at festivals including the Bethlehem Bach Festival, Rochester Bach Festival, Aldeburgh Festival (England), and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. His performances in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore region include extensive appearances at the Kennedy Center, Washington National Cathedral, Constitution Hall, Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center, Meyerhoff Hall, and as soloist with every major choral group in the area.

Dr. Cornett has been featured in national television and radio broadcasts with the Louisville Bach Society, the Library of Congress Concert Series, NPR, and PBS. He was previously Winner of the Oratorio Society of New York Competition at Carnegie Hall, and Finalist in the prestigious Walter M. Naumburg Competition and Young Concert Artists Competition.

Dr. Cornett was represented by IMG Artists Management, and recordings are available on Spotify, YouTube, and other major streaming platforms.

Dr. Cornett earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, his Doctorate from the University of Maryland, with additional studies at the Juilliard School and the Britten/Pears School in England.