Why are people moved by music? Is there such a thing as a great work of art? Do people see a thing differently if they draw it? Is the rhythm of poetry the rhythm of music? At St. John’s students sing Palestrina in the Great Hall, sketch plants, study how text and music work together in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and derive the equation for a vibrating string. Students can also take figure drawing classes, join the orchestra, dance in the studio, play in a jazz band, and throw clay in the pottery studio. Whether students have been long dedicated to an artistic practice or are new to fine arts, conversations about their place in a worthy human life are an important part of a liberal arts education.
Johann Sebastian Bach St. Matthew Passion, Inventions
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Missa Papae Marcelli
Joseph Haydn Quartets
Claudio Monteverdi L’Orfeo
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Operas
Albert Murray Stomping the Blues
Franz Schubert Songs
Igor Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms
Ludwig van Beethoven Third Symphony
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni
Richard Wagner Tristan and Isolde
William Wordsworth The Two-Part Prelude of 1799
Marcel Duchamp Essays
Édouard Manet Art
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The Marriage of Figaro
Igor Stravinsky Music
The information presented is for illustration purposes only and may not reflect the current reading list and preceptorial and study group offerings. Works listed are studied at one or both campuses, although not always in their entirety.
Published by The MIT Press, Peter Pesic’s new book Sounding Bodies completes a trilogy on the profound influence of music on the sciences. A long-time tutor at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, he is Director of the Science Institute and Musician-in-Residence.
Peter Nesbett brings experience, vision to Annapolis arts space
See what our summer fellows at the Academy of the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-on-Hudson, have created. In two intensive weeks on a fully funded fellowship, Enkh-Od Batzorig (A22), Clare Collins (A22), and Monica Molina (A22) progressed through life drawings, sculpting terra cotta figures which will be cast into bronze, carving linoleum blocks for printmaking, and finishing with wood and marble carving.
Daryl Locke (A23)—AKA Daryle Locko—is going places with his art. Euclid and Ptolemy are part of his inspiration.
Annapolis alum Terence Washington (A15) has used his St. John’s education to embark on a career as a writer, moderator, and educator in the art world.
In this written and video interview, Santa Fe tutor Andy Kingston talks about being a jazz pianist, and discusses and reads from W. E. B. Du Bois’s “The Souls of Black Folk."
Annapolis senior Sophia Cote (A21) reflects on Energeia, one of the oldest most popular student publication at St. John’s.
Annapolis junior Rory Quinn Johnson spent summer 2020 at the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore.
Hannah Jayanti (SF07) is a documentary filmmaker, organizer, and educator. She directs, produces, shoots, and edits her films, and believes the art of nonfiction has the power to change the way we listen to ourselves, each other, and the world we all share.
Hector Poveda Morales (SF21) is an artist and the student supervisor of the Santa Fe campus' Outdoor Program.
Julia Cooper (A20) and Anna Seban (A20) will be the inaugural Newington-Cropsey Fellows from St. John's College.
Three students from the Santa Fe campus were recently featured in the SITE Scholars Exhibition at SITE Santa Fe.
Anne Freeman (A20) completed an internship at David M. Schwarz Architects in the summer of 2018.
Students in Santa Fe are working together to restore the campus gallery to its former glory.
On St. John’s Annapolis campus, the arts are a well-loved supplement to the rigor of the Program.
The Visual Arts Club on the Santa Fe campus provides students with the opportunity to explore their creative sides.
Elizabeth Holt (Peach) wrote her senior essay on Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.”
The Santa Fe arts collective is becoming a booming nationwide business ... with plenty of Johnnies along for the ride.
Tutor emeritus, musician-in-residence, and director of the Science Institute Peter Pesic discusses the beauty and interconnectedness of music, math, and science.
James Siranovich (A22) may be a nontraditional student, but he’s definitely embracing all things Johnnie.
Caitlin Cass (SF09) and Hannah Jayanti (SF07) were recently awarded prestigious grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Lee Zlotoff (A74) explains the impact of the Program on creativity and storytelling.
Richard Saja (SF93) tells tales on toile, one stitch at a time.
Tutor Emeritus Peter Pesic has published his sixth book with MIT Press, and will present the work in Santa Fe’s Great Hall on January 31 at 7 p.m.
The architecture firm of Devendra Contractor (SF79) recently won out as the designer of the new Vladem Contemporary in Santa Fe.
St. John’s College students in Santa Fe recently put on a stage production of “No Exit.”
Members of the St. John’s College communities in Annapolis and Santa Fe are gearing up for year-end art exhibitions.
Robert Indiana: Love and Hope runs through April 22 in the Mitchell Gallery at St. John’s College.
Two alumni have created a space for art, literature, music and community in northwest Chicago.
Hundreds of alumni and their families descended on St. John’s in Annapolis for Homecoming weekend.
As the COO of world-renowned arts company Meow Wolf, Sean Di Ianni (SFGI13) wants to democratize the arts experience and create a financial support structure.
Eric Fricke (SF14) is the principal organist at Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe.
Jason Viseltear (SFGI96) has become well-known in the field of lutherie and recently received an Award of Merit from the St. John’s Alumni Association.
Dahye Kim (A19) completed a Hodson Internship this summer at an art institution in South Korea.
A St. John’s College alumna has started a fundraiser featuring the sale of old Reality Weekend and senior prank T-shirts to benefit student financial aid.
Theater plays a major part in the lives of students in Annapolis and Santa Fe.
A new exhibit, Hidden Beauty: Exploring the Aesthetics of Medical Science, runs through December 10 in the Mitchell Gallery.
Santa Fe’s Student Activity Center has changed the nature of student life on campus.
About Prints: The Legacy of Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17 runs from January 11 through February 25 in the Mitchell Gallery.
Representational painter Eryn Gammonley (SF17) completed a Pathways Fellowship over the summer at Watts Atelier of the Arts in Encinitas, California.
Renowned art dealer and collector Eugene Thaw (Class of 1947) died on January 3, but his legacy lives on through the Mitchell Gallery at St. John’s College in Annapolis.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Alumnus Max Dakin (A16) works at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
Several St. John’s College alumni are working at Meow Wolf, an art collective in Santa Fe.
Peter Pesic has been the musician-in-residence at St. John’s College in Santa Fe since 1984 and has put on more than 200 concerts on campus.
King William Players is a theater troupe.
Meow Wolf, a creative company staffed by a number of St. John’s alumni, is working to expand the arts in northern New Mexico and elsewhere.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Sage Assembly, a Southwestern English Ball, brought students and community members together in the Great Hall at St. John’s College in Santa Fe.
This lecture explores the differences between two perspectives on music: one ancient, one modern.
St. John’s College graduate Jennifer Chenoweth (SF95) created the XYZ Atlas public art project in Austin, Texas.
Journie Kirdain (A17) is the winner of the 2017 Charles Vernon Moran Prize for her work in the Mitchell Gallery’s Community Art Exhibition.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
While St. John’s College is known for the study of the great books, music also plays a prominent role in campus life.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
President Mark Roosevelt donated four lithographs of Frederick Douglass to St. John’s College in Santa Fe.
Towards “A New Birth of Freedom”—Tragedy and Comedy, 1786 Schiller’s Don Carlos and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
A darkroom on campus allows students to develop film and learn the fundamentals of photography.
Janet Lippincott’s time at the Santa Fe campus of St. John’s College still continues today, 10 years after her death.
