Art, community and craft
Peabody Southwell has built a career on the belief that meaningful work happens at the intersection of art, community, and craft.
For over a decade, she performed as a principal mezzo-soprano with the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, LA Opera, San Francisco Symphony, and other major houses internationally, in performances frequently released by Sony, Pentatone, Cantaloupe Music, and Bridge Records, and recognized with a 2017 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Alongside that performing career, she worked as a director, designer, and dramaturg, and in 2013 co-founded Chromatic, a production company through which she has designed and produced large-scale fundraising events and productions for institutions including the San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Opera San Antonio, and Bay Chamber Orchestra — building the programming, donor relationships, and creative infrastructure that make those events possible.
In 2017, she began a second practice as an independent project manager, initially taking on residential renovations between singing engagements. What started as a side project became a full-time focus after the pandemic: she now directs high-end new builds, historic restorations, and full renovations with budgets up to $2M, serving as the liaison between architects, engineers, subcontractors, and municipal officials across a range of codes and jurisdictions.
Her family has summered in Midcoast Maine for over one hundred years. In 2026, she and her husband moved their young family to Rockport year-round, where she now brings her fundraising experience, creative leadership, and project management discipline to building the organizations and institutions that will shape the town's future.
