Mark Cudek is the former Chair of the Historical Performance Department at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, and also Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Early Music Festival. In recognition of his work as Founder/Director of the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble and also the High School Early Music Program at the Interlochen Arts Camp, Mark received from Early Music America the 2001 Thomas Binkley Award and the 2005 Award for Outstanding Contribution to Early Music Education. He has toured and recorded with Apollo’s Fire and Hesperus, performs regularly with the Folger Consort, and, in his youth, worked as a night club guitarist in the Virgin Islands. Mark is the 2014 recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association’s Global Achievement Award and in 2018 was promoted to full Professor. He has recorded over twenty-five CDs on the Analecta, Dorian, Greenhays, Koch, Linn, Sono-Luminus, and Windham Hill labels. He has appeared in concert at the Vienna Konzerthaus; Vredenburg, Utrecht; National Theatre of Panama; American Embassy, Panama; Glenn Gould Hall, Toronto; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; The Kennedy Center; Folger Shakespeare Library; Smithsonian Institution; National Gallery; National Portrait Gallery; Music Before 1800, New York; and the Frick Museum, New York. Festival appearances include Bloomington Early Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, Conciertos de la Villa de Santo Domingo Festival (Dominican Republic), Glasgow International Early Music Festival, Indianapolis Early Music Festival, Madison Early Music Festival, and the Ottawa Chamberfest (Ontario, Canada). Mark is an avid cyclist and lives in Baltimore with his wife, Lisa, their two daughters (Jenny and Gwen), and Jindo-mix, Kandi.

Internationally, Mark has performed at Tage Alter Musik in Regensburg, Germany; Glasgow International Early Music Festival, Scotland; Netwerk voor Oude Muziek, Holland; the National Theatre, Panama; Resonanzen Festival, Vienna; Pfingstfestival Alter Musik, Feldkirchen, Austria; the Musique Royale Festival, Nova Scotia, Glenn Gould Hall, Tornoto, and the Conciertos de la Villa de Santo Domingo Festival.  In the U.S. he has appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival, the Guitar Foundation of America, the Kennedy Center, the Cloisters and Metropolitan Museums (New York), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Smithsonian Institute, the Newberry Library, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. 

Radio broadcasts of Mr. Cudek’s performances include NPR’s Performance Today, APR’s St. Paul Sunday, CBC’s On Stage at the Glenn Gould, DRB (DeutschlandRadio Berlin), Voice of America, and BBC radio.  His music has been featured in the movies “Sleepy Hollow” (with Hesperus) and “Hunter’s Moon” (with Custer LaRue). Television appearances include CNN’s Worldbeat. 

Mr. Cudek has recorded over twenty-five CD’s on the Dorian, Eclectra, Golden Apple, Greenhays, Koch, Linn, Maggie's Music, Music From Peabody, and the Windham Hill labels.  He appears as a side-man on Ronn McFarlane's Grammy-nominated CD "Indigo Road".