Peabody lecturer and composer Adam Itzel was born in Baltimore in 1864 as George Adam Itzel Jr. A child prodigy and multi-instrumentalist, he enrolled in the Peabody Conservatory at a young age, graduating with distinction in 1882. Following his time as a student at Peabody, Adam Itzel established himself as a working composer while arranging instrumental, choral, and operatic works to earn a living. In 1890, he joined the faculty at Peabody, where he taught theory and arranging and led the student orchestra. He also conducted the orchestra of the Academy of Music and composed a light opera, The Tar and the Tartar, which premiered to popular acclaim in Chicago in 1891. He died from tuberculosis in 1893 at the age of 29.

Cousin to Adam, John Itzel was born in Baltimore in 1868 and graduated from the Peabody Conservatory in 1888. Like Adam, John Itzel was primarily a composer, arranger, and conductor specializing in light operas. He was director of the Academy of Music, director of the Baltimore Municipal Band, assistant conductor of the Peabody Conservatory Orchestra, orchestral representative of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and supervisor of instrumental music in the Baltimore public school system. John Itzel died in 1933.