Success Stories

MSM piano alumna Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (DMA ’08) was interviewed by NBC-TV News recently about the previously unknown Chopin Waltz that was recently unearthed in the files of the Morgan Library.

It was the first time in over a century that such a discovery was made.

Magdalena is the Director of the Music Performance Program at Columbia University, as well as a Senior Lecturer in Music in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Watch the NBC-TV story here.

MSM Trustee and classical piano alumnus Dr. Scott Dunn (MM ’97) will perform two concerts in 2025 at The Wallis Annenberg Centre for the Performing Arts (known as The Wallis) in Beverly Hills, California.

On January 18, he is conducting the inaugural concert of his ensemble, the Scott Dunn Orchestra, in a program called The Hollywood Modernists —the Second Golden Age of Film Scoring, celebrating the influence of American and European modernism on composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Alex North, and  Leonard Rosenman, and featuring music from the iconic films Psycho, Jaws, A Streetcar Named Desire To Kill A Mockingbird, and more; most of the arrangements are by Scott Dunn.

The Scott Dunn Orchestra will perform a second program at The Wallis in May 2025 called Henry Mancini at 100—a Celebration of the Man and his Music.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

On October 13 in Auburn, Washington, the Auburn Symphony Orchestra (ASO) will perform the world premiere of MSM Viola faculty member Jessica Meyer’s composition Turbulent Flames, commissioned by the ASO.

The concert will also feature classical piano alumnus Dominic Cheli (BM ’14) performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the ASO.

Read more about the concert here.
Read more about Jessica Meyer here.
Read more about Dominic Cheli here.

Acclaimed concert pianist Dr. Avan Yu (DMA ’22) was appointed the new Artistic and Executive Director of Müzewest Concerts Society. Yu has appeared as a soloist and recitalist worldwide with the National Arts Center Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and Dresden Philharmonic among others, and in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, and Sydney Opera House, to name a few. Yu’s early achievements include being the youngest ever Canadian Chopin Piano Competition winner at 17, as well as winning the Sydney International Piano Competition with multiple special awards.

Müzewest Concert Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting classical music to Canadians in the Lower Mainland at an affordable price. The organization is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, an area in which Dr. Yu has lived for some time.

To learn more about Dr. Yu, click here.

To learn more about Müzewest Concerts Society, click here.

Classical piano alumna Leila Cobo (BM ’91), Billboard’s chief content officer of its Latin/Español division, was honored with the Ícono Máximo Award at the Ícono & Ícono Influencer Awards in Medellín, Colombia. Cobo received the award in recognition of “her outstanding contribution to the Latin music industry, achievements and impeccable career.”

She is noted for her coverage of Latin music for Billboard where she is currently the Chief Content Officer for Latin Music and Español, overseeing the brand’s coverage and development of Latin music across all its platforms. “As a Colombian, receiving an award in Colombia, from the Colombian music industry, is emotional but also carries a lot of professional weight,” Cobo said in a statement. “I’m proud to have dedicated my career to shining a light on Latin music, and the fact that Premios Ícono recognizes this is very exciting and fills me with joy. I truly feel the best is yet to come!”

Learn more here.

Classical piano alumna Mary Prescott (MM ’05) was named one of the 18 winners of the 2024 Princess Grace Awards. Nominated by Harlem Stage, Prescott will receive the Grace Le Vine Theater Honor as one of six winners in the Theatre and Playwriting category. Established in 1982 by Prince Rainier III of Monaco to honor the legacy of Princess Grace (née Grace Kelly), the award includes a $15,000 unrestricted cash grant.

Prescott is a Thai-American interdisciplinary artist and composer who explores the foundations and facets of identity and social conditions through experiential performance. Her output includes several large-scale interdisciplinary works, improvised music, opera, sound journaling, film music, solo and chamber concert works.

Learn more here.

Composer and stage director Penny Prince (BM, MM, PhD) was honored as part of The American Prize annual Independence Day Honors announced on July 4, 2024.

Honored Artists are individuals who have proven themselves to be of “sustained excellence” over a number of seasons as laureates of The American Prize competitions. The award is presented by The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts which is the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the performing arts.

Dr. Penny Prince is Professor of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York. She is Music Graduate Coordinator, and Supervisor of the music student teachers and interns. Dr. Prince received her BM and MM in piano from Manhattan School of Music where she studied with the legendary Zenon Fishbein.

Learn more about Penny Prince here.

Learn more about The American Prize competitions here.

MSM alumnus Marco Rizzello, a pianist and opera coach from Mercato Saraceno in Italy, recently joined the full-time music staff at the Staatsoper in Stuttgart, Germany, where he will be Solorepetitor and Italian Diction Coach.

A recent graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Butler Studio, his summer 2024 engagements include contracts withThe Santa Fe Opera and the Ravinia Festival.

Learn more about Marco Rizzello here.

An exceptional $150,000 Sphinx Venture Fund grant has been awarded to MSM alumna Dr. Leah Claiborne for The Ebony Music Project.

The Sphinx Foundation writes in an announcement about the grant: “This initiative, under her leadership, is set to enrich the landscape of classical music with a comprehensive database of works by Black composers. Congratulations to Dr. Claiborne on this impactful and innovative project!”

Leah Claiborne, D.M.A. promotes diversity in the arts by championing piano music by Black composers in her performances, research, and teaching. Dr. Claiborne received her undergraduate degree from Manhattan School of Music in 2012 where she received the Josephine Whitmore graduation award. This award was given to a graduating senior “whose personal qualities enriches the spirit of the school and community at large.”

Learn more about The Ebony Music Project here.

Learn more about pianist and educator Leah Claiborne here.

Mun-Tzung Wong (MM ’10, PS ’11) has been named Music Director of the Riverdale Choral Society in New York City. She is also Music Director and Choirmaster at St. John’s Anglican Church in Passaic.

She is also a pianist, conductor, mezzo-soprano, vocal and instrumental coach, and pedagogue. She studied classical piano at MSM with Marc Silverman.

She has served as assistant conductor at the International Vocal Arts Institute, St. Petersburg Opera Company, New Rochelle Opera,  Missouri Symphony Orchestra, and more. She has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and Lincoln Center. As a mezzo-soprano, she has appeared as a soloist in performances of the Mozart Requiem and Mass in C minor, Bach St John Passion, Händel’s Messiah, and others.

Learn more about Ms. Wong appointment here.

Pianist Eunbi Kim (MM ’12) is one of seven top prize winners of the respected Astral National Competition. At MSM she was a student of Daniel Epstein. Of the seven winners of this multiple instrument competition, Eunbi was one of three pianists selected as winners.

Eunbi is noted for her “creative curiosity and fearless experimentation” (New York Public Radio). Her most recent album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Classical Charts and featuring world-premiere recordings of works written for her by Angélica Negrón, Pauchi Sasaki, Sophia Jani, and Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). She has performed at the Kennedy Center and Greene Space WNYC/WQXR.

She serves on the Board of Trustees for the New York Foundation for the Arts, and is co-founder of bespoken, a mentorship program for female-identifying and non-binary musicians.

More about the competition here.
More about Eunbi Kim here.

Chromic Duo, comprised of MSM Piano alumni Lucy Yao (MM ’18) and Dorothy Chan (MM ’12), were featured in NIGHTCAP, the New York Philharmonic’s cabaret-style series of music and conversation in the new Kenneth C. Griffin Sidewalk Studio. From Lucy and Dorothy: “Blending toy piano, electronics, and multimedia into genre-fluid performances and installations, we [Chromic Duo] cultivate spaces to share stories inspired by our experiences as third-culture kids within the Asian-American diaspora.”

Chromic Duo’s featured work FROM ROOTS WE CARRY was dedicated to the AAPI community and is a monument and ritual that explores the complex intergenerational legacies that live inside us. The performance also featured MSM Contemporary Performance Program alumna Madeline Hocking (MM ’22, Contemporary Violin).

Learn more about The Chromic Duo and FROM ROOTS WE CARRY here

Learn more about the New York Philharmonic’s NIGHTCAP here

MSM alumnus pianist Kirill Gerstein (BM ’99, MM ’00) talks with The New York Times about the importance of Sergei Rachmaninoff on the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Kirill Gerstein is releasing on April 14 a new account of Rachmaninoff solo works and the Second Piano Concerto, with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Kirill Petrenko.

Read article here.

Estonian conductor, composer, pianist, and prolific recording artist Kristjan Järvi (BM ’95), who has more than 60 albums to his credit, is featured in Estonian World, the most popular English-language Estonian web magazine.

The feature includes a video interview conducted by the Living the Classical Life videocast in which Järvi discusses his immersive experiential musical events that foster unity between audience and performers alike. He also speaks about his musical beginnings within the prominent Järvi dynasty, starting as a pianist while growing up in New York.

Read the article here.

Pianist and MSM alumna Erica (Xiaoyan) Guo (BM ’15), a former student of Solomon Mikowsky at MSM, has been performing as music staff at the Santa Fe Opera this summer in Carmen and Tristan und Isolde. This fall, she joins the Minnesota Opera as a resident artist and principal pianist.

The Chinese-born Ms. Guo has spent over a decade performing internationally as a solo pianist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician. She has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Nymphenburg Palace, and Temppeliaukion Kirkko and Musiikkitalo in Helsinki, Finland.

Now a highly sought after collaborator in both opera and song, her repertoire includes Later the Same Evening, La finta giardiniera, Owen Wingrave, Die Zauberflöte, Falstaff, Partenope, The Bartered Bride, Proving Up, Le nozze di Figaro, and La bohème, as well as an extensive catalog of song repertoire.

Learn more about Erica here.

On June 25, MSM alumnus Kirill Gerstein (BM ’99, MM ’00) performed to a sold-out crowd of more than 32,000 spectators at the Berliner Philharmoniker’s season finale at the Waldbühne outdoors venue in Berlin.

Conducted by Kirill Petrenko, Kirill played Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Rachmaninoff arrangement of the Kreisler “Liebeslied” as an encore.

At MSM, Kirill studied with Solomon Mikowsky.

Learn more about Kirill here.

Classical pianist and MSM alumnus Jason Flowers (BM ’19, MM ’21) recently graduated from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and is now a music instructor. He was interviewed by CBS News New York on June 16, commenting on a recent study that shows children respond well to having a male teacher of color.

“I think when my students look at me, they can see something that they can relate to. They see opportunity,” he told the network.

Watch the news report here.

Learn more about Jason here.

The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has named pianist and professor Chang Hyoung-joon (BM ’86, MM ’88, DMA ’92) the new president of the Seoul Arts Center effective June 17.

Chang will lead the country’s top art complex for the next three years. Located in southern Seoul, the center has attracted more than 55 million visitors since its opening in 1988.

Born in 1962, Chang received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Manhattan School of Music studying with Constance Keene. He has been teaching piano at Seoul National University since 1995.

He has collaborated with world-renowned orchestras such as the London Philharmonic and the Tokyo Philharmonic.

Read more here.

In the series of dozens of essays that comprises Afterthoughts of a Pianist/Teacher: A Collection of Essays and Interviews, author Donald Isler (BM 1973; MM 1975) reflects on more than fifty years’ experience teaching, attending concerts, and living a professional life dedicated to music.

Featured in the book include famous names from the School’s past like Constance Keene, Artur Balsam, and Karl Ulrich Schnabel. There are also chapters and interviews devoted to Arkady Aronov, Efrem Briskin, Michae Davidman, Solomon Mikowsky, Dmitry Rachmanov, Yuan Sheng, and Lisa Yui.

MSM faculty member Lisa Yui writes, “The interviews are informative and observant, the articles witty and self-reflective. Each is fascinating, informative, enlightening—in short, a wonderful read!”

Learn more and purchase the book here.

Dr. Leah Claiborne (BM ’12) was among 48 applicants across the US who are considered “amongst the finest and most creative artists and pedagogues within the music teaching profession today,” according to the Music Teachers National Association that presents the award.

The $10,000 prize is awarded through the generosity of its benefactors and namesakes, Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz.

Dr. Leah Claiborne is an Assistant Professor of Music in the Division of Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of the District of Columbia. Pianist, scholar, and educator, Dr. Claiborne promotes diversity in the arts by championing piano music by black composers in her performances, research, and teaching. In 2017, Dr. Claiborne was the first pianist to be awarded the Rackham Predoc Fellowship at the University of Michigan, which allowed her to further her research in compiling, editing, and recording piano music by black composers.

Learn about the award here.

Kirill Gerstein, along with fellow pianist Garrick Ohlsson, will play two-piano show pieces by Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Thomas Adès on Friday, February 25th at 7:30 pm. 

Pablo Sainz-Villegas will perform “The Soul of the Spanish Guitar” a recital that will feature works by Albéniz, Granados, Rodrigo and others on Saturday, April 2nd at 8 pm.

Along with the Brentano String Quartet, Dawn Upshaw will present An exploration of the mythological Dido –  music by Purcell, Dowland and others; NY premiere of Melinda Wagner’s Dido Reimagined on Sunday, April 3rd at 3 pm.

The competition process for the American Pianists Award began this spring and will culminate on June 25-27 with solo performances along with chamber music recitals with the Dover Quartet on June 25 at 8 PM ET and concerto finals with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on June 26 at 8 PM.

The winner will receive the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship, consisting of career assistance for two years, publicity, performance engagements, an Artist-in-Residence post, and a recording contract with Steinway & Sons record label.

All five finalists receive a cash prize of $50,000.

Watch the performances on June 26 here.

Watch an interview with Dominic on the American Pianists Association Facebook page here.

A musical event at the World Trade Center Oculus today celebrating Make Music Day features the world premiere performance of music from Childhood, an album of 10 piano pieces newly published on Universal Edition, composed by the British Korean composer-pianist Hyung-ki Joo (BM ’93, MM ’99). Eight pianists from Manhattan School of Music are taking part in the performance.

In addition to being a composer-pianist, Hyung-ki Joo is a Steinway artist and one half of the comedy-musical duo Igudesman & Joo.

Learn more about the Hyung here.
Learn more about the event at the World Trade Center Oculus here.

Classically-trained Dabin Ryu (MM ’20) is an award-winning pianist from Seoul, South Korea, who has been playing piano since the age of 3. She wrote, produced, and arranged all of the 10 songs on her debut album “Wall” released on June 1, 2021.

“The entire album is marked by Ryu’s passionate and thoughtful approach to music-making,” writes Dodie Miller-Gould in Lemonwire in a review of the album which can be found here.

Dabin’s website describes the compositions as “(they) settle within the jazz tradition, yet refuse the conventional instrumentations of a traditional jazz album. In this album, she captures the traces her life-long practice of music have left on her.”

Listen to and purchase “Wall” here.

In a wide-reaching interview with Piano Magazine, pianist Kirill Gerstein (BM ’99, MM ’00) details some of his thoughts on commissioning new music, the influence recordings can have on interpretation, and his newest collaboration with mentor Ferenc Rados.

Read the interview here.

On June 27th, the winner of the American Pianists Awards will receive the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship, valued at more than $100,000.

The five finalists have each recorded a private adjudicated recital with WFYI TV in Indianapolis. The recitals begin broadcasting May 23rd for five consecutive Sunday afternoons via multiple platforms including radio, Facebook and YouTube. The five pianists will return to Indianapolis for the finals in front of live audiences June 25-27.

See performance schedule and learn more about Dominic here.

Classical pianist and MSM alumnus Po-Wei Ger, a former student of MSM faculty member Solomon Mikoswky, won second place at this year’s International Piano Competition Premio Jaén held in the city of Jaén in the Andalusia region Spain. He also won the highly-coveted Audience prize and Chamber Music prize (photo above of Po-Wei being presented the Chamber Music award).

Founded in 1953, the competition is the oldest of its kind in Spain. It has a demanding repertoire and requires contestants show a deep understanding of Spanish music.

Seven previous students of Simon Mikowsky to win Premio Jaén awards include Inesa Sinkevych and Chun Wang who have won first place, Yuan Sheng who placed second, and Jung-Eun Lee, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez, Jovianney Emmanuel Cruz, and Jingjing Wang who have all won third.

Conductor Kelly Kuo, who received a masters degree in piano studies at MSM in 1998,  joins the ALT’s leadership team as they launch a slate of programs under the umbrella of the Opera Writers Diversity and Representation Initiative (OWDARI), as part of an ongoing commitment by the ALT to mentor the next generation of operatic writers.

In this role, Kelly will share artistic and curatorial responsibilities with ALT’s founder, Lawrence Edelson.

Learn more about the appointment here.

Alumnus Marlon Daniel (BM ’93, classical piano) discusses the music of Chevalier de Saint-Georges and systematic racism in classical music with David Salazar in this article released today from Opera Wire.

Salazar writes, “Few artists have dedicated themselves to championing the works of composers of African and African American descent the way that conductor Marlon Daniel has.” Daniel has performed new works by such composers as Fred Onovwerosuoke, Dominique Le Gendre, and MSM alumnus Adolphus Hailstork (BM ’65, MM ’66, HonDMA ’19), among others.

Learn more about Marlon Daniel and view his upcoming engagements on his website.

Carrie-Ann Matheson (PS ’00) will begin her new position with the San Francisco Opera Center in January 2021. She is currently a conductor, pianist and coach with the Zurich Opera where she has been since 2014. Prior to that she was on music staff at the Metropolitan Opera for some eleven years after her training in the Lindemann Young Artist program there.

For more than 30 years, San Francisco Opera Center has nurtured young artists from around the world through its celebrated training programs.

“This is a very exciting day for San Francisco Opera, and I am thrilled about (this appointment),” says Matthew Shilvock, Tad and Dianne Taube General Director of the San Francisco Opera.