March 20, 2026

NEWS RELEASE

Beginning in the 2026–27 academic year, the internationally acclaimed musician and educator will bring a wealth of experience to the next generation of young artists at MSM.

NEW YORK, March 20, 2026 – Renowned international music conservatory Manhattan School of Music (MSM) today announced its newest Collaborative Piano faculty appointment, part of the School’s prestigious Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano division. Michał Biel follows the appointments of Bin Yu Sanford and Weicong Zhang (MM ’00, DMA ’07), whose appointments to the same division were announced in January. Mr. Biel will join MSM as incoming faculty, and all three new faculty are currently accepting applications for the 2026 fall semester.

“I’m delighted to announce this appointment and enthusiastically welcome Michał to MSM’s distinguished Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano faculty,” says MSM Executive Vice President and Provost Joyce Griggs. “As an educator, Michał draws from a deep well of professional artistry, including frequent performances in concert halls around the world, as well as his work as a pianist and coach with multiple eminent institutions. He will be a wonderful addition to the collaborative piano faculty and MSM Community.”

Mr. Biel has kept up an impressive international schedule, having performed in concert halls such as Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Berliner Philharmonie, and, here in New York, Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls. He has appeared in recital on the main stages of Oper Frankfurt, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra National du Rin, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Opéra de Lille, and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia.

His work as a pianist/coach, has taken him to the Juilliard School, the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, and the Chautauqua Institution School of Music, and he has served on the chamber music faculty of the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. Since 2020, he has been teaching singers and pianists at the Opera Academy at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw, where he has also appeared in recital.

“We are thrilled to welcome Michał to Manhattan School of Music,” says MSM Dean of Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano Carleen Graham. “He is a wonderful musician and an accomplished educator, who brings a wealth of experience to his new role on MSM’s Collaborative Piano faculty. Along with recent appointments Bin Yu Sanford and Weicong Zhang, he will add yet more luster to a program that challenges and nurtures autonomous artistry and empowers students to forge their own paths. I’m thrilled that he will be joining us in time for the Fall 2026 semester.”

Mr. Biel’s bio as well as information about Manhattan School of Music can be found below.

For further information, please contact Katharine Burns, Marketing and Public Relations Manager, at jbreithaupt@msmnyc.edu or (917) 493-4702.

ABOUT MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, today MSM is recognized for its more than 1,000 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students who come from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states; its innovative curricula and world-renowned artist-teacher faculty that includes musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway communities; and a distinguished community of accomplished, award-winning alumni working at the highest levels of the musical, educational, cultural, and professional worlds.

The School is dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of aspiring musicians, from its Precollege students through those pursuing doctoral studies. Offering classical, jazz, and musical theatre training, MSM grants a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. True to MSM’s origins as a music school for children, the Precollege Division is a professionally oriented Saturday music program dedicated to the musical and personal growth of talented young musicians ages 8 to 18. The School also serves some 2,000 New York City schoolchildren through its Arts-in-Education Program, and another 2,000 students through its critically acclaimed Distance Learning Program.

ABOUT MICHAŁ BIEL

Pianist and tutor Michał Biel has frequently performed in concert halls around the world including Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berliner Philharmonie, and Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls in New York. He has also appeared in recital on the main stages of Oper Frankfurt, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra National du Rhin, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Opéra de Lille, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, and the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw. These performances are often alongside countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński, with whom he also has appeared at such festivals as Verbier, LIFE Victoria Barcelona, and the Pierre Cardin Festival de Lacoste.

As pianist/coach, Michał has worked with singers at the Department of Vocal Arts at the Juilliard School, the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, and The Chautauqua Institution School of Music. Michał has served on the chamber music faculty of the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, and since 2020, he has been teaching singers and pianists at the Opera Academy at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw.

Michał’s competition achievements include an award for Outstanding Young Pianist at the Stanisław Moniuszko International Vocal Competition, Best Young Accompanist at Le Grand Prix de l’Opéra in Bucharest, Outstanding Accompaniment at the Ludomir Różycki National Vocal Competition in Gliwice, and, along with bass Alexander Rosen, 2nd prize at the International Hugo Wolf Song Competition.

Michał and Alexander’s participation at the Orsay-Royaumont Academy culminated in the release of the Le Promenoir Des Amants, an album of collected recordings by students of the Academy. Michał later released two full albums: Kraina, an album of Polish songs with soprano Alexandra Nowakowski; and Farewells, recorded with Jakub Józef Orliński in Dolby Atmos technology (nominated for the Fryderyki award for Best Polish Album Abroad and winner of an Opus Klassik Award). Michał’s performances have also been broadcast on Medici.tv, Arte.tv, BBC Radio 3, TVP Kultura and Program 2 on Polish Radio.

Michał is a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Brian Zeger, Margo Garrei, Jonathan Feldman, and J.J. Penna. Prior, he studied with Eytan Pesen at the Opera Academy at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw, and Andrzej Jasiński and Grzegorz Biegas at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music.

The 2025–26 season sees the release of Michał and Jakub’s latest album, If Music…, shortly followed by a recital tour across Europe and Asia.

MSM LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Manhattan School of Music acknowledges that we gather on the traditional land of the Lenape and Wappinger past and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. This calls us to commit to continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit as well.