February 23, 2022

MSM is very happy to announce the appointment of two new Collaborative Piano faculty members. They are both members of the Metropolitan Opera artistic staff, joining a third, the recently appointed Grammy-nominated Myra Huang.

Manhattan School of Music (MSM) welcomes two supremely accomplished alumni to its Collaborative Piano faculty this month. The appointments of Thomas Lausmann (PS ’00), the Met Opera’s Director of Music Administration, and Bryan Wagorn (DMA ’13), Met Opera Assistant Conductor, are effective immediately and mark the third member of the Met Opera Artistic staff to join MSM’s Collaborative Piano department this academic year. The appointment of Grammy-nominated Myra Huang (MM ’01), Head of Music for the Met Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, was announced in November 2021.

Beginning in fall 2022, Mr. Lausmann, Mr. Wagorn, and Ms. Huang will join Kenneth Merrill, Thomas Muraco, John Forconi, and Haesook Rhee in what is undeniably a world-class program at the School.

With the newly expanded roster of faculty in Collaborative Piano, MSM continues to build a new vision for training young artists, one that ensures a cohesive learning environment, extending from the teaching studio to the foundational collaboration that is at the core of the relationship between singer, collaborative pianists, and music coaches.

“The Collaborative Piano department supports many other divisions within the School, perhaps most significantly, Vocal Arts,” says MSM Executive Vice President and Provost Joyce Griggs. “Thomas and Bryan, along with Myra, our newest additions to the department, will bring their impressive achievements as performing artists and educators to the task of preparing their students for the professional world, encouraging enthusiastic engagement with a rich diversity of repertoire.”

For Mr. Lausmann, who was appointed to Director of Music Administration at the Met in 2019, his achievements include a tenure as Head of Music at the Vienna State Opera from 2013 to 2019, an ongoing role as regular pianist with the Vienna Philharmonic, and close ties with the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals. In Bayreuth, he assisted conductor Christian Thielemann on productions of the Ring, Tristan und Isolde, Tannhäuser, and The Flying Dutchman, and in Salzburg, he assisted Franz Welser-Möst on productions of Salome and Elektra.

“In a sense, this return to MSM, just up Broadway from the Met Opera and my responsibilities there, brings my career full circle,” says Mr. Lausmann. “MSM’s ongoing embrace of and commitment to the foundational synergies between its Vocal Arts and Collaborative piano divisions, is very exciting; I look forward to playing a role in deepening that connection and nurturing a new and diverse generation of collaborative artists.”

In addition to his role as Assistant Conductor at the Met Opera, Mr. Wagorn regularly performs throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist to the world’s leading singers and instrumentalists. Among the long list of artists with whom he has collaborated are Angel Blue, Anthony Roth Costanzo (MM ’08), Lise Davidsen, Eric Owens, Nadine Sierra, Karita Mattila, Joyce DiDonato, the New York Woodwind Quintet, and members of the Met Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony. He performed as pianist in the Met’s Grammy-winning production of Porgy and Bess and the Met’s production of Fire Shut Up in My Bones.

“I am so pleased to be returning to MSM, which provided such a strong foundation in my artistic development,” says Mr. Wagorn. “I’m especially looking forward to joining my accomplished faculty colleagues in MSM’s Collaborative Piano department and to participating in reinforcing the essential partnership of singer and pianist.”

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to welcome back Thomas and Bryan to Manhattan School of Music,” says MSM President James Gandre, “and pleased that they will be joining their Met Opera colleague and fellow MSM graduate, Myra Huang, in the School’s tremendously successful Collaborative Piano department.”