November 12, 2026

MSM’s fifth annual Founder’s Day will mark the 143rd anniversary of founder Janet Schenck’s birth with a concert built from works tied to her story and to the School’s history.

The Sunday, November 22, concert will take place in Miller Recital Hall at 6:30 pm and will be performed by MSM students, faculty, and alumni.

No tickets required; seating is first come, first seated.

MSM founder Janet Daniels Schenck led the School for more than four decades until her retirement in 1956.

2026 concert celebration highlights:

• The repertoire was specially chosen for its connections to Janet Schenck’s life and to MSM;
• Kayla Thomas (BM ’25), Assistant Director of Admission and a 2025 recipient of the Janet D. Schenck Award, will offer remarks;
• Special program notes by MSM historian John Blanchard take an unusual form: a birthday letter to Janet herself;
• Custom-made and commissioned model replicas will be on display, showing iterations of the original buildings on East 105th Street;
• A 13-minute video about the School’s founding will be on view on all main floor monitors throughout the day;
• In advance of Founder’s Day, the MSM Interstaff Committee will host another “Schenck & Sip” on Thursday, November 19, following the success of last year’s event.

Performers

Subject to change; in alphabetical order: 

• Mina Azad (MM ’26, PS ’27), mezzo-soprano
• Susan Botti (MM ’90), soprano, composition faculty
• Angel Guanga (MM ’27), violin
• Justin Jay Hines (MM ’98), percussion, CCRCI faculty
• Chenyi Hu (BM ’25, MM ’27), cello
• Narmina Ismayilova (MM ’28), piano
• Chorong Kim (MM ’19, PS ’20, DMA candidate), piano
• Daniel Kirk-Foster (MM ’90), piano
• Jin-Hee Lee (MM ’28), soprano
• Sewon Lim (MM ’25, PPD ’27) piano
• Leo Martinez (MM ’27), CPP double bass
• Tamazi Mzhavanadze (BM ’26, MM ’28), piano
• Nicole Razhanskiy (BM ’28), violin
• Emma Taggart (MM ’25), piano
• Yuejiamin Ying (MM ’24, PPD ’26, DMA Candidate), piano

Institutional Historian and Director of Archives John K. Blanchard (MM ’89) has curated the program with assistance from faculty members Susan Botti, Ruth Golden, Justin Hines, Alexandre Moutouzkine, Heasook Rhee, Lucie Robert, and Inesa Sinkevych.

If you have questions about MSM’s Founder’s Day tradition or wish to discuss future activities in Dr. Schenck’s honor, please be in touch with John Blanchard (MM ’89), Institutional Historian and Director of Archives, at jblanchard@msmnyc.edu.

A 1970 painting by John Koch of Dr. Schenck, part of the Founder’s Day exhibit in the Library