September 15, 2025

Several hundred new students joined Manhattan School of Music this fall, and many of them gathered late last month during Orientation in Neidorff-Karpati Hall where they were welcomed by MSM leadership.

Melissa Cocco-Fernandes, Vice President for Enrollment Management, shared an interesting snapshot of who is part of this new contingent of MSM’ers, including students from 35 countries around the world, a Rubik’s Cube champion, circus performers, improv comedians, and 60 musicians back for a second or third MSM degree.

Learn more in Melissa’s welcoming address, shared here:

“Welcome to Manhattan School of Music and to your new home. You join a global community of MSM students, faculty, staff, and alumni with a long tradition of musical excellence and of making our communities and world better, more just, and music-enriched. This is a moment of great optimism and potential as you begin a transformative chapter of your education and life.

We all look forward to seeing you flourish, and we are here to support you during your time at MSM. Here’s a little bit about you!

• More than 3,300 applications were received for admission this year to welcome 420 new students for fall 2025
• 150 of you are starting your undergraduate studies at MSM
• 220 of you are starting a Master of Music
• 40 are starting a Diploma program
• 12 will start the Doctor of Musical Arts
• 60 of you are returning for a second (or third) MSM degree.
• 210 of you are from the United States, coming from 33 states, with the largest representation from New York, California, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, Texas, and Illinois.
• 210 of you are from 35 different countries across the globe! The most represented homelands in your class are Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Turkey, and Hong Kong.
• Be sure to extend a friendly “hello” to students from countries where just one student is represented: Azerbaijan, Colombia, Cuba, Greece, Haiti, India, Iran, Kosovo, Kuwait, Macau, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, and Thailand.
• 82% of you are in the Classical Performance Division (including our Orchestral Studies and Contemporary Performance programs)
• 12% of you are in the Jazz Arts Division
• 6% of you are on the path to Broadway

You are exceptionally well-trained musicians, in the traditional sense of musical excellence, and you have engaged with your communities and developed your own personal narrative in ways that reflect artistic excellence at this moment in time.

Did you know that the incoming class of 2025 includes musicians who have toured the globe with orchestras and chamber ensembles such as the National Youth Orchestra and Imani Winds, and attended renowned festivals such as Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West, Bowdoin Music Festival, and Interlochen Arts Camp. You have competed in and won international competitions and played at some of the most iconic venues around the world.

Not only are you highly accomplished musicians and Grammy winners, but you are seasoned academic researchers, and teachers; you have created interdisciplinary projects combining music with painting and 3D visual art, and you have arranged innovative performances like a big band tribute to Beyoncé.

Among you are:

• circus performers
• a Rubik’s Cube regional champion
• Pageant titleholders
• improv comedians
• activists for social causes, animal rights, and the environment.
• There are avid sport enthusiasts among you, ranging from Taekwondo Black Belts to figure skaters, black-diamond skiers, gymnasts, and lifeguards. We may need to start the MSM Athletic Department this year!

I want to congratulate you on making the decision to attend MSM. At MSM, you will be mentored by world-renowned performers and educators. Your home will be in a vibrant neighborhood of New York City, where the West Harlem and Morningside Heights neighborhoods meet on the indigenous lands of the Lenape and Wappinger, past and present.

Your home will be in New York City, a cultural capital of the world, with access to some of the finest performing arts organizations and artists, including the faculty that you will be mentored by.

Your home is now this community of exceptional musicians, artist-citizens, and people. You are the present and the future of music. Seize this opportunity. I look forward to seeing how you step on to this MSM path that now rises to meet you.”