February 4, 2026

Bin Yu Sanford and Weicong Zhang are acclaimed international artists who bring a wealth of experience to the next generation of young artists at MSM.

NEW YORK, February 4, 2026 – Renowned international music conservatory Manhattan School of Music (MSM) today announced two new Collaborative Piano faculty appointments, part of the School’s prestigious Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano Division. The newly appointed faculty – Bin Yu Sanford and Weicong Zhang (MM ’00, DMA ’07) – will join MSM as incoming faculty for the 2026 fall semester.

“We enthusiastically welcome these accomplished artist-teachers to MSM’s distinguished Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano faculty,” says MSM Executive Vice President and Provost Joyce Griggs. “And in the case of Weicong, a distinguished double alumna of MSM, we are welcoming her back home. Both Bin Yu and Weicong have rich backgrounds as performers and educators, and they have each expressed outlooks that strongly align with MSM’s dedication to fostering excellence and providing a rich, supportive educational environment that values students’ creative risk-taking.”

Bin Yu Sanford maintains a distinguished career as a soloist, collaborative pianist, vocal coach, and member of the music staff at major opera companies, with professional activity encompassing the US, Asia, and South America. Her recent performance engagements include Carnegie Hall, Opera America Salutes, and the Salzburg Festival Society Gala, and she regularly serves as guest music staff at San Francisco Opera and Los Angeles Opera. Collaborating and coaching with emerging artists through leading young artist programs, Sanford has worked at LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, Wolf Trap Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Weicong Zhang, who earned both her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from MSM, is a collaborative pianist, chamber musician, recording artist, and educator who has performed and taught internationally across North America and Asia. She has collaborated with an impressive list of renowned artists, including Emmanuel Pahud, Pierre Amoyal, Nobuko Imai, Ning Feng, Teng Li, Win-Sinn Yang, Ian Swensen, Nancy Zhou, and Paolo Taballione, performing at major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Shanghai Concert Hall. She has given master classes at conservatories and universities around the world, including at MSM, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Auckland University School of Music, and leading conservatories across China. She is currently Guest Professor of Instrumental Accompanying and Chamber Music at the Tianjin Juilliard School.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bin Yu and Weicong to Manhattan School of Music,” says MSM Dean of Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano Carleen Graham. “Both of these deeply qualified artist-teachers bring a rich wealth of experience to their new roles as Collaborative Piano faculty, adding yet more luster and excellence to a program that challenges and nurtures autonomous artistry and empowers students to confidently forge their own paths. I am so excited to welcome them both in time for the Fall 2026 semester.”

Individual bios and 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 BIN YU SANFORD

Korean-born pianist Bin Yu Sanford maintains an international career as a soloist, collaborative pianist, vocal coach, and member of the music staff at major opera companies, with professional activity encompassing the United States, Asia, and South America. Her recent performance engagements include Carnegie Hall, Opera America Salutes, the Salzburg Festival Society Gala, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Cullen Theater in Houston, and Houston Grand Opera’s Giving Voice concert series.

Serving as guest music staff, Sanford regularly works at San Francisco Opera and Los Angeles Opera. Her professional appointments extend to Houston Grand Opera, Atlanta Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She has assisted conductors such as James Conlon, Dame Jane Glover, Domingo Hindoyan, Eun Sun Kim, and Patrick Summers. Collaborating and coaching with emerging artists through leading young artist programs, Sanford has enjoyed time working at LA Opera’s Domingo–Colburn–Stein Young Artist Program, Wolf Trap Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and Houston Grand Opera’s Sarah and Ernest Butler Studio, Sanford holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and an Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. She earned her previous degrees in Piano Performance from Seoul National University and West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Her teachers include James Tocco, Marie-France Lefebvre, Carl Cranmer, Aviram Reichert, and Sun-Kyung Lee.

ABOUT WEICONG ZHANG

Dr. Weicong Zhang – collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and educator – has performed and taught internationally across North America and Asia. She is Guest Professor of Instrumental Accompanying and Chamber Music at the Tianjin Juilliard School and previously served as Professor of Piano Performance and Chamber Music at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music from 2007 to 2021.

She has collaborated with renowned artists including Emmanuel Pahud, Pierre Amoyal, Nobuko Imai, Ning Feng, Teng Li, Wen-Sinn Yang, Ian Swensen, Nancy Zhou, and Paolo Taballione, performing at major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Shanghai

Concert Hall. Her festival appearances include the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Morningside Music Bridge, Shanghai Conservatory Cello Festival, Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, Heifetz Institute, and the Piatigorsky Seminar.

Dr. Zhang has given master classes at conservatories and universities around the world, including Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Auckland University School of Music, and leading conservatories across China. Her students have been admitted to programs at MSM, NEC, SFCM, Eastman, and Mannes, and many now hold teaching positions in China and the United States.

Her recordings include Brahms Sonatas for Piano and Violin with Yang Xu, Franck & Debussy Violin Sonatas with Ning Feng. Her honors include prizes at the Arthur Balsam Duo Competition and the East & West Artists International Audition. She has also served as studio pianist for legendary artists such as Kyung Wha Chung and Pinchas Zukerman. Dr. Zhang earned both her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Collaborative Piano from Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Dr. Heasook Rhee. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin and completed her early piano studies at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. 

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.