Church Street School for Music and Art’s Director of Programs and longtime faculty member Dr. Tereza Lee (BM ’05, MM ’07, PS ’10, DMA ’20) will be honored at the school’s upcoming annual gala, “THE EVENT,” on Monday, March 9, at the Roxy Hotel in Manhattan’s Tribeca area.
Born in Brazil to parents displaced by the Korean War, Lee grew up undocumented and impoverished in inner-city Chicago. After earning a full scholarship to the Merit School of Music as a teenager, she won notable regional competitions but was initially barred from college due to her status. With the advocacy of Merit Director Ann Monaco and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Lee became the namesake of the “Tereza Lee Bill,” which enabled her to attend college (at MSM) and later informed the DREAM Act. Dr. Lee is now an esteemed musician, educator, and immigration activist, as well as a U.S. Citizen and mother of three.
Click here to view the event flyer and to learn more about Dr. Lee.
MSM classical composition alumnus and software engineer Luis Andrei Cobo (BM ’94, MM ’96) has developed an application, called “Nerves of Steel: Focus Trainer,” for the purpose of preparing its users for the distractions that inevitably transpire during performances and auditions.
The app simulates multiple types of distractions, and of variable frequency. The app has two modes: Practice Mode adds controlled, randomized distractions so users can recover quickly, while Performance Mode creates a virtual concert space where users can run their performance program in a realistic, audience-like environment, before hitting the stage.
Click here to learn more about Nerves of Steel. Click here to learn more about Luis.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters has given awards to 20 recipients of its 2026 Awards in Music to honor both established and emerging composers. The 300 members of Arts and Letters nominate candidates for awards, and a rotating committee of composer members selects the winners.
MSM Classical Composition faculty member Ashkan Behzadi (in photo on left), along with three other musicians, have each received an Arts and Letters Award of $10,000. The award acknowledges composers who have arrived at their own voice, and an additional $10,000 grant is given to each winner to be used toward a recording of one work.
MSM alumnus Rand Steiger (BM ’80) (in photo on right) received the Otto and Catherine Brunson Luening Award of $20,000 each for two composers who have not yet been accorded due recognition.
For more information on the American Academy of Arts and Letters, please visit this link.
MSM Vocal Arts alumni Shelén Hughes Camacho (BM ’18, MM ’20), soprano (in photo on right), and Haolun Zhang (MM ’24), countertenor (on left) have advanced to the semi-finals of the respected The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, which take place on March 15.
The competition discovers promising young opera singers and helps boost their careers; some of today’s greatest singers got their start with it.
Learn more here.
MSM alumnus and baritone Kyle Miller (MM ’07) will be performing the role of Papageno in The Magic Flute taking place at LA Opera from May 30 to June 21, 2026.
More about Kyle Miller here.
MSM Trustee and classical piano alumnus Dr. Scott Dunn (MM ’97) released two albums in January. The first was Scott Dunn: Hollywood Film Music, Vol 1, released on January 16 on the Platoon label, and features music Scott and the Scott Dunn Orchestra performed recently in their Hollywood Modernists program at The Wallis Beverly Hills. The album was recorded in October 2024 at Air Studios in London, with Scott and the Britten Sinfonia performing his arrangements and original scores of some of the finest Hollywood film music.
On January 23, a second album was released, featuring Scott on solo piano, performing his own arrangements for much of the same repertoire of the symphonic recording.
On January 17 at The Wallis Beverly Hills, the Scott Dunn Orchestra performed the music of iconic films of the ’70s such as Star Wars, The Godfather (I & II), Chinatown, The Sting, Diamonds are Forever, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, and Murder on the Orient Express.
For more information visit Scott’s website here.
Lecolion Washington (MM ’01) is the Executive Director of the Community Music Center of Boston. Writes Musical America: “With over 20 years as a performing bassoonist, 15 years as a music professor, and 10 years as an arts administrator, Lecolion Washington has been ‘paying it forward’ at the helm of the century-old Community Music Center of Boston. CMCB reports impacting over 3,000 students from pre-school to seniors every week — the largest external arts education provider to the Boston Public Schools.”
Read more here.
Operatic tenor Jonathan Tetelman (BM ’11) and jazz guitarist/NY Yankees Legend Bernie Williams (BM ‘16) headline an ambitious concert produced by All-Star Encore.
The two stars will be joined by 16 additional MSM alumni and current students in an expansive program uniting opera and jazz, music and sports, talented students and seasoned professionals.
“It’s so wonderful to see two distinguished representatives of MSM’s alumni community headlining this multi-faceted program,” says Manhattan School of Music President James Gandre, “not just because Jonathan and Bernie—and all those who will be joining them onstage—are exemplary talents, but because this very special evening will celebrate the intersection of music and sport, and the areas of skill, artistry, and determination that are common to high-achieving musicians and athletes. Of course, in Bernie Williams, the evening spotlights a pillar of excellence in both worlds.”
More info in our news release here.
On December 29 in Prague, Czech Republic, MSM alumnus Chase Park (PPD ’25; AD ’26) performed the Antonin Kraft (a contemporary of Mozart and Haydn) Cello Concerto in C Major, Op 4 with the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at Smetana Hall.
MSM President James Gandre met up with Chase after the performance (photo above).
MSM alumnus Seth Schultheis has won first prize at the 2025 Deutsche Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn.
Seth studied at the Manhattan School of Music for many years. He completed his precollege training and began his undergraduate studies under the guidance of Philip Kawin, and later completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky. He is currently based in London.
“He is regarded as one of the most outstanding piano students to have emerged from MSM, and his recent international success is a powerful reflection of both his artistry and his training at the school,” says MSM faculty member Jiayin Li.
More about Seth Schultheis here.
In its list of “Best of the City: The 11 best things Time Out New York editors saw, ate and visited in 2025” Time Out magazine chose MSM alumna Jasmine Amy Rogers (‘19) the “Breakout Theater Star of the Year,” saying she had a “blazing star energy” playing the lead role in Boop! The Musical on Broadway for which she was nominated for Best Actress at the TONY awards.
Jasmine is currently a lead performer in the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee —its run has been extended to April 12, 2026. She will also be part of Oklahoma! in Concert at Carnegie Hall on January 12 with MSM alumni Jonathan Tetelman (BM ‘11) and Bernie Williams (BM ‘16.)
Read the Time Out “Best of the City” list here. Read about the January 12 Carnegie Hall concert here.
The New York Times recently listed the New York Philharmonic musical festival Sound On as one of the “Best Classical Performances of 2025” and chose the NY Phil’s performance in January 2025 of Pierre Boulez’s Pli Selon Pli, singling out “the radiant soprano Jana McIntyre in her Philharmonic debut.” Jana McIntyre graduated with a Masters Degree from MSM’s Vocal Arts program in 2016.
Jana will be performing December 18, 19, and 20 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cedar Rapids Opera on January 16 and 18, and the Detroit Opera on March 1, 5 and 7.
More about Jana McIntyre here.
MSM Precollege alumnus Charlie Puth will be singing the National Anthem in the pre-game show of the Superbowl on February 8. Also performing will be Brandi Carlile and Coco Jones.
In comments on his social media platforms, Charlie Puth says “We’re putting a really special arrangement together — in D major. It’ll be one of my best vocal performances.”
More information here.
MSM alumnus Shuler Hensley (BM ‘90, HonDMA ‘14) is one of the lead actors in the critically praised musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth by Obie Award-winning playwright and songwriter Ethan Lipton and two-time Tony nominee director Leigh Silverman taking place at the Public Theatre in New York. The Seat of Our Pants runs at NYC’s Public Theater through December 7.
In photo above, Shuler wears a Manhattan School of Music T-shirt posing with MSM President Jim Gandre after a performance on November 30.
Read The New York Times review of the production here.
“At 95, David Amram Still Makes Music. And Nobody Can Put Him in a Box,” writes The New York Times.“Jazz, classical, folk, world music—for this composer, categories were never confining.”
“Amram is a composer, musician, author, conductor and boundlessly connected collaborator who has been cheerfully ignoring musical categories since the 1940s. His output includes jazz tunes, symphonies, operas, film scores, theater music, off-the-cuff talking blues and idiom-hopping folk-festival performances where he’s likely to play piano, pennywhistle and percussion.”
“Amram moved to New York City in 1955, where he was hired by (Charles) Mingus, studied composition at the Manhattan School of Music and fell in with Beat Generation writers and artists.”
Read the full article here.
On November 20, baritone Joseph Parrish, from Baltimore, and MSM alumna Shelén Hughes Camacho (MM ‘20), from Bolivia, who are partners in life, opened the season for the New York Festival of Song at the Kaufman Music Centre with the performance South America, North America, a Love Story, alongside Steven Blier and Amir Farid.
“This program is close to our hearts—it celebrates the music and poetry that shaped us, weaving together works from Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Appalachia, Spirituals, Bernstein, and beyond,” said Shelén told MSM President Jim Gandre before the performance. “It’s truly a journey across the Americas, full of warmth, humor, and the joy of connection through song.”
More about the performance here.
In photo above, MSM alumnus and trustee Anthony Roth Costanzo (MM ‘08) (on left) poses with (in middle) his teacher at MSM Joan Patenaude-Yarnel and MSM President Jim Gandre at the Voices of Ascension Gala on November 19.
Anthony Roth Costanzo—Countertenor and Producer; General Director and President, Opera Philadelphia; Artistic Director, SongStudio at Carnegie Hall—was honored at the evening event. One of the performers taking part was MSM faculty member and alumnus, cellist Tommy Mesa (DMA ‘17).
On November 9 and 16, MSM alumna Kelly Hall-Tompkins (MM ’95, HonDMA ’17) performed the Wynton Marsalis Violin Concerto with Bnagor Symphony Orchestra (BSO) Music Director Lucas Richman and the Bangor Symphony. Before the concert, Kelly took part in a pre-concert interview with Lucas Richman and BSO Executive Director Renia Shterenberg; Kelly was interviewed by Maine Public Radio about the concert.
Kelly Hall-Tompkins will be touring with the North Netherlands Symphony in Leeuwarden, Groningen, and Utrecht from November 27 to 29.
Listen to the Maine Public Radio interview here. Listen to the pre-concert interview here.
Classical piano alumna Isabel Dobarro (PS ’13) is the winner of a 2025 Latin Grammy award in the Best Classical Album category: Her solo album Kaleidoscope – Contemporary Piano Music By Female Composers From Around The World, was produced by Javier Monteverde and released on the Grand Piano label (Naxos subsidiary) in October 2024. Isabel studied with Solomon Mikowsky at MSM.
The 26th Latin Grammy Awards were held on November 13 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Click here to view Kaleidoscope and to learn more about Isabel. Click here for the full list of nominees.
The premiere of a new composition by MSM Percussion alumnus James Larter (MM ‘18) Toros: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra took place at the Sinfonia Smith Square in Westminster, London (formerly St John’s Smith Square) on November 6.
A review in musicOMH, a London-based online music magazine, called the concerto “a hugely approachable work, inspired by the paintings of Pablo Picasso and the writing of Pablo Neruda… here was a modern chamber orchestra really leaning into the idiom with joy and class…Larter’s performance, of course, was magnificent – necessarily athletic (the instruments covered at least 10 metres from end to end), it was also ferociously accurate, and full of nuance.”
“I would like to extend my warmest thanks to all those who attended the world premiere of ‘Toros’ Percussion Concerto… (and) a special thanks to City Music Foundation and donors who made this happen, and the wonderful Frederick Waxman, and Sinfonia Smith Square,” James Larter posted in a newsletter following the performance.
More about James Larter here. Watch excerpts from the premiere here.
MSM composition alumnus Giovanni Piacentini (MM ’13) was nominated for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” in the 2025 Latin GRAMMY Awards. The guitar concerto, entitled El Llanto De La Guitarra features the legendary Eliot Fisk and Mexico’s renowned Orquestra de Escuela Carlos Chávez, under the direction of maestro Eduardo García Barrios.
Click here to learn more about Giovanni and this concerto recording.
The 26th Latin GRAMMYs will take place tomorrow night at 8 p.m. EST at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be televised by Univision, UNIMÁS, ViX and Galavisión. Click here for more information and the full list of nominees.
MSM Musical Theatre alumna Sarah Thorn (BM ‘21) is the understudy for several roles in the off-Broadway production of This World of Tomorrow: Cyndee/Woman Cashier/”ELMA”/Sylvia/Honoria/Late-Night Cabbie.
This World of Tomorrow is a new play featuring Tom Hanks and Kelli O’Hara that opened in late October at the non-profit cultural center The Shed in Hudson Yards, located at 535 West 30th St. The closing date is Dec 21. The play is the story of a disenchanted scientist from the future written by Tom Hanks and James Glossman based on short stories written by Tom Hanks, and directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun, Fences).
Earlier this year, Sarah Thorn was an ensemble member of the Broadway production of Othello starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Regionally in the U.S., she has received two BroadwayWorld nominations (Best Leading Actress in a Musical; Performer of the Decade) for Sally Bowles in Cabaret with Peregrine Theatre Ensemble.
More about the production here. More about Sarah Thorn here.
Classical pianist Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (DMA ’08) recently became the recipient of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Arts and Music Award from the Pilsudski Institute of America. Its namesake was a pianist, composer, and statesman who was a champion of Poland’s Independence and signatory of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I.
To Magdalena, the award represents “the passing of the torch of our great ancestors…The award expresses a shared pride in our heritage, rich history, and beautiful culture which builds bridges of communication and mutual understanding.”
This Thursday (November 6), she will perform The Banquet Concerto and The Triple Resurrection by the Oscar-winning Chinese-American composer Tan Dun in Greece with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of the composer. In addition to her performance career, Magdalena is both Director of the Music Performance Program and a Senior Lecturer in Music at Columbia University. She was a student of Constance Keene at MSM.
Click here to learn more about Magdalena and the upcoming concerto performance. Click here to view the Pilsudski Institute’s 2025 Awards Gala program.
During the Covid 19 lockdown, MSM alumna Harriet Stubbs (MM ‘13) gave 250 daily concerts in London and was subsequently awarded a British Empire Medal by Her Majesty The Queen in the Queen’s Honours list of 2022 in recognition of her service to the country. She was also named Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals In the Arts for their Resilient Warriors Special of 2022.
In 2024, after releasing her most recent CD, Life on Mars, she developed a form of carpal tunnel syndrome—ulnar nerve compression—which threatened to jeopardize her ability to play the piano. Successful surgery in fall of 2025 has restored her ability to play: “I feel like a completely different human being now,” she tells American Songwriter magazine. “I’ve been given everything anyone could ever want because I’ve been given my hands back, and I know that all I needed was to be able to do everything that I’m meant to do.”
Read the full interview here. Information about Life on Mars here.
Soprano Sofia Gotch (MM ’23, PPD ’25) has been named to the 2026 roster of San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows. Sofia took part in the San Francisco Opera Merola Program this past summer, and will continue at San Francisco Opera for the next two years in the Adler program.
Click here to learn more about Sofia. Click here to learn more about the next class of Adler Fellows.
MSM Precollege alumna Isabel Leonard (PC ’98, HonDMA ’21) has been selected as a” Top 100 Latina Powerhouse” by the popular Hola! publication. The GRAMMY-winning mezzo-soprano will be honored at MSM’s upcoming Precollege gala taking place on November 15.
“With a rich, powerful voice and undeniable stage presence, Isabel Leonard has carved out a place as one of today’s most acclaimed mezzo-sopranos, and her journey is still unfolding. Born in the United States but deeply connected to her Argentine heritage, Leonard has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including three GRAMMY Awards,” writes the magazine.
Manhattan School of Music’s Graduate Opera Theatre is featured on WQXR’s “Young Artists Showcase”, a weekly radio show that since 1978 has sought out and displayed the talents of young emerging artists.
The host of the program is MSM alumna Alexa Smith who shares performances from MSM’s Graduate Opera Program. Audiences can hear scenes from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Dvořák’s Rusalka, and Robert Ward’s The Crucible.
In photo above, Sofia Gotch (MM ’23, PD ’25) as Juliette from MSM Opera Theatre’s Roméo et Juliette (2024), photograph by Brian Hatton.
Full details and to listen to the program here.
MSM classical composition alumna Kenedea Lee (MM ’24) will have her new piece entitled Eunoia and inspired by Clara Schumann premiered by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra on November 15.
The program will also include Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor (featuring Avery Gagliano) and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.
Click here to learn more about Kenedea.
Click here for more information about the concert and for tickets.
Classical piano alumna Héloïse Pieaud (BM ’20), a student at MSM of Jeffrey Cohen, founded her own successful music school La Maison several years ago, located in a reconverted mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. She is the subject of a recent feature article in The Spirit, an Upper West Side news publication. The educator and entrepreneur discusses her beginnings in music, her path from France to New York, and cultivating her vision and securing funding for her own school, all while earning a visa to live and work in the US.
Click here to read the article.
Click here to learn more about Héloïse and La Maison.
On Sunday, Oct 12 from 4 to 5:30 PM in Washington Heights, MSM Jazz Composition alumna and guitarist Jhoely Garay (MM ’23) will lead her Viva La Tierra ensemble on the lawn at the Metropolitan Museum’s Cloisters location in Fort Tryon Park as a NYC Parks Conservancy gardener officially inaugurates the Fort Tryon Park’s “Great Ginkgo” — a large, aged tree located on the lawn — as one of NYC Parks’ celebrated great trees.
The program will consist entirely of Jhoely’s large ensemble compositions, and the group contains MSM affiliates Steve Wilson (former faculty), Reed 1; Brandon Choi (MM ’22), Trumpet 1; Keegan Riley (MM ’18), Trumpet 2; and Jenny Xu (MM ’19), Piano.
Jhoely is the recipient of five Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation awards and a 2024 ACF | create award from the American Composers Forum. She was also a Stanford Jazz Mentors Fellow from 2022-2023. She has also served as a guest composer, arranger and conductor of the NYO Jazz Orchestra in the U.S., the Berlin Youth Jazz Orchestra in Germany, and the UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra in Mexico.
Click here for more information about Jhoely.
Click here for more information about the concert (free), located at the MET Cloisters.
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