Success Stories

Vladimir Petrov (PPD ‘26) a student at MSM of Horacio Gutierrez and who has received high praise from critics internationally, won Second Prize as well as the Commissioned Work Prize at the prestigious 2025 Nashville International Chopin Piano Competition that took place on December 13 to 19, 2025.

Vladimir Petrov has won top prizes at numerous international competitions, including first prizes at events the Lotar Shevchenko Competition (Russia), Ciudad de Vigo (Spain), Jose Jacinto Cuevas–Yamaha Competition (Mexico), NTD Piano Competition (New York, USA), and the Neapolitan Masters Competition (Italy).

Petrov has released four solo albums, including Encores (2021, Mans label, Spain). His 2019 release, featuring Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, was recorded in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. His latest album recorded in New York will be released soon.

With roots in Russia, Petrov was raised from the age of three in Mexico, which he affectionately considers his homeland.

More information on the winners here.

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.

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 26^th 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.

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.

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.

MSM piano doctoral degree student Annie Yu Cao (MM ‘24) this summer founded and directed the inaugural Pacific Opus Music Festival in her hometown of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada.

Featured at the event were three distinguished MSM faculty members, Jeffrey Cohen (in photo on right) with whom Annie studies at MSM, Lucie Robert (second from right), and Olga Kern (second from left) who joined the festival’s faculty. They pose in the photo above with Annie Yu Cao, on left.

Learn more about the festival here.

On Friday, September 19 from 12:30–2:30 PM, 95-year-old MSM piano alumnus Roy Eaton (BM ’50, MM ’52) is playing in Bryant Park’s “Piano in Bryant Park” series. Roy was the inaugural winner of the 1950 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, was featured as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1951, and debuted at NYC Town Hall in 1952. His performance career was interrupted by compulsory military service, which led him to embark on a barrier-breaking career as a renowned advertising executive on Madison Avenue. He returned to performance in 1986 at Alice Tully Hall, followed by international tours and the release of several albums.

Read more about the free concert here.

Learn more about Roy here.

Nian-Yi Huang, third-year DMA candidate and long-time MSM piano student of MSM faculty member Jeffrey Cohen, won third prize at the respected Weatherford College International Piano Competition held in Texas last month.

“Nian-Yi was one of the 12 finalists selected from 207 pianists representing 25 countries. He gave a brilliant performance in the final round, and he represented our school with great distinction. Bravo to Nian-Yi!” says Jeffrey Cohen.

Nian-Yi’s previous awards include winning the Grand Prize at the 2019 International Academy of Music competition in Italy, and First Prize at the 2022 G. Gershwin International Music Competition. He became the youngest classical pianist signed by the leading Chinese piano company Hailun Pianos in 2020

Watch Nian-Yi’s performance at the competition here.
More information on the competition here.
Watch an interview with Nian-Yi after the competition results were announced here.

MSM student Xinchen Jia (BM ‘27) studies piano at MSM with Inesa Sinkevych, the Co-Head of the MSM Piano Department. At the inaugural Shanghai International Forte Yearly Music Festival and Competition held at Harvard University in Boston, on May 11, Xinchen Jia was awarded the Gold Prize in the piano category after performing at the festival opening concert at Lehman Hall. He also won a Grand Prize.

“Professor José Ramos Santana, piano professor at NYU Steinhardt and Chair of the Piano Department at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, as well as Professor Boaz Sharon, piano professor at Boston University and Director of the Piano Department at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, gave me high praise and took commemorative photos with me,” reports Xinchen Jia about performing at the event.

More information about the festival here.

On May 23, MSM piano faculty member Wael Farouk will be performing Rachmaninoff’s 3rd piano concerto with the renowned Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the top orchestras in China, and the only non-state-owned and self-financing orchestra in the country. The image above is the promotional poster for the event.

Egyptian-American pianist Wael Farouk has performed internationally in such venues as the White Hall in St. Petersburg, Schumann’s House in Leipzig, and Carnegie Hall in New York, where his solo debut in 2013 was described as “absolutely masterful.” He has been a faculty member at MSM since 2021.

Learn more about Wael Farouk here.

Calder Failla (BM ’28) (in photo above on left) has been named the Regional Winner for the collegiate division of the NANM 2025 Scholarship Competition for Piano, and will be competing at the NANM National Convention that will be held in Detroit from July 12—17. Calder first won the local division in New York City, then went on to win the regional division on April 24.

The keynote speaker for the National Convention this year is piano alumnus Leah Claiborne (BM ‘12) (in photo on right) who studied at MSM with Marc Silverman.

The National Association of Negro Musicians, founded in 1919, is considered a significant organization for African American musicians. It has played a key role in supporting black musicians through scholarships, performance opportunities, and a focus on both classical and jazz traditions. NANM also aimed to preserve and encourage the music of the African Diaspora.

More information about the National Convention of the National Association of Negro Musicians here.
Information about the NANM competition here.

The prestigious Miami International Piano Festival is calling MSM piano student Dmitry Yudin (MM ‘25) “a master and astonishing virtuoso” in their online reviews. The article comes after his appearance at the Miami International Piano Festival.

“Dmitry Yudin’s debut surpassed all expectations. He tackled a terrifyingly virtuosic program with authority and musicality,” writes reviewer Giselle Brodsky. “His imagination and sensitivity were on display throughout the whole concert, creating one of the most memorable debuts in the festival’s history… His concert was unforgettable, and we eagerly await his return.”

Read the full review here.

MSM Trustee and classical piano alumnus Dr. Scott Dunn (MM ’97) will perform in three concerts in January 2025:

On January 10 at the Hollywood Bowl, Dr. Dunn will be conducting a concert of covers and original works by the Grammy nominated singer/songwriter Cody Fry. Concert details here.

January 18 at The Wallis Annenberg Centre for the Performing Arts (known as The Wallis) in Beverly Hills, he is conducting the inaugural concert of his ensemble, the Scott Dunn Orchestra, in a program called The Hollywood Modernists —the Second Golden Age of Film Scoring, celebrating the influence of American and European modernism on composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Alex North, and  Leonard Rosenman, and featuring music from the iconic films Psycho, Jaws, A Streetcar Named Desire To Kill A Mockingbird, and more; most of the arrangements are by Scott Dunn. Concert details here.

On January 28, Dr. Dunn will appear at the Soka Performing Arts Center with the award-winning young pianist Shunta Morimoto and the Four Seasons Orchestra. Mezzo Kayleigh Decker will sing three Malher Ruckert Songs and they will present the west coast premiere of Richard Rodney Bennett’s Partita. Concert details here.

The recording by pianist Kirill Gerstein (BM ’99, MM ’00), Music in Time of War (Platoon), was selected as one of the 25 best classical recordings of 2024 by The New York Times. Kirill Gerstein’s photograph was featured at the top of the article.

“This year, no album was as ambitious and intelligent as Music in Time of War, a imagined conversation between Claude Debussy and Komitas Vardapet, witnesses to 20th-century horrors,” writes Joshua Borone in The New York Times. “The recording’s physical edition includes a book of essays and photography, but the highlight is the often revelatory music, not least Komitas’s achingly beautiful folk songs.”

For the recording, Kirill is joined by the Armenian soprano Ruzan Mantashyan, and pianists Thomas Adès and Katia Skanavi to perform a selection of works for solo piano, voice and piano, piano four hands and two pianos

Read the list of the full selection of recordings here.
Learn more about the album here.

MSM piano alumna Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (DMA ’08) was interviewed by NBC-TV News recently about the previously unknown Chopin Waltz that was recently unearthed in the files of the Morgan Library.

It was the first time in over a century that such a discovery was made.

Magdalena is the Director of the Music Performance Program at Columbia University, as well as a Senior Lecturer in Music in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Watch the NBC-TV story here.

An online course by MSM faculty member and alumna Lisa Yui (DMA ‘05) on J.S. Bach’s Italian Concerto launched recently on Tonebase Piano, a popular platform for classical music education with over 25,000 active members worldwide.

In the series, Dr. Yui delves into the history and style of this immensely popular piece, offering technical guidance on ornamentation, pedalling, and more.

Watch an excerpt of the course on YouTube shorts here.
Find the full course here.

MSM Trustee and classical piano alumnus Dr. Scott Dunn (MM ’97) will perform two concerts in 2025 at The Wallis Annenberg Centre for the Performing Arts (known as The Wallis) in Beverly Hills, California.

On January 18, he is conducting the inaugural concert of his ensemble, the Scott Dunn Orchestra, in a program called The Hollywood Modernists —the Second Golden Age of Film Scoring, celebrating the influence of American and European modernism on composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Alex North, and  Leonard Rosenman, and featuring music from the iconic films Psycho, Jaws, A Streetcar Named Desire To Kill A Mockingbird, and more; most of the arrangements are by Scott Dunn.

The Scott Dunn Orchestra will perform a second program at The Wallis in May 2025 called Henry Mancini at 100—a Celebration of the Man and his Music.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

On October 13 in Auburn, Washington, the Auburn Symphony Orchestra (ASO) will perform the world premiere of MSM Viola faculty member Jessica Meyer’s composition Turbulent Flames, commissioned by the ASO.

The concert will also feature classical piano alumnus Dominic Cheli (BM ’14) performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the ASO.

Read more about the concert here.
Read more about Jessica Meyer here.
Read more about Dominic Cheli here.

Acclaimed concert pianist Dr. Avan Yu (DMA ’22) was appointed the new Artistic and Executive Director of Müzewest Concerts Society. Yu has appeared as a soloist and recitalist worldwide with the National Arts Center Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and Dresden Philharmonic among others, and in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, and Sydney Opera House, to name a few. Yu’s early achievements include being the youngest ever Canadian Chopin Piano Competition winner at 17, as well as winning the Sydney International Piano Competition with multiple special awards.

Müzewest Concert Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting classical music to Canadians in the Lower Mainland at an affordable price. The organization is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, an area in which Dr. Yu has lived for some time.

To learn more about Dr. Yu, click here.

To learn more about Müzewest Concerts Society, click here.

Classical piano alumna Leila Cobo (BM ’91), Billboard’s chief content officer of its Latin/Español division, was honored with the Ícono Máximo Award at the Ícono & Ícono Influencer Awards in Medellín, Colombia. Cobo received the award in recognition of “her outstanding contribution to the Latin music industry, achievements and impeccable career.”

She is noted for her coverage of Latin music for Billboard where she is currently the Chief Content Officer for Latin Music and Español, overseeing the brand’s coverage and development of Latin music across all its platforms. “As a Colombian, receiving an award in Colombia, from the Colombian music industry, is emotional but also carries a lot of professional weight,” Cobo said in a statement. “I’m proud to have dedicated my career to shining a light on Latin music, and the fact that Premios Ícono recognizes this is very exciting and fills me with joy. I truly feel the best is yet to come!”

Learn more here.

Two MSM students will receive from the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation a Tuition Assistance Scholarship, a one-time scholarship with a maximum value of $12,500 toward the tuition costs for the university or college of their choice.

The students are Alberto Garcia from Spain who is studying for a doctoral degree at MSM in classical piano with Inesa Sinkevych, and Marien Femerling Garcia, a bachelor of arts student from Mexico, who is also studying with Ms. Sinkevych.

Learn more here.

Classical piano alumna Mary Prescott (MM ’05) was named one of the 18 winners of the 2024 Princess Grace Awards. Nominated by Harlem Stage, Prescott will receive the Grace Le Vine Theater Honor as one of six winners in the Theatre and Playwriting category. Established in 1982 by Prince Rainier III of Monaco to honor the legacy of Princess Grace (née Grace Kelly), the award includes a $15,000 unrestricted cash grant.

Prescott is a Thai-American interdisciplinary artist and composer who explores the foundations and facets of identity and social conditions through experiential performance. Her output includes several large-scale interdisciplinary works, improvised music, opera, sound journaling, film music, solo and chamber concert works.

Learn more here.

Composer and stage director Penny Prince (BM, MM, PhD) was honored as part of The American Prize annual Independence Day Honors announced on July 4, 2024.

Honored Artists are individuals who have proven themselves to be of “sustained excellence” over a number of seasons as laureates of The American Prize competitions. The award is presented by The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts which is the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the performing arts.

Dr. Penny Prince is Professor of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York. She is Music Graduate Coordinator, and Supervisor of the music student teachers and interns. Dr. Prince received her BM and MM in piano from Manhattan School of Music where she studied with the legendary Zenon Fishbein.

Learn more about Penny Prince here.

Learn more about The American Prize competitions here.

MSM alumnus Marco Rizzello, a pianist and opera coach from Mercato Saraceno in Italy, recently joined the full-time music staff at the Staatsoper in Stuttgart, Germany, where he will be Solorepetitor and Italian Diction Coach.

A recent graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Butler Studio, his summer 2024 engagements include contracts withThe Santa Fe Opera and the Ravinia Festival.

Learn more about Marco Rizzello here.

On June 8, Dmitry Yudin (MM ‘25), who studies at MSM with Horacio Gutierrez, was awarded second place at the prestigious Géza Anda International Piano Competition in Zurich, Switzerland.

Second prize includes award money of 20,000 Swiss francs, along with many concerts arranged by the Géza Anda Foundation over the period of 2024 to 2027.

Dimitri is a prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions, and has performed across Russia and abroad both as solo recitalist and in concertos, with orchestras including the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra (Spivakov).

Learn more about Dimitri here.

Learn more about the competition here.

MSM piano student Jas Ogiste (MM  ’25), who studies at MSM with Jiayin Li, was singled out by The New York Times in its recent review of “The Chevalier,” a production about the composer Joseph Boulogne, also known as Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who was born in Guadeloupe in 1745.

“The pianist Jas Ogiste performs tender, yearning solos for Marie Antoinette’s character,” writes The New York Times.

The production took place at the United Palace theater in Washington Heights in New York City, and will be available for streaming later in February.

Jas Ogiste was performing as a member of the The Harlem Chamber Players, praised by the paper as offering “sparkling, taut performances.”

New York Classical Review also applauded Jas Ogiste’s performance: “Pianist Jas Ogiste of the Harlem ensemble ably accompanied Elliott in Bologne’s violin sonatas and set a reflective tone for the epilogue with a moody solo, the composer’s Adagio in F minor.”

The Jas Ogiste was recently featured in MSM’s Black History Month concert which can be seen here.

Read the New York Times review here.
Read the New York Classical Review here.

MSM faculty member pianist Elio Villafranca will be the headlining musician and a lecturer at the University of Arkansas‘s annual symposium dedicated to educating and exposing the community to the music contributions of Black Americans. The 11th annual conference will be held Jan. 31 to Feb. 4.

The theme for the 2024 symposium, “Celebrating Afro-Caribbean Music,” explores the rich culture of the Caribbean nations and their contributions to music genres ranging from reggae and salsa to merengue, calypso and more. Throughout the symposium, there will be lectures that support the theme exploring the ways in which Afro-Caribbean music relates to the experiences of Black musicians as well as social movements.

On Feb 2, Elio Villafranca will deliver a lecture on “The Music of the Afro Diaspora in the Caribbean,” hold a master class, and be the featured performer at an evening concert. 

More information on the event here.

An exceptional $150,000 Sphinx Venture Fund grant has been awarded to MSM alumna Dr. Leah Claiborne for The Ebony Music Project.

The Sphinx Foundation writes in an announcement about the grant: “This initiative, under her leadership, is set to enrich the landscape of classical music with a comprehensive database of works by Black composers. Congratulations to Dr. Claiborne on this impactful and innovative project!”

Leah Claiborne, D.M.A. promotes diversity in the arts by championing piano music by Black composers in her performances, research, and teaching. Dr. Claiborne received her undergraduate degree from Manhattan School of Music in 2012 where she received the Josephine Whitmore graduation award. This award was given to a graduating senior “whose personal qualities enriches the spirit of the school and community at large.”

Learn more about The Ebony Music Project here.

Learn more about pianist and educator Leah Claiborne here.

Mun-Tzung Wong (MM ’10, PS ’11) has been named Music Director of the Riverdale Choral Society in New York City. She is also Music Director and Choirmaster at St. John’s Anglican Church in Passaic.

She is also a pianist, conductor, mezzo-soprano, vocal and instrumental coach, and pedagogue. She studied classical piano at MSM with Marc Silverman.

She has served as assistant conductor at the International Vocal Arts Institute, St. Petersburg Opera Company, New Rochelle Opera,  Missouri Symphony Orchestra, and more. She has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and Lincoln Center. As a mezzo-soprano, she has appeared as a soloist in performances of the Mozart Requiem and Mass in C minor, Bach St John Passion, Händel’s Messiah, and others.

Learn more about Ms. Wong appointment here.