Success Stories

MSM alumna Dr. Ya-Lan Chan’s (MM ’16, DMA ’23) composition Sand aSH, written for Quartet121, is one of two winning scores in the 2025 International Call for Scores (ICS) contest sponsored by arts presentation company Neif-Norf. Sand aSH will be performed at the ICS Showcase on June 14, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Quartet 121 is comprised of all MSM CPP alumni: Molly Germer (MM ’17), violin; Julia Jung Un Suh (MM ’18), violin; Lena Vidulich (MM ’18), viola; and Thea Mesirow (MM ’17), cello.

Ya-Lan was a student of Dr. Reiko Fueting (DMA ’00) in MSM’s Classical Composition program.

Click here to learn more about Ya-Lan.
Click here to learn more about the International Call for Scores contest.

MSM classical composition alumnus Alfonso Molina‘s (MM ’10) Monarch: A Mexican-American Musical won multiple Broadway World Washington, D.C. Regional Awards last month. The production, staged late in 2023 at Creative Cauldron, received the distinction of “Best Musical” and “Best New Play or Musical,” while Alfonso’s collaborator and sister Mayu Molina Lehmann won “Best Direction of a Musical.”

To learn more about the Molinas and Monarch, click here.

To learn more about the 2024 BroadwayWorld Washington, D.C. Awards, click here.

Composer Jacob Leibowitz (BM ’23), an MSM alumnus, is one of 13 artists who are part of the LABA fellowship — the Laboratory for Jewish Culture — at the 14th St Y in New York City. While at MSM, Jacob studied with Reiko Fueting and Mark Stambaugh.

The artists in the Fellowship will spend the next year exploring Jewish texts to inspire groundbreaking new work around the theme of CHANGE. “From painters to playwrights, composers to filmmakers, this talented group embodies artistic innovation,” writes LABA leadership in an Instagram post.

“Change is constant, yet we resist it. We long for the past while chasing transformation. This year, our 14Y LABA Fellows will grapple with these paradoxes—through words, music, movement, and ideas—culminating in powerful LABAlive events.”

Learn more about LABA here.
Learn more about Jacob Leibowitz here.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has launched a new series called 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century, which includes 25 commissions for BBC ensembles and New Generation artists. A composition by MSM alumna Anna Clyne (MM ’05) called The Eye, played by the BBC Philharmonic, launches the series.

The 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century program includes compositions inspired by notable British events of the 21st century, which will be performed between January 25th and July 12th.

The events range from 9/11 to the London 2012 Olympics to the death of Queen Elizabeth II; many of the compositions reflect on social and technological changes in our world over the past quarter century.

25 for 25: Sounds of the Century premieres on Saturday, January 25, and runs each week to 12 July, across all BBC Radio 3 schedules.

More about Anna Clyne here.
More about the series here.

The music publisher Theodore Front Musical Literature, in selecting MSM alumnus Christopher Cerrone (BM ’07, DMA ’00) as composer of the month, writes that he is internationally acclaimed for “compositions characterized by a subtle handling of timbre and resonance, a deep literary fluency, and a flair for multimedia collaborations.” Christopher studied composition at MSM with Nils Vigeland and Reiko Fueting.

Recent works include In a Grove, an opera co-produced by LA Opera and Pittsburgh Opera, hailed as “a vividly immersive thriller” by The New York Times; Breaks and Breaks, a violin concerto for Jennifer Koh and the Detroit Symphony; A Body, Moving, a brass concerto for the Cincinnati Symphony; The Year of Silence for the Louisville Symphony and baritone Dashon Burton.

His first opera,  Invisible Cities, was a 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Cerrone is a triple-GRAMMY nominee, with his recent studio recording of In a Grove named one of the best of 2023 by The New York Times. He won the 2015–2016 Samuel Barber Rome Prize and was a resident at the Laurenz Haus Foundation in Basel, Switzerland from 2022–2023.

Learn more here.

The 2025 Composer Prizes, awarded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation in Switzerland, each worth 35,000 euros, have been awarded to MSM faculty member Ashkan Behzadi (Iranian-Canadian), Bastien David (France), and Kristine Tjøgersen (Norway).

In addition to the prize money, music productions are also part of the prizes.

Ashkan Behzadi grew up in Iran, where he initially studied architecture at the University of Tehran. After moving to Canada, he pursued composition studies in Montreal and New York, where he resides. He earned his DMA in composition at Columbia University, where he studied with Fred Lerdahl, George Lewis, and Georg Friedrich Haas.

“His music demonstrates a great attention to detail, conveying a miniaturist and gentle lyrical landscape. By employing techniques of allusion and pastiche as the foundation of his craft, his music ultimately seeks to invoke the collective memory of folklore music,” writes the Foundation in a news release.

Learn more about the prizes here.

MSM composition faculty member and performer Susan Botti has been awarded a NYSCA (NY State Council for the Arts) grant for a new work for her ensemble Duo della Luna in collaboration with poets with the Dream Project Writing for Resilience Cohort.

On December 15, Susan took part in a concert at Carnegie Hall, performing with Duo della Luna.

Susan Botti’s musical explorations have encompassed traditional, improvisational, and non-classical composition and singing styles with theater and the visual arts playing a formative role in the aesthetic of her work.

Botti is the recipient of numerous awards, including: a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Rome Prize, and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; grants and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund, the Fromm Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Chamber Music America, NY Foundation for the Arts, the Greenwall Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and ASCAP. She was the third Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra.

More about Susan Botti here.

Composer and percussionist Andy Akiho (MM ‘09) won the Young Artist Award at the 27th annual Beijing Music Festival. Founded in 1998 by Long Yu and under the artistic direction of Shuang Zou, the festival fosters a commitment to contemporary music in addition to connections between China and the West.

Andy Akiho’s work Seven Pillars was also given its Asian premiere by the Sandbox Percussion ensemble.

Andy spoke with the Violin Channel about his new composition.
Read the interview here.

On November 24, a new work by MSM Classical Composition Faculty member Dr. Paolo Marchettini (DM A ’14), Intermezzo, will be premiered by the Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti of Naples in Chiesa dei SS. Marcellino e Festo. The premiere was announced in multiple publications, including the Naples edition of Italy’s top newspapers, La Repubblica.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Marchettini.
Click here to learn more about Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti.

Elaine L. Bearer (BM ’70) is an American neuroscientist, pathologist, and composer who graduated from MSM with a Bachelor of Music in Theory in 1970.

She was recently promoted as Distinguished Professor in both Music and at the Medical School (Health Sciences Center) at the University of New Mexico in  Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she has been The Harvey Family Professor in the Dept of Pathology, and Professor, in the Department of Music (secondary).

This year, she had two new performances of her choral and string quartet work, L’Alma rapita, performed in Anaheim and Laguna Beach. She also recorded a new multi-movement piece, Soliloquies, this summer with a violinist in Norway.

More about Elaine Bearer and her impressive medical and musical accomplishments here.

Ebony Chants, Paolo Marchettini‘s second album on the label New Focus Recordings showcases music for clarinets in both solo and ensemble setting and will be released on April 14th.

The album features Rome-born and New York City-based Paolo Marchettini as both composer and clarinetist, working alongside with three other clarinetists who are MSM current and former students: Meng Zhang (DMA) (also worked as recording engineer), Ka Hei Chan (MM ’23) and Tommy Shermulis (MM ’23).

In liner notes, the respected guitarist Dan Lippel comments that Ebony Chants evokes the rich wood used in clarinet construction, and highlights Marchettini’s “subtle, lyrical composition voice.”

“Marchettini strikes an engaging balance between experimental elements such as the use of microtones and extended techniques, and more traditional material, performing the works with elegance and virtuosity…  Allusions to multiple eras and styles of music are seamlessly integrated in music that is natural and always breathes,” he writes.

Preorder the CD here.

The release by Christopher Cerrone (BM ’07, DMA ’00) In a Grove, is a new opera in two parts available as a digital download and limited CD release. Christopher studied composition at MSM with Nils Vigeland and Reiko Fueting. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2014, and has won numerous ASCAP awards.

In a Grove is a meditation on trauma and the fallacies of human memory, with Christopher Cerrone and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann taking their inspiration from a 1922 short story by Japanese author Ryonusuke Akutagawa.

The album features the voices of Lindsay Kesselman, Chuanyuan Liu, Andrew Turner, and John Taylor Ward, as well as the respected instrumentalists of Metropolis Ensemble. The album was produced by Christopher Cerrone, alongside his colleagues Mike Tierney and Andrew Cyr.

More about the CD and Christopher Cerrone here.
Opera Wire review of In a Grove here.

German composer Reiko Füting, a composition faculty member and department administrator at MSM, is releasing the world premiere recording of his opera Mechthild with libretto by poet and theologian Christian Lehnert on New Focus Recordings.

Füting’s subject, Mechthild of Magdeburg, was a 13th-century female Christian mystic whose influential writings were rediscovered in the 19th century. Füting and Lehnert’s score explores topics of faith and asceticism in the context of the musicality inherent in language, connecting different eras of artistic expression through time and memory.

Learn more about the recording here.
Purchase the album here.
Watch a video feature in German about the recording here.

Gugggenheim Fellowships are awarded to who have artists who have “demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.” Pascal was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition; he is Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music and Technology at Vanderbilt University and is a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition at Princeton University.

More about Pascal Le Boeuf here.

Composer and MSM alumnus Juan Pablo Contreras was awarded the $50,000 prize for his work as a composer and conductor of orchestral music that draws on his Mexican heritage and for his leadership in founding the Orquesta Latino Mexicana.

The Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music is awarded by the Vilcek Foundation as part of the Vilcek Foundation Prizes Program. The Vilcek Foundation prizes are awarded annually to immigrant artists and scientists whose work has had a profound impact on U.S. culture and society.

More information here.

The new work by MSM theory and composition faculty member Paolo Marchettini is called Armoniosi accenti and was commissioned by the Orchestra Haydn of Bolzano in Italy. It will be premiered on May 16 and 17 in the cities of Bolzano and Trento in Italy under the baton of the famous conductor and harpsichordist Ottavio Dantone.

“Armoniosi accenti features the same unusual instrumentation of Mozart Gran Partita, which will be also in the program together with Haydn Symphony 96,” says Paolo.

More information about the concert here.

The Naxos label presents this recording of brand new concertos “from two vibrant and contrasting American composers.” Adolphus Hailstork‘s (BM ’62, MM ’66, HonDMA ’19) First Piano Concerto “draws on his African American heritage to create a work brimming with energy and high spirits, reflecting the rich traditions of jazz and blues,” writes the record label.

Listen to the recording here.

Congratulations to composer and MSM alumnus Adolphus Hailstork (BM ’62, MM ’66, HonDMA ’19) who was given the 2023 Visionary Award by Composers Now in a ceremony in New York City on January 30.

Composers Now is an organization empowers all living composers, celebrates the diversity of their voices and honors the significance of their artistic contributions to the cultural fabric of society

Learn more here.

MSM composition alumnus Juan Pablo Contreras (MM ’12) was named a winner of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music.

The Vilcek Prizes support immigrant professionals who have demonstrated exceptional achievements early in their careers and have made a positive impact in the U.S. Juan Pablo is the first Mexican-American to receive this award. Each winner receives a trophy and a $50,000 cash prize.

In the past, the foundation has given prizes to musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma and Osvaldo Golijov.

Learn more about the award here.
Learn more about Juan Pablo here.

Alison Yun-Fei Jiang (BM ’15) has been named the RBC Affiliate composer with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). She was previously the Carrefour Composer-in-Residence with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra (2020-22) and her compositions have been performed in Canada and across the United States.

The TSO’s Affiliate Composer position offers an emerging composer a chance to create works for one of North America’s finest professional orchestras, and gain insight into the organization.

“Alison’s music is full of originality and colour, and she has an important voice to share with our orchestra and audiences,” said TSO Music Director Gustavo Gimeno in a media release. “We were impressed by Alison’s blending of cultures and genres into exciting melodies and textures.”

Read more about her appointment here.

MSM alumna Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti (DMA ’16) was named one of the two finalists in the Pulitzer Prize category for music for her composition “with eyes the color of time.” The other finalist in music is MSM alumnus Andy Akiho (MM ’09) for his composition “Seven Pillars.” The winning Pultizer Prize for music was awarded to Raven Chacon for his composition “Voiceless Mass.”

Andy Akiho also received a 2022 Grammy Awards nomination this year for his composition.

The Pulitzer music jury was headed by The New Yorker‘s music critic Alec Ross.

Learn more about Anne’s composition here.

Learn more about Andy’s composition here.

Congratulations to MSM faculty and alumni who won 2022 GRAMMY Awards for classical, jazz, and composing/arranging!

The awards were presented on April 3, 2022 in Las Vegas. Winners include MSM alumni Anthony Roth Costanzo (MM ’08) (in photo on left) and J’Nai Bridges (BM ’09) soloists in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Philip Glass’ Ahknaten which won Best Opera Recording.

View the full list of winners here.

View all MSM faculty and alumni nominated for the 2022 awards here.

The GRAMMY Awards take place on Sunday, April 1, with more than 30 MSM alumni and faculty members nominated, including MSM trustees Terence Blanchard (HonDMA ’19) and Anthony Roth Costanzo (MM ’08), as well as J’nai Bridges (BM ’09), and faculty member, Miguel Zenón.

Read the full list of MSM community nominees here.

MSM composition student Elliot Roman (BM ’21, MM ’23) had a piece commissioned by the MSM Artists in Residence American String Quartet (all pictured above), Ludwig:sein:Seine was featured in their concert at MSM on February 13.

Last month, Elliot’s undergraduate orchestral thesis composition, Tzirklshpitz, was performed by the MSM Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Maestro George Manahan (BM ’73, MM ’76); the score won Elliot a 2021 BMI Student Composer Award.

Read about Elliot and find out about the concert here

Dr. Elaine Bearer (BM ’70) MA, MD, PhD, is a neuroscientist, pathologist, and composer who is a professor in the Department of Music at the University of New Mexico where one of her areas of specialty is music and the mind. She is also a Professor in the Department of Pathology where she uses imaging technologies, molecular genetics and computational modeling to study circuitry dynamics in health and disease states.

The Strømstad Academy, based in Sweden, is a Nordic Institute for Advanced Studies that names as members professors from Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and other Universities worldwide, including four Nobel laureates.

More about Dr. Bearer here.

MSM Alum Eun-Kyung Kim (MM ’90, DM ’97) received the honor by State Senator John Liu (in photo on right). Eun-Kyung Kim’s work over the past two decades has focused on advocacy, management and fundraising for her community and most recently, helping families during COVID-19. She is the Executive Director of the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) in Queens.

During the pandemic, the YWCA of Queens opened a food pantry that provided fresh produce for more than 22,000 of the borough’s families and offered virtual classes for the community.

Read more about Eun-Kyung Kim here.

From July 26 to 30, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, the world’s longest continuously running Yiddish theatre in the world, is having a benefit concert online honoring its director of long standing, Zalmen Mlotek (BM ’72), who is celebrating his 70th birthday.

Zalmen received his Bachelor of Arts from MSM in Theory, and is an internationally recognized authority on Yiddish folk and theater music. He is a leading figure in the Jewish theatre and concert worlds, as well as a conductor, pianist, musical arranger, accompanist, and composer.

His acclaimed production of “Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish” with Folksbiene ran for two years after a planned run of just two weeks at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, moving to Off Broadway.  It closed in January, 2020.

The benefit concert, entitled “Yiddish Renaissance” will include 140 artists from around the world, is also being billed as a celebration of the growing interest in Yiddish language and culture.

More information here.

Anna Clyne‘s Within Her Arms will open the concerts being held on Sept 17, 18, and 19 at Alice Tully Hall, kicking off the New York Philharmonic‘s new season. NY Phil Music Director Jaap van Zweden conducts.

It’s the orchestra’s long-awaited return to live performances after what will be an an 18-month period of cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For tickets to hear Anna Clyne’s composition, or to find out more about the 2021-2022 season, visit the NYPhil website here.

Recent MSM graduates Elizabeth Gartman (MM ’21) and Elliot Roman (BM ’21) are 2021 winners of the 69th Annual BMI Student Composer Awards for classical composition.

The annual awards recognize superior musical compositional ability with educational scholarships totaling $20,000.

This year’s group of talented composers are being showcased across BMI’s and BMIF’s digital platforms in honor of their outstanding accomplishments.

Learn more here.

The work “24 Preludes and Fugues” for piano by MSM Faculty member Paolo Marchettini, who teaches Music Theory at MSM, took more than a year to compose and is now published by the respected Italian publishing house Edizioni Curci.

“I’ve always considered the fugue to be one of the most pure musical forms,” explains Paolo in a video clip that can be seen here. “The possibility of being able to write an entire piece of music out of only one main idea has always been a challenge for composers of different times.”

Learn more about the composition here at the publisher’s website.

Watch Paolo play perform a portion of the work here.