Success Stories

Pianist and composer Dr. Hayk Arsenyan (PS ’08) won a Silver Medal in the 2026 Global Music Awards in the “Creativity/Originality” category for his composition Stratum. This work for piano and double bass was commissioned and premiered in 2014, and subsequently published by Zimmerman Publications, but was released as a recording for the first time on the Navona label earlier this year. The Global Music Awards are an annual international celebration of the work of independent artists.

Dr. Arsenyan is also Director of the Armenian General Benevolent Union Arts Department and was interviewed last month by The Armenian Weekly. Click here to read the interview.

Click here to listen to Stratum.

Alumnus Ziqing Guo (BM ’18, MM ’20) has been appointed to the violin section of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO). He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music, studying with Sylvia Rosenberg and Nicholas Mann, and more recently a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

Ziqing has been a guest violinist with Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood Music Festival, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra.

Click here to learn more about Ziqing.

Current MSM students Seiran Tozlian (BM ’26), piano, and Angelina Tozlyan (BM ’28), violin, as well as alumni Diana Gabrielyan (MM ’23), piano, and Karina Vartanian (PC ’21, BM ’25), soprano, will perform at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall on Friday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. They are all recent recipients of the Armenian General Benevolent Union Performing Arts scholarship and will join their fellow recipients for a program of traditional Armenian and Western classical music, dance, and poetry readings.

Tickets are currently available on the Carnegie Hall website as well as the box office at (212) 247-7800.

Photo collage: Diana Gabrielyan (top left), Seiran Tozlian (bottom left), Angelina Tozlyan (bottom middle), Karina Vartanian (bottom right)

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).

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.

MSM classical composition alumnus David Handler (BM ‘04), a contemporary composer and violinist, is featured this week in Entrepreneur magazine, talking about his successful and highly respected NYC music venue (Le) Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village “a place to experience music unlike any other in New York City”, which he started in 2008 with another MSM alumnus Justin Kantor (BM ‘02), who studied classical cello at MSM.

Read the interview here.

MSM Artist Diploma alumnus Itamar Zorman (AD ’10) appointment as Associate Professor of Music in Violin at The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington is effective on August 1. He was a 2013 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and silver medalist of the 2011 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition.

Itamar performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Mariinsky Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, New World Symphony, KBS Symphony Seoul, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and German Radio Philharmonic, among others. At MSM, he was a student of Sylvia Rosenberg.

Read more about the appointment in The Strad here.
Learn more about Itamar Zorman here.

Dr. Christopher Jenkins (PC ‘04) has been named the new dean of Lawrence University’s Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Writes the University in a post announcing the news: “In this role, Jenkins will oversee all aspects of Lawrence’s music degree programs and contribute significantly to the university’s academic mission. Reporting directly to the provost, Lawrence’s chief academic officer, he will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the institution.”

“We are delighted to welcome Chris to Lawrence,” said Provost and Dean of Faculty Peter Blitstein. “Chris is deeply qualified to lead the Conservatory. His vision and expertise will enrich the experiences of our students, faculty, and the broader community.”

Learn more here.

MSM classical violin alumna Jihye Sung (BM ’14, MM ’16) was named Associate Concertmaster of the Bozeman Symphony. She joined the Symphony in 2022 as a section violinist, also at times serving as Principal Second Violinist, and as guest Associate Concertmaster.

Jihye also performs regularly with the Montana Chamber Music Society and the String Orchestra of the Rockies and has taught violin, viola, and chamber music at Montana State University. She also has performed as a soloist with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Strings, and the Korean and American Youth Orchestra.

To read more about Jihye and her appointment, click here.

The Canadian-American violinist Christina Bouey (MM ’11, PS ’12, PS ’13) has joined the Albany Symphony as its new Concertmaster Lifetime Chair. At MSM, Christina studied with the Orchestral Performance Program.

Christina most recently won first prize at the Waldo Mayo Violin Competition and had her concerto debut at Carnegie Hall. She has also won top prizes at the Vietnam International Chamber Competition, Schoenfeld International String Competition, Fischoff Competition, and the Osaka International Chamber Competition.

Christina serves as concertmaster of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and has performed as a soloist with the Greenwich Symphony, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Salina Symphony, River Cities Symphony, Symphony of the Mountains, Tonkünstler Ensemble, Metro Chamber Orchestra, and the Bergen Symphony, among others.

Learn more here.

MSM alumna Melissa Westgate (MM ’98) is the Principal Cello in the Tony Award-winning production of Hell’s Kitchen on Broadway. Her previous Broadway credits include Mrs. Doubtfire, New York New York, Pal Joey, and How to Dance in Ohio.

She joined the Greenwich Symphony in 2019 and was previously the Principal Cellist of the Ridgefield Symphony and Assistant Principal of the Springfield Symphony (MA). Melissa has been a member of the New Haven Symphony and Radio City Christmas Spectacular Orchestra, as well as the Principal Cellist of the Radio City Music Hall Spring Spectacular.

Another MSM alumna, Alexa Smith (MM ’10), is a producer on Hell’s Kitchen through her work on the production at The Public Theater

Learn more about Melissa Westgate here.
Learn more about Hell’s Kitchen here.

Violinist Robert Zubrycki (MM ’86) is the concertmaster for  Once Upon a Mattress which opened on Aug 12, 2024.

Robert Zubrycki is also the concertmaster of the New York City Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Stamford Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Concertmaster of Orchestra Moderne NYC, and principal violin and frequent soloist with the Amici New York Orchestra.

A veteran of dozens of Broadway shows, Bob performs in the orchestra of Carousel, and formerly in She Loves Me and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. He can be heard on the recent cast recordings of She Loves Me, An American in Paris, and Paint Your Wagon (violin and mandolin). He has won an Emmy Award for his musical contribution to the documentary The Curse of the Bambino.

He is currently the director for Concerts Around the Corner and the Cultural Arts Coalition in Brewster, NY.

In October, Jim Griffith (BM ’85) will assume the role of Executive Director of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico. He is stepping down from his position as CEO and founder of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in Fort Myers, Florida that he founded in 1997 and grew into a multi-million dollar non-profit organization.

An accomplished violist, Jim continued to perform in Florida orchestras in addition to his work as an arts administrator.

Read more about Jim and his new position here.

MSM classical violin alumnus Alexander “Sasha” Velinzon (’93), longtime member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been promoted to First Associate Concertmaster as well as Concertmaster of the Boston Pops. Velinzon joined the Symphony in 2000 as a section violinist, first promoted to assistant concertmaster in 2005 and then to associate concertmaster in 2015.

From St. Petersburg, Russia, Velinzon made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and made his New York soloist debut with the Jupiter Symphony playing Paganini’s Concerto No. 1. Velinzon’s other solo engagements in the United States have included appearances with the Seattle Symphony, Absolute Ensemble, and Rondo Chamber Orchestra.

To read more about Sasha and his promotion, click here.

The first exhibit with compositions by MSM alumnus Niles Luther as the composer in residence at The Brooklyn Museum is on display at the museum through August 4th. In the photo above, the cellist (on left) poses with MSM President James Gandre earlier this month.

For the exhibition called Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo (feat. Takashi Murakami), Luther wrote compositions that respond to three prints by Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige:  Chiyogaike Pond, Meguro; Kinryuzan Temple, Asakusa; and New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji. The recordings feature an ensemble of musicians on the violin, viola, koto, shakuhachi, and traditional Japanese percussion, with Luther on the cello.

To hear the compositions, download the free Bloomberg Connects app and navigate to the Brooklyn Museum’s digital guide. Or enjoy the music while viewing the prints in person at the Museum.

More information here.

Dr. James Kim (DMA 2023) who studied at MSM with Philippe Muller, was recently appointed Assistant Professor of Cello, tenure-track, at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. His appointment will begin in fall 2024.

“James Kim brings an exceptionally high levels of artistry and teaching to the Hugh Hodgson School of Music faculty, and we look forward to welcoming him to the Hodgson school and UGA,” said Hugh Hodgson School of Music Director Pete Jutras in a statement. “We are excited to see the impact he will have on our students and programs.”

Kim holds an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he served as Studio Teaching Assistant to Joel Krosnick, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Manhattan School of Music, where he was a Teaching Fellow.

“I am proud to join the incredible faculty of Hugh Hodgson School of Music and the vibrant campus of University of Georgia,” said Kim. “It is my honor to be part of a community that not only achieves excellence but also participates in society within and beyond its state borders. I look forward to guiding students toward their goals and sharing the lessons I’ve learned in the process.”

Learn more here.

Rob Moose (BM ’04) studied violin at MSM with Sylvia Rosenberg and is a Grammy Award-winning arranger and string player based in New York and Los Angeles. He’s written and recorded charts for over 400 albums, including work by Bon Iver, Paul Simon, Taylor Swift, and John Legend. He was an orchestrator on the hit song Flowers by Miley Cyrus.

As an orchestrator, Rob Moose has been repeatedly featured on the Declassified Series at the Kennedy Center alongside artists such as Regina Spektor, Emily King, and Ben Folds.

Says Rob about the profile: “This is the most in depth conversation I’ve ever gotten to have about my career, and I’m really honored to be presented on a site I read every day.”

Read the Pitchfork article here.

Learn more about Rob Moose here.

On January 12, a world premiere will take place with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by MSM Trustee Leonard Slatkin: MSM alumnus Kelly Hall-Tompkins (MM ’95, HonDMA ’16) performs solo violin in the world-premiere of the violin concerto Body in Motion by Jeff Beal, written specifically for Kelly, with whom he collaborated on the composition.

The European premiere with Leonard Slatkin conducting the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria will take place on April 5, 2024.

Watch video preview here.
Purchase tickets here.

Cellist Niles Luther (BM ’20) has been hired as Composer-in-Residence at Brooklyn Museum. For the next year, he will be partnering with the Museum’s art division to produce ‘Art Music’ inspired by pieces in the museum’s collection. This is a new position at the museum and is supported by a fellowship Niles received from the Ford Foundation.

Learn more about Niles Luther here.

MSM alumni and students were prominently featured in the annual concert of Sphinx Virtuosi at Carnegie Hall on October 20, representing five of the 18 core players, three of whom were principal artists in the performance.

The performers featured are: Thierry de Lucas (BM ’25), second violin;  Maithéna Girault (BM ’20, MM ’22, PPD ’24), second violin; Celia Hatton (MM ’13, PS ’14), principal viola; Christopher Johnson (MM ’08), principal double bass; Tommy Mesa (DMA ’23), principal cello.

Additionally, on the program was a work by MSM alumnus Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (BM ’53, MM ’54). Maithéna Girault introduced the Perkinson work, making mention of the fact that she and Perkinson were both double alumni of MSM.

The Sphinx Virtuosi is an exemplary chamber orchestra and the “flagship performing entity” of the Sphinx Organization.

Learn more about the concert here.

MSM alumnus Jinwoo Lee (AD ’09, DMA ’16) is the newly appointed 2023-2024 concertmaster and lead violinist at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He was most recently the first concertmaster of the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen in Germany. He was a violin faculty at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Düsseldorf from 2018 until 2022.

Jinwoo Lee grew up in South Korea, the United States, and Germany and began playing violin at the age of four. He told CBS Sunday Morning in Milwaukee that being a concertmaster is a great responsibility. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra hasn’t had a new concertmaster for more than a quarter century.

“This is not a completely new job for me but it’s a different orchestra, different colleagues, different conductor and of course, it’s a different country, so there are some cultural and traditional differences,” Lee explained.

Watch the CBS Sunday Morning report  here.

Alumnus Caleb van der Swaagh (PS ’13, PS ’14) recently joined the critically acclaimed Aizuri Quartet which is about to launch its 12th season. Caleb studied at MSM with David Geber and is currently a professor of cello at SUNY Purchase. A champion of new music, he is a member of counter)induction and Ensemble Échappé.

Read more here.
Learn more about Caleb here.

Jinwoo Lee (AD ’09, DMA ’16), who studied at MSM with Robert Mann, has been appointed concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony. He was a violin faculty member at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Düsseldorf from 2018 until 2022.

Learn more about Jinwoo Lee here.

Venezuelan violist and MSM alumnus Ramón Carrero-Martinez (BM ’19, MM ’21) has been selected as a 2023-2025 fellow for Ensemble Connect. While at MSM, Ramón studied with Daniel Avshalomov.

Ensemble Connect is a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. This two-year fellowship program prepares extraordinary young professional classical musicians for careers that combine musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Learn more about Ramón here.
Learn more about Ensemble Connect here.

On March 1, cellist and MSM alumnus Tommy Mesa (in photo on right) (DMA ’23) was honored along with soprano Aundi Marie Moore and composer Joel Thompson by the Sphinx Organization for their accomplishments which distinguish them from their peers in the field.

The Sphinx Medal of Excellence is the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization, the social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts, and comes with a $50,000 career grant. The medal recognizes extraordinary Black and Latinx classical musicians. Recipients are artists who, early in their career demonstrate artistic excellence, outstanding work ethic, a spirit of determination, and an ongoing commitment to leadership and their communities.

More about the Sphinx Organization here.

MSM alumna Lumeng Yang (BM ’20, MM ’22) recently won a violin position with the National Center Orchestra of the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing.

The NCPA is an arts centre known colloquially as “The Giant Egg,” which contains three performance spaces for opera, theatre, and music.

NCPA website here.

Violinist and MSM alumnus I-Jung Huang (PS ’20), who studied at MSM with Lucie Robert, was recently appointed to the New York Philharmonic. Prior to joining the Phil, I-Jung had been a member of the first violin section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra since 2020.

Originally from Taiwan, Huang received First Prize at the 2017 Ima Hogg Concerto Competition and the 2016 Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, and was a laureate of the 2015 Michael Hill International Violin Competition.

Learn more about the New York Philharmonic appointment 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.

Violinist Giovanni Andrea Zanon led the Italian national anthem alongside Italian pop singer Malika Ayane at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Their performance accompanied the raising of the Italian flag as a symbolic handing over of hosting duties to Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Giovanni received his Master’s degree at MSM at age 16 where he studied with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec in the Pinchas Zukerman performance program.

Learn more about Giovanni here.

Musical America, the nation’s oldest publication of classical music news and features, has named violist Jesús Rodolfo (PS ’15) as New Artist of the Month for November 2021. About his new album Remembering Russia, Thomas May of Musical America writes:

“His accounts of Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky offer fresh perspectives on well-known pieces. It’s not just a matter of a different sonic lens… but, even more, the sense of urgent confession Rodolfo distills through his passionate, emotionally invested musicianship.”

Read the Musical America feature here.

Learn more about Remembering Russia here.