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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pianist Eunbi Kim (MM ’12) is one of seven top prize winners of the respected Astral National Competition. At MSM she was a student of Daniel Epstein. Of the seven winners of this multiple instrument competition, Eunbi was one of three pianists selected as winners.
Eunbi is noted for her “creative curiosity and fearless experimentation” (New York Public Radio). Her most recent album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Classical Charts and featuring world-premiere recordings of works written for her by Angélica Negrón, Pauchi Sasaki, Sophia Jani, and Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). She has performed at the Kennedy Center and Greene Space WNYC/WQXR.
She serves on the Board of Trustees for the New York Foundation for the Arts, and is co-founder of bespoken, a mentorship program for female-identifying and non-binary musicians.
More about the competition here. More about Eunbi Kim here.
Chromic Duo, comprised of MSM Piano alumni Lucy Yao (MM ’18) and Dorothy Chan (MM ’12), were featured in NIGHTCAP, the New York Philharmonic’s cabaret-style series of music and conversation in the new Kenneth C. Griffin Sidewalk Studio. From Lucy and Dorothy: “Blending toy piano, electronics, and multimedia into genre-fluid performances and installations, we [Chromic Duo] cultivate spaces to share stories inspired by our experiences as third-culture kids within the Asian-American diaspora.”
Chromic Duo’s featured work FROM ROOTS WE CARRY was dedicated to the AAPI community and is a monument and ritual that explores the complex intergenerational legacies that live inside us. The performance also featured MSM Contemporary Performance Program alumna Madeline Hocking (MM ’22, Contemporary Violin).
Learn more about The Chromic Duo and FROM ROOTS WE CARRY here
Learn more about the New York Philharmonic’s NIGHTCAP here
MSM alumnus pianist Kirill Gerstein (BM ’99, MM ’00) talks with The New York Times about the importance of Sergei Rachmaninoff on the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Kirill Gerstein is releasing on April 14 a new account of Rachmaninoff solo works and the Second Piano Concerto, with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Kirill Petrenko.
Read article here.
Estonian conductor, composer, pianist, and prolific recording artist Kristjan Järvi (BM ’95), who has more than 60 albums to his credit, is featured in Estonian World, the most popular English-language Estonian web magazine.
The feature includes a video interview conducted by the Living the Classical Life videocast in which Järvi discusses his immersive experiential musical events that foster unity between audience and performers alike. He also speaks about his musical beginnings within the prominent Järvi dynasty, starting as a pianist while growing up in New York.
Read the article here.
Pianist and MSM alumna Erica (Xiaoyan) Guo (BM ’15), a former student of Solomon Mikowsky at MSM, has been performing as music staff at the Santa Fe Opera this summer in Carmen and Tristan und Isolde. This fall, she joins the Minnesota Opera as a resident artist and principal pianist.
The Chinese-born Ms. Guo has spent over a decade performing internationally as a solo pianist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician. She has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Nymphenburg Palace, and Temppeliaukion Kirkko and Musiikkitalo in Helsinki, Finland.
Now a highly sought after collaborator in both opera and song, her repertoire includes Later the Same Evening, La finta giardiniera, Owen Wingrave, Die Zauberflöte, Falstaff, Partenope, The Bartered Bride, Proving Up, Le nozze di Figaro, and La bohème, as well as an extensive catalog of song repertoire.
Learn more about Erica here.
On June 25, MSM alumnus Kirill Gerstein (BM ’99, MM ’00) performed to a sold-out crowd of more than 32,000 spectators at the Berliner Philharmoniker’s season finale at the Waldbühne outdoors venue in Berlin.
Conducted by Kirill Petrenko, Kirill played Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Rachmaninoff arrangement of the Kreisler “Liebeslied” as an encore.
At MSM, Kirill studied with Solomon Mikowsky.
Learn more about Kirill here.
Classical pianist and MSM alumnus Jason Flowers (BM ’19, MM ’21) recently graduated from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and is now a music instructor. He was interviewed by CBS News New York on June 16, commenting on a recent study that shows children respond well to having a male teacher of color.
“I think when my students look at me, they can see something that they can relate to. They see opportunity,” he told the network.
Watch the news report here.
Learn more about Jason here.
The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has named pianist and professor Chang Hyoung-joon (BM ’86, MM ’88, DMA ’92) the new president of the Seoul Arts Center effective June 17.
Chang will lead the country’s top art complex for the next three years. Located in southern Seoul, the center has attracted more than 55 million visitors since its opening in 1988.
Born in 1962, Chang received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Manhattan School of Music studying with Constance Keene. He has been teaching piano at Seoul National University since 1995.
He has collaborated with world-renowned orchestras such as the London Philharmonic and the Tokyo Philharmonic.
Read more here.
In the series of dozens of essays that comprises Afterthoughts of a Pianist/Teacher: A Collection of Essays and Interviews, author Donald Isler (BM 1973; MM 1975) reflects on more than fifty years’ experience teaching, attending concerts, and living a professional life dedicated to music.
Featured in the book include famous names from the School’s past like Constance Keene, Artur Balsam, and Karl Ulrich Schnabel. There are also chapters and interviews devoted to Arkady Aronov, Efrem Briskin, Michae Davidman, Solomon Mikowsky, Dmitry Rachmanov, Yuan Sheng, and Lisa Yui.
MSM faculty member Lisa Yui writes, “The interviews are informative and observant, the articles witty and self-reflective. Each is fascinating, informative, enlightening—in short, a wonderful read!”
Learn more and purchase the book here.
Dr. Leah Claiborne (BM ’12) was among 48 applicants across the US who are considered “amongst the finest and most creative artists and pedagogues within the music teaching profession today,” according to the Music Teachers National Association that presents the award.
The $10,000 prize is awarded through the generosity of its benefactors and namesakes, Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz.
Dr. Leah Claiborne is an Assistant Professor of Music in the Division of Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of the District of Columbia. Pianist, scholar, and educator, Dr. Claiborne promotes diversity in the arts by championing piano music by black composers in her performances, research, and teaching. In 2017, Dr. Claiborne was the first pianist to be awarded the Rackham Predoc Fellowship at the University of Michigan, which allowed her to further her research in compiling, editing, and recording piano music by black composers.
Learn about the award here.
Kirill Gerstein, along with fellow pianist Garrick Ohlsson, will play two-piano show pieces by Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Thomas Adès on Friday, February 25th at 7:30 pm.
Pablo Sainz-Villegas will perform “The Soul of the Spanish Guitar” a recital that will feature works by Albéniz, Granados, Rodrigo and others on Saturday, April 2nd at 8 pm.
Along with the Brentano String Quartet, Dawn Upshaw will present An exploration of the mythological Dido – music by Purcell, Dowland and others; NY premiere of Melinda Wagner’s Dido Reimagined on Sunday, April 3rd at 3 pm.
The competition process for the American Pianists Award began this spring and will culminate on June 25-27 with solo performances along with chamber music recitals with the Dover Quartet on June 25 at 8 PM ET and concerto finals with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on June 26 at 8 PM.
The winner will receive the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship, consisting of career assistance for two years, publicity, performance engagements, an Artist-in-Residence post, and a recording contract with Steinway & Sons record label.
All five finalists receive a cash prize of $50,000.
Watch the performances on June 26 here.
Watch an interview with Dominic on the American Pianists Association Facebook page here.
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