Success Stories

Three MSM alumni and a former faculty member are being celebrated in an April 30 concert at Carnegie Hall‘s Zankel Hall showcasing the 10 winners of the 2024 Lieder/Song Vocal Competition and 2025 International Vocal Competition, hosted by the Gerda Lissner Foundation.

The three MSM alumni who placed in the competitions are Sofia Gotch (MM ’23, PPD ’25), soprano,  (pictured: top row, second from right); Shelén Hughes (BM ’18, MM ’20), soprano (top row, far right); and Erin Wagner (BM ’19), mezzo-soprano (bottom row, second from left).

Also being honored is former MSM Collaborative Piano faculty member Warren Jones.

Learn more and reserve tickets free of charge here.

Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Pirates! The Penzance Musical, with adaptation by MSM alumnus Rupert Holmes (’67, HonDMA ’21) and musical direction from alumnus Joseph Joubert (BM ’79, MM ’81) had its first preview performance on April 4 and officially opens on April 24. Holmes has adapted the libretto of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, setting the beloved tale in New Orleans; Joubert, who co-wrote the orchestrations with Daryl Waters, gives Sullivan’s score a Caribbean and French Quarter feel.

The production runs at the Todd Haimes Theatre through July 27, 2025.  Other MSM alumni involved in the production are Louis Garrett (’96), guitars, banjo; Jason Jackson (’95), trombone; and Michael Aarons (BM ’98), Music Coordinator. MSM President James Gandre attended the performance on April 16 and posed for the above photo following the performance (l to r: Joseph Joubert, James Gandre, and Rupert Holmes).

Learn more about the musical here.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has named MSM Jazz Arts faculty member Caroline Davis to its 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows in Music Composition. A composer, saxophonist, and educator, Caroline Davis lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is an active leader and sidewoman on the national jazz scene.

Chosen through a rigorous application and peer review process from a pool of nearly 3,500 applicants, the Guggenheim Fellows Class of 2025 was tapped based on both prior career achievement and exceptional promise. As established in 1925 by founder Senator Simon Guggenheim, each Fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.”

Since its establishment, the Guggenheim Foundation has granted over $400 million in Fellowships to more than 19,000 individuals, among whom are more than 125 Nobel laureates, members of all the national academies, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Fields Medal, Turing Award, Bancroft Prize, National Book Award, and other internationally recognized honors. Recognizing a broad range of fields of study is a unique characteristic of the Fellowship program.

Learn more about the 2025 Fellows here.
Learn more about Caroline Davis here.

Koshiro Takeuchi, a student at MSM of Koichiro Harada and Lucie Robert, won first place with a 6,000-euro prize in the Ion Voicu International Violin Competition in Bucharest on April 12.

Pictured above: Koshiro Takeuchi (fourth from right) and Lucie Robert (center).

The Ion Voicu International Violin Competition is open to violinists of all nationalities and is organized by the Ion Voicu Cultural Association. The competition took place April 7-12, 2025, at the National University of Music in Bucharest, with the finals held in the Grand Hall of the Romanian Athenaeum. The finalists were accompanied by the George Enescu Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Gabriel Bebeșelea.

Learn about the winners here.
Learn more about the competition here.

MSM Orchestral Performance alumnus Peter Ecklund (PS ’24) has been appointed Second Bassoon of the Detroit Opera Orchestra, and will begin his position in fall 2025. He has performed this past year with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and worked as a substitute musician with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Palm Beach Symphony. Additionally this past year, Peter has been a Public Relations and Booking Associate at New York City’s Kirshbaum Associates.

Peter was a student of Kim Laskowski while at MSM.

Click here to learn more about Peter.

Earlier this year, mezzo-soprano Katherine Saik DeLugan (MM ’14) was promoted to the position of  Senior Lecturer in Music and Vocal Music at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, one of the largest women’s liberal arts colleges in the United States. She has taught at the college since 2016 and as a lecturer since 2018.

Kate remains an active performer of opera and art song throughout New England; however, her community engagement expands well beyond these realms, including her work as a stage director, administrator, and producer for schools and local arts organizations. She also directs musicals, serves on the boards of local theatre companies, and produces concerts and events that offer opportunities for professional singers in the region.

Click here to learn more about Kate.

MSM Vocal Arts alumna Raehann Bryce-Davis (MM ’12, PS ’13) has released her debut album “Evolution” on the Lexicon Classics label.

Says Raehann about the origin of the recording: “This album reflects stories about my family, my roots in Jamaica, my birthplace in Mexico, my upbringing as a Black girl in a small Texas town, and my evolution into a modern opera singer.”

On piano and providing musical direction on the recording is MSM vocal coach Jeanne-Minette Cilliers.

Learn more about the recording here.
Watch Raehann Bryce-Davis perform a song from the recording 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.

“I’m very pleased to announce that my arranging debut at Carnegie Hall last month, in a concert featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant with The Knights, is included in The New York Times’ “Classical Music Our Critics Can’t Stop Thinking About” roundup for March,” says Darcy James Argue. 

Writes Seth Colter Walls in the New York Times about the concert: “Hopefully a studio recording session is in the works. For now, we have a scaled-back version of Argue’s new arrangement of  Sophisticated Lady, performed by Salvant with the Metropole Orkest for Dutch television earlier this year. In the closing seconds, the piano part nods to an iconic reading of another Ellington tune, In a Sentimental Mood (which Ellington famously recorded with John Coltrane). At Carnegie, I exhaled with real delight as that quotation echoed throughout the auditorium.”

Watch the video with arrangement and conducted by Darcy James Argue here.
Read The New York Times article here.

Long-time MSM Vocal Arts faculty member Joan Patenaude-Yarnell was honored on April 8 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild. In the photo above, posing with Joan (seated) from left to right is MSM Dean of Vocal Arts Carleen Graham, MSM Provost and Executive Vice President Joyce Griggs, and MSM President James Gandre.

The Canadian-born soprano has been a member of both the New York and San Francisco Operas.

Joan Patenaude-Yarnell has also sung with opera companies throughout North America and Europe. Her roles have included Violetta in La Traviata, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Gilda in Rigoletto, Nedda in I Pagliacci, the title role in Suor Angelica, Mimì in La Bohème, Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Elle in La Voix Humaine, and Héro in Béatrice et Bénédict.

Learn more about Joan Patenaude-Yarnell here.

MSM Musical Theatre alumna Jasmine Amy Rogers (’19) plays the title role in BOOP! The Musical, based on the iconic cartoon character Betty Boop; Jasmine is reprising the role she originated in the successful Chicago run of the production that opened in December 2023.

Writes The New York Times about her Broadway debut: “As Betty, the flapper of early talkie cartoons, Jasmine Amy Rogers is immensely likeable. She sings fabulously, sports a credible perma-smile, nails all the Boop mannerisms.”

Read the review here.
Read our blog post about four MSM alumni currently performing on Broadway here.

MSM woodwind student Lorien Britt (BM ’26) won First Prize at the Austin Flute Society Collegiate Division Young Artist Competition on April 5, 2025. The competition took place during the Austin Flute Festival held April 4–5 at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin. Lorien is originally from Dallas, Texas, and studies flute at MSM with MSM Chair of the Woodwinds program Linda Chesis.

Lorien is also a winner of the Riverside Orchestra Concerto Competition and will solo with the orchestra on May 9 at Trinity School at 101 W 91st St in New York City.

Learn more about Lorien here.

Cello alumnus Richard Harper, Esq. (BM ’06) has been named Senior Counsel at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He joined the Sloan Kettering legal team in 2018 as Assistant General Counsel and became Associate General Counsel in 2022.

Following graduation, after working as a production assistant at an artist management company, Richard became a litigation paralegal at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, and within four years, an Associate lawyer for law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

Classical Flute alumnus Jesse Schiffman (BM ’07) was appointed Executive Director of the Golden State Youth Orchestra earlier this year. Schiffman was previously based in the San Diego area, where he served in leading administrative roles for the Foundation for Learning Equality, Manager of Learning and Community Engagement at San Diego Symphony, and as Executive Director of the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus. In addition to his nearly two decades as an educator and arts administrator, he has remained an active freelance flutist. Jesse was a student of Robert Langevin at MSM.

Click here to learn more about Jesse.

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.

Last month, soprano Jacquelyn Wagner (MM ’05) performed the role of Leonora in France at the Opéra National de Bordeaux staging of Beethoven’s Fidelio. She appeared as Field Marshal in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier for her return to Bayerische Staatsoper, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, immediately following her performance in Fidelio.

Earlier engagements this season included with such performing arts organizations as Nationale Opera & Ballet (Amsterdam), National Center for the Performing Arts (China), and Staatsoper Hannover, the State Opera of Hannover, as well as performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Madrid and Hamburg.

Jacquelin was a student of Mignon Dunn at MSM.

Click here to learn more about Jacquelyn.

After making his Boston Pops debut as a guest conductor of the orchestra’s New Year’s Eve Celebration concert, featuring Bernadette Peters at Symphony Hall in Boston, maestro Troy Quinn (MM ’07) will return to guest-conduct the Boston Pops in their concert with rap legend Nas at Tanglewood on June 27.

Quinn is in his eighth season as Music Director of the Owensboro Symphony in Kentucky. He is also in his seventh season as Music Director of the Venice Symphony in Florida and serves concurrently as the Pops Conductor of both the Santa Rosa Symphony in California and the Rhode Island Philharmonic.

Over 30 years, Nas has released 15 albums, one of which is a Grammy-winner and 8 of which are multi-platinum.

Click here to learn more about the concert and to purchase tickets.
Click here to learn more about Troy.

Glenn Choe (BM ’26), who studies Classical Percussion with the faculty of the MSM Percussion program, has won Honorable Mention in the 36th Annual Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition. 

Last September, Glenn placed third in Category A of the Majaoja International Percussion Competition in Finland. Some of his previous achievements include winning first prize at both the 2021 POTS Festival/Competition and the 2019 Great Plains International Marimba Competition, being a 2020 Starlight Symphony Concerto Competition winner.

Learn more about the winners of the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition here.

MSM Vocal Arts alumni Hannah Jones (MM ‘24) and Yeongtaek Yang (MM ‘24) were featured artists in a recital at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center on March 19, as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program (LYADP) spring recital concert series.

Hannah and Yeongtaek are part of the 2024–26 roster of LYADP artists. The goal of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, founded in 1980, is to nurture the most talented young artists through training and performance opportunities.

Meet the three MSM alumni who are part of the LYADP in this video.

See the full roster of LYADP artists and learn more about the program at this link.

Cellist and MSM alumnus Tommy Mesa (DMA ‘23), who recently joined MSM’s College faculty, has been named one of three recipients of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grants awarded for 2025. Tommy Mesa is an acclaimed performer, recording artist, and educator.

The Avery Fisher Artist Program was created by the late Avery Fisher as a gift to Lincoln Center in 1974. The program’s Avery Fisher Career Grants support exceptional instrumentalists and chamber groups who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S.

In addition to receiving $25,000 for career advancement, the winners will get unrestricted use of a professional recording of their performances at the award ceremony, and a custom-designed rosette as a symbol of the Career Grant.

The awards ceremony on March 18 will be streamed live at 6 PM EST on the Violin Channel.

More information here.

Under Artistic Director & Conductor Dr. Justin Bischof (BM ’90, MM ’92, DMA ’98), the Modus Operandi Orchestra performed at Merkin Hall in New York City on March 12 and received a rave review from New York Concert Review.

The Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer has been described by The New Yorker as “the world’s reigning male chorus.” The ensemble features MSM alumnus and countertenor Adam Brett Ward (BM ‘03) who studied French horn at Manhattan School of Music (in photo, back row, center.)

The program of the concert at the Kaufman Music Center in New York on April 10 explores music’s power throughout the ages with repertoire including Medieval and Renaissance motets by Francesco Landini and Orlando di Lasso, a new work by the Grammy-nominated composer Ayanna Woods, and a new version of the jazz standard Without a Song.

For information about the concert, click here.

Chantal Poulin and Shira Gilbert, the Executive and Artistic Directors of the Concours International de Montréal, have announced that Lucie Robert will be President of the International Jury for Violin 2026.

The Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) is a prestigious competition where the international elite of the new generation of classical musicians compete.

“I am deeply honoured to serve as President of the International Jury for Violin 2026. It is with great pleasure that I will welcome the selected violinists to my hometown of Montreal. Their participation in this major competition will undoubtedly represent a meaningful milestone in their musical careers,” said Lucie Robert in a statement. “I look forward to being together with my colleagues on the jury and with the Montreal public to discover these young musicians, and to be moved and transported by their artistry.”

Learn about Lucie Robert here.
Learn about the Concours International de Montréal here.

On the March 12, 2025 episode of NBC’s TODAY show, Precollege alumna and International Advisory Board Member Chloe Flower (PC ’00) performed a live rendition of The Beatles’ “Yesterday” with vocalist Babyface.

This was the same arrangement that Ms. Flower released as a single last month, featuring Babyface and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on her record label, Popsical. The arrangement was recorded in Abbey Road Studios, where The Beatles recorded their album Abbey Road.

Watch the video here.

MSM classical violin alumna Marta Krechkovsky (PS ’10) has been named Assistant Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO). She joined the Symphony in 2014 as a section violinist.

A former student of Glenn Dicterow and Lisa Kim, Marta is a prizewinner of the Czech Republic’s Kocian International Violin Competition and was a top-prize winner at Canadian Music Competition in Montreal. As a soloist, she appeared with numerous orchestras in Ukraine, including the Lviv State Symphony Orchestra. She has performed Bach’s Double concerto with Joshua Bell and Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra during their Asia tour and in 2021 performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Krechkovsky is a member of the Clarion Quartet formed by members of the PSO.

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

The all-female jazz ensemble Artemis —that features MSM Dean of Jazz Arts Ingrid Jensen and MSM Jazz Arts faculty member Nicole Glover —held a residency at the prestigious Village Vanguard jazz club in New York during the week of March 3–9 to launch their new recording. Last fall, the group topped Downbeat magazine’s reader’s poll as jazz group of the year for the second year in a row.

On March 3, the band released its third album, “Arboresque,” which “captures both the hard-bop strut of the most beloved 1960s recordings by its storied label, Blue Note Records, as well as Artemis’s own fresh take on jazz tradition,” writes The New York Times.

The group was formed by pianist Renee Rosnes in 2016, featuring the trumpeter Ingrid Jensen — who named the group for the Greek goddess of the hunt and wilderness — the drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, the bassist Linda May Han Oh, the clarinetist Anat Cohen, the saxophonist Melissa Aldana, and the singer Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Performing at the Village Vanguard is the current ensemble line-up Allison Miller, Noriko Ueda, MSM Jazz Arts faculty member Nicole Glover, Ingrid Jensen, and Renee Rosnes.

A profile of the ensemble is featured in The New York Times here.

MSM alumnus Brandon Jovanovich (‘98) is currently starring as Captain Ahab in the 2010 adaptation of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick by composer Jake Heggie. The production launched the second part of the MET’s 2024–25 season, with performances running through March 29.

In photo above, clockwise from left: a photograph from the production provided by the MET; the current call of opening night with Brandon Jovanovich in center; and on left, bottom photo: MSM President James Gandre (on left) poses with Brandon at a reception at the MET following the opening night performance.

For more information about the production and to purchase tickets, click here.

The Only Girl in the Orchestra won the Oscar at the Academy Awards on March 2 for Best Documentary Short Film.

The documentary tells the story of former MSM bass faculty member Orin O’Brien who, in 1966, was the first woman to be hired in the then 125-year history of the New York Philharmonic. The documentary is by Orin’s niece, Emmy-award-winning producer/ director Molly O’Brien.

Portions of the documentary were filmed at MSM’s Neidorff-Karpati Hall with recording assistance provided by MSM sound engineers.

For more about the documentary, click here.

MSM alumni, the composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist, and author Rupert Holmes (’67, HonDMA ’21)—who studied clarinet at MSM—is the author of the new adaptation of Pirates! The Penzance Musical! presented by the Roundabout Theatre at the Tom Haimes Theatre in New York from April 4 to June 22. Musical direction is by MSM alumni Joseph Joubert (BM ’79, MM ’81), who studied piano at MSM. The production also features orchestrations by Joubert and Daryl Waters (Memphis).

Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, and David Hyde Pierce star in this hilarious reimagining of The Pirates of Penzance. Scott Ellis (Doubt; Kiss Me, Kate) directs and Warren Carlyle (Harmony; Kiss Me, Kate) choreographs Rupert Holmes is the author of The Mystery of Edwin Drood; recent musical direction by Joseph Joubert includes Caroline, or Change, The Color Purple, and The Pirates of Penzance.

For tickets and more information visit this page.