The Second Century Campaign
NURTURING EXCELLENCE AT MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC
“Manhattan School of Music gave me both a great education and a wonderful introduction to the vast cultural life of New York City.”
RON CARTER
MM ’61, H on DMA ’98
Celebrated jazz icon and multi Grammy Award winning musician MSM Faculty Emeritus
Message from the Board Chair and President
Dear Friend,
It is with tremendous pride that we lead Manhattan School of Music, one of the great conservatories in the world, into its second century.
Over the past decade, the School has experienced remarkable growth. Our historic campus has been transformed with nearly $40 million of important capital improvements, most notably a magnificent Centennial-year renovation of our principal performance space and crown jewel, Neidorff-Karpati Hall. The School’s curriculum has been thoughtfully and strategically expanded, including the launch of a Bachelor of Music degree program in Musical Theatre, the only conservatory-based program of its kind in New York City, and the Global Conservatoire, a new digital partnership with four prestigious European conservatories.
All of these accomplishments were made possible through the generosity of donors who share our belief in the transformative power of music and helped as well through prudent fiscal management that has kept MSM financially strong, with no additional debt.
“Manhattan School of Music provides a nurturing atmosphere where the budding artist can discover and nurture his/her/their true directions and strengths.”
SUSAN GRAHAM
MM ’87, H on DMA ’08
Metropolitan Opera Artist Grammy Award winning soprano
With our supremely gifted students, our well-deserved reputation for providing a supportive and nurturing learning environment, a superb faculty of teaching artists, and a remarkably distinguished community of alumni – MacArthur, Guggenheim, and Avery Fisher Fellows and Grammy, Tony, and Pulitzer Prize winners among them – MSM is internationally recognized for excellence in music education.
Yet despite these and other significant accomplishments, MSM has a relatively modest endowment of $35 million; boosting that important fund has increasingly become an institutional imperative. Having a small endowment hinders the School, especially in recruiting and retaining talented students. By growing the endowment, MSM will be able to offer more competitive scholarships in a crowded enrollment landscape. Very importantly, offering greater scholarship support will enable MSM musicians – already working at the highest levels worldwide – to realize even greater accomplishments. MSM’s awardwinning alumni have already achieved worldwide prominence in orchestras, chamber ensembles, and as soloists; on the world’s great opera stages; on Broadway and in the world’s premiere jazz venues; as professors and arts leaders, but imagine what our future graduates can achieve with increased support. Finally, additional scholarship support will allow students to pursue their careers without the burden of large student loan debt.
“My education at Manhattan School of Music was the most important stepping stone on the path to achieving my dream of becoming a professional orchestral musician. I’m deeply grateful for the first-rate artistic education I received at the School and continue to be heartened by the flourishing community of current students and alumni!”
I-JUNG
PS ’20
HUANG
Violinist, New York Philharmonic
MSM’s full commitment to our students informs our decision to launch the Second Century Campaign with a singular focus on increasing the strength of our endowment. We hope that you will consider a campaign gift in order to ensure a brighter future for an extraordinary institution, one that has marshaled the talents and shaped the lives of accomplished and passionate musicians across the globe for more than a century. This brochure provides further details on this new campaign, but we – and our Endowment Committee co-chairs – would be delighted to engage with you individually.
We hope that you share our excitement for bolstering this institutional beacon of music education as it continues to grow and evolve, so that Manhattan School of Music may continue to provide the highest levels of training to gifted young musicians for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Lorraine Gallard James Gandre Chair PresidentNurturing Excellence
Over the course of its superlative 105-year history, Manhattan School of Music (MSM) has grown to become one of the world’s premier music conservatories and a vibrant cultural resource for New York City. This is a school internationally recognized for its innovative curricula; a world-renowned artistteacher faculty, including musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway communities; as well as accomplished, award-winning alumni who are working at the highest levels of the musical, educational, cultural, and professional worlds.
Indeed, MSM graduates have earned Grammy, Tony, Oscar, Avery Fisher, and Emmy awards (Precollege alumnus Robert Lopez has won all four…twice); MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships ; the Pulitzer Prize; Naumburg, George London, Young Concert Artists, and Met Opera Laffont competitions; NEA Jazz Master status, as well as a White House appointment in economics. They have forged successful careers of impressive scope and renown, and for all of them, MSM was foundational.
Manhattan School of Music is certainly not alone in having successful alumni, distinguished faculty, and talented students (though few institutions our size can match the depth of artistry); it has, however, one more fundamental aspect not often found in such a competitive environment. MSM is renowned in the conservatory world for its supportive and profoundly nurturing learning environment.
“MSM prepared me for my Broadway debut by providing real-world experiences, dazzling productions, and access to world-class teachers working in the field. Building relationships with my now mentors and friends was the most valuable part of my time at the School.”
ALYSIA VELEZ
BM ’22
Musical Theatre
Into the Woods Broadway Cast Member Featured in the production’s 2023 Grammy Award-winning recording (“Best Musical Theatre Album”)
Students at the School have abundant performance opportunities. They put their newfound skills into practice alongside talented, creative peers who share their passion for music.
“ MSM was so open to my professional development that by my last semester I was already leading a professional organization and being represented by management. I couldn’t have had a better path and a better space to develop. I have great memories of every one of my teachers. I can’t stress enough how much I love this institution.”
ALONDRA DE LA PARRA
BM ’06, MM ’08
Principal Guest Conductor, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano
Manhattan School of Music’s Opera Program is widely recognized as one of the foremost opera training programs in the world, attracting some of the most talented young singers from the United States and across the globe.Alysia Velez as an MSM student in MSM Musical Theatre’s 2021 revue On the Brink of a Lovely Song
“ Manhattan School of Music has not only opened up so many possibilities for my career, but also shaped me as a person by connecting me with wonderful mentors and lifetime friends.”
PS ’09, AD ’10, H on DMA ’21
Manhattan School of Music students thrive in a supportive atmosphere that encourages excellence, values individuals, and welcomes innovation and live in a vibrant cross-cultural community that fosters life-long friendships and professional relationships.
The palpable warmth of MSM’s culture is prized by current students and faculty and remembered fondly by alumni. This from MSM alumnus, multiple Tony Award-winner Rupert Holmes (’67): “My professors made me believe in myself where I was full of uncertainty; they encouraged and enabled me to be my creative best… I owe our beloved school everything.” And from Grammy-nominated concert pianist Kirill Gerstein (BM ’99, MM ’01): “Through its excellent teachers and warm atmosphere, the School taught me many essential skills as a performer and as a person.” Recent Musical Theatre graduate Bailey Pierce (BM ’23) observes: “There is a certain camaraderie here that I found was lacking in many other schools where I applied. At MSM, everyone is celebrated for being their truest selves, and there is a feeling of family among my peers that I wouldn’t change for a thing.”
“Gaining leadership opportunities in student organizations like student government, the Black Student Union, QueerPBS, and Womxn was an important part of my MSM experience.”
CHIRA BELL
BM ’22 Classical Voice
In the 2022–23 academic year celebrated a seven-year stretch of stable enrollment — the most robust of its history — with 1,000 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students from more than 50 countries and nearly every U.S. state. This cohort benefits not only from the School’s cutting-edge programming, but from the nearly $40 million that the School has invested over the past decade in capital improvements to an architecturally distinguished and historically rich campus.
With its supremely accomplished students, faculty, and alumni, MSM has maintained its front-rank standard of artistic and pedagogic excellence. While a boxing metaphor is perhaps not the most genteel evocation of a musical institution celebrated for its nurturing learning environment, on a very basic level, it is undeniable: for more than a century, the School has punched well above its weight class, indeed at the very highest levels.
“ The fabulous facilities, supportive faculty, excellent location, and performance opportunities led me to choose Manhattan School of Music. I am always working on something exciting, rehearsing for a choreography showcase, seeing my teachers perform on Broadway, or singing a new piece with my exceptional peers.”
BM ’24 Musical Theatre
The cultural enrichment of the larger community is central to the School’s mission. Each season, talented MSM students bring classical, jazz, and musical theatre works to thrilling life in 800 free and low-cost concerts and performances.
YOONSHIN SONG
Concertmaster, Houston Symphony Winner of the Stradivarius International Violin Competition
MEAGHAN SHERIDAN ALMON
The State of the MSM Endowment
With all of its extraordinary successes over the course of its 100-plus- year history, the only thing holding MSM back from even greater success is its modest endowment. In spite of a reputation as one of the world’s leading conservatories, the institution’s $35-million endowment is, relatively speaking, small.
MSM is on par with or exceeds most of its peer institutions in all other key metrics, including undergraduate admit rates and graduation rates—not to mention the thousands of MSM alumni with enviable records of achievement, as well as the School’s desirable location in New York City, the nation’s performing arts capital. All of the many things that have contributed to MSM’s superb reputation and learning environment over the years have allowed it to compete in the recruitment of immensely talented young musicians.
Among its many strengths, MSM is nimble, forward-looking, and able to execute. The institution has been able to responsibly, creatively, and successfully navigate economic downturns and crises (the pandemic, for example) with fleet- and sure-footed alacrity. That ability to execute vision, to implement at the highest level, to be itself, has long stood MSM in good stead. There is no question, however, that despite its superlative reputation and long history of successes, the size of MSM’s endowment is a rare weakness. The School’s current strong enrollment, for example, comes in spite of its endowment, and the future of the institution would be greatly enhanced if that essential resource could be meaningfully bolstered.
THE GOAL: $30 MILLION
Since the beginning of our second century, starting in FY19 through FY22, MSM has raised more than 40% ($13 million) of our goal for the Second Century Campaign. By fall 2022, MSM’s endowment was approximately $35 million. The Campaign seeks to grow the endowment in the next three years by another $15 million to a total of no less than $50 million, roughly equivalent to MSM’s annual operating budget.
MSM presents nearly 70 master classes each year with renowned performing artists such as mezzosoprano Denyse Graves (top left) and Sébastian Jacot, First Principal Flute in the Gewandhaus Orchestra (bottom left).
“ Manhattan School of Music is a vibrant musical community providing students valuable access to high-caliber faculty with extensive experience and knowledge in all disciplines.”
ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO
MM ’08, H on DMA ’22
Metropolitan Opera Artist
MSM Trustee and Grammy Award-winning countertenor
“ I am tremendously grateful to the opera program at Manhattan School of Music. It rooted me in the confidence for sharing my gifts and performing on a stage of any size. It is very important for a young singer to feel comfortable in finding and expressing themselves, and MSM’s opera program grants that space and opportunity!”
J’NAI BRIDGES
BM ’09
Metropolitan Opera Artist
Two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano
MSM Alumni Anthony Roth Costanzo and J’Nai Bridges onstage at the Metropolitan Opera in Phillip Glass’s Akhnaten, 2022 Grammy Award Winner, Best Opera Recording.
James Gandre, EdD, MSM’s ninth President, is an educator and musician with a deep commitment to students and to the development of American conservatory learning.
“ There really isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about my experiences at Manhattan School of Music. The preparation, performance opportunities, faculty, and fellow students all helped make me the performer I am today! And 30 plus years later, I continue to collaborate and work with fellow MSM alumni—a true lifelong artistic family!”
SHULER HENSLEY
BM ’90
2002 Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award Winner, Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Oklahoma!
A Home Away from Home
MSM has achieved an international reputation, not only for the exemplary development of young musicians, but for the warmth and humanity of the School’s learning environment . Its Board of Trustees, faculty, and staff share a deep belief in the transformative power of music and a dedication to supporting and empowering highly talented individuals. Ensuring that no promising musician is deprived of the opportunity to receive this exceptional academic and musical experience due to financial need is one of the institution’s primary aims and, by extension,the primary aim of this endowment campaign.
MSM was one of the first conservatories in the U.S. to acknowledge the prime importance of jazz as an art form. Our programs of study for Jazz Arts majors are designed to develop skilled performers, composers, arrangers, and jazz educators in preparation for careers in jazz music.
“During the early stage of my training, I was extremely fortunate to perform with Ron Carter, which propelled me to work incredibly hard to improve my artistry and technique. While at MSM, I have had wonderful opportunities to perform.”
ERENA TERAKUBO
MM ’23
Jazz Alto Saxophone
MSM alumnus Shuler Hensley with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in the acclaimed Broadway revival of The Music Man.
MSM Musical Theatre students have multiple performance opportunities each year, including in five fully produced book musicals, a Senior Showcase, and the Lab Series, which offers opportunities to work with musical theatre creators on musicals-in-development. All MSM productions are directed, choreographed and designed by professional, working theatre artists.
Excellence and Innovation
The School’s innovative programs give students the highest levels of training in performance, composition, and conducting, as well as a core curriculum in music theory and history, and the humanities. Undergraduate and graduate students take advantage of pioneering programs such as the Orto Center (Distance Learning), the Center for Career Readiness and Community Impact, the firstof-its-kind graduate degree in Orchestral Performance, and the only Musical Theatre conservatory program of its kind in New York City
The School’s internationally recognized Cultural Inclusion Initiative , launched in 2019, has implemented bold new practices aimed at improving access to and celebrating the work of underrepresented creators and placed diversity, equity, and inclusion as a central pillar of MSM.
THE GLOBAL CONSERVATOIRE
MSM has joined forces with four European partners – the Royal College of Music (London), the Royal Danish Academy of Music (Copenhagen), Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna – to launch the Global Conservatoire, an international digital learning environment that allows students to enroll in asynchronous courses at each of the five partner institutions, cultivating an international exchange of ideas.
“ Every week, my mind was blown. I would have a lesson and I would tweet, ‘Just left my teacher. My mind is oozing out of my ears.’”
CHRISTIAN A. SANDS
BM ’11, MM ’15
Grammy Nominated Jazz Pianist and Composer
“ I chose Manhattan School of Music because the teachers, curriculum, and resources offered are among the very best in the country, if not the world. During my time here, I have grown exponentially as a person and as a musician. I am so excited to see what I can achieve.”
WILLIAM CHINN
BM ’23
Classical Percussion
“ Manhattan School of Music believed in me and supported my wish to be a double major in piano and composition. I felt welcomed, supported, and learned so much from all of my teachers. MSM helped prepare me for my career in the US and UK.”
JEFFREY SHARKEY
BM ’86
Principal
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
“ Through its excellent teachers and warm atmosphere, the School has taught me many essential skills as a performer and a person.”
KIRILL GERSTEIN
BM ’99, MM ’00, H on DMA ’21
Concert Pianist and Grammynominated Recording Artist Avery Fisher Career Grant
First Prize Winner, 10th Arthur Rubinstein Competition
A Cultural Jewel in New York’s City Crown
MSM is a vibrant cultural hub , offering audiences a critically acclaimed, cross-disciplinary season of 800 classical, jazz, and musical theatre performances brought to thrilling life by our talented students and distinguished alumni and guest artists. Free of charge to our neighbors in Harlem and Morningside Heights, these take place in MSM’s seven performance spaces as well as off-site on some of the city’s leading stages, including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Merkin Concert Hall . MSM concerts and performances are livestreamed to music lovers in more than 100 countries across the globe.
“...this is a performance of such refinement, strength and commitment that you stop worrying. The work, beautifully accompanied by all,takes on new, limpid colours.”
–The Observer
“Being at MSM has given me more fulfillment than I ever expected. I have been granted amazing opportunities and made lifelong friends. It’s been an honor to study under Colin Williams of the New York Philharmonic. I’m excited to see how the School will help propel me forward into becoming the musician and human being I want to be.”
JACOB OGBU
BM ’25
Tenor Trombone
MSM Jazz Orchestra performing at Dizzy’s Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center MSM Centennial Gala Concert conducted by Leonard Slatkin (HonDMA ’13) in Carnegie Hall, April 17, 2019A Revitalized Campus
Over the past decade, MSM has made sweeping capital improvements to its historic Morningside Heights campus, ensuring that the School’s facilities live up to the excellence of its instruction. These transformative projects, delivered on time and on budget, include: a magnificent renovation of Neidorff-Karpati Hall , MSM’s principal performance space designed by Shreve Lamb & Harmon, the architects of the Empire State Building; a gleaming new main entrance ; the new Baisley Powell Elebash Student Lounge , a beautifully designed, multi-faceted space to support all aspects of student life; 28 new practice rooms with sophisticated acoustic technology ; and two dance studios to support the Musical Theatre degree program launched in 2016.
Sound Fiscal Management and Stability
Beyond its culture of artistic excellence and global reputation for leadership in music education, MSM takes pride in its strong track record of sound fiscal management . Over the past decade, the School has operated within its means, only once running at a modest deficit, when in FY21 significant additional expenses were necessary to make the campus safe for learning at the height of the global pandemic. In recent years, MSM has both implemented cost reductions that are smart and prudent and expanded its offerings. A burgeoning donor base has bolstered the School’s growth and aspirations.
“To study music one needs an organized and systematic approach. The art of studying classical music helped me through the rigorous training required in my field and gave me the confidence and skills to pursue a medical career.”
DR. CYNTHIA A. BOXRUD
BM ’78
Facial Ophthalmic, Cosmetic, and Reconstructive Surgeon Faculty, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA
“ Great schools turn out great citizens. Manhattan School of Music has given the world artistic leaders, as well as persons who make our lives better each day, by allowing its students to grow in a giving and caring environment.”
LEONARD SLATKIN
HONDMA ’13
MSM Trustee and Six-time Grammy Award Winner; Directeur Musical Honoraire, Orchestre National de Lyon Music Director Laureate, Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Conductor Laureate, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
“ Manhattan School of Music gave me the chance to imagine my own art, while rooting me deeply in the fundamentals.”
JOSHUA COHEN
BM ’01
2022 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction, The Netanyahus
The reopening of Neidorff-Karpati Hall, an Art Deco jewel built in 1931, after its sweeping renovation in 2018.“ Manhattan School of Music is a conservatory that excels to the finest music education and performance standards today. As a conservatory, this community of learning nurtures curiosity and responsibility and is a unique sharing environment for life.”
THOMAS HAMPSON
MSM Artistic Advisory Board member and Honorary Professor of Distance Learning
Grammy Award Winning baritone
The MSM Musical Theatre virtual production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 2021
“...no honor or performance could be more meaningful to me than last year’s dazzling and resourceful production of my show...” –Rupert Holmes
For over a century, Manhattan School of Music has helped talented musicians from across the globe realize their full potential, launch successful careers, and build fulfilling musical lives.
Competing for and Supporting Talented Students
Manhattan School of Music is one of seven independent music conservatories in the United States. The vast majority of musicians in the most highly regarded orchestras worldwide come from these and other global conservatories. The competition between conservatories, and prestigious colleges and universities with music programs, is fierce. Growing the endowment would allow MSM to offer more competitive scholarship packages, boosting the School’s already robust recruitment efforts and enhancing MSM’s ability to attract and retain young musicians of the best technical and artistic ability.
Annual tuition at MSM for the 2023–24 academic year is $53,500 making scholarships essential for the majority of students. While the School’s location in the nation’s performing arts capital has clear advantages for aspiring artists and functions, along with our extraordinary faculty, as one of the School’s central recruitment tools, the city’s high cost of living makes financial aid support especially necessary.
Although 87% of MSM students receive some level of scholarship support, the School’s modest endowment means that only 5% of students receive full tuition scholarships. In fact, the average scholarship is just $22,000, well below the cost of annual tuition. After graduating, as our talented students take wing – in orchestras and ensembles, on opera and musical stages, as soloists, teachers, and arts administrators – they deserve the chance to embrace their futures without the burden of significant student loan debt.
“ Attending Manhattan School of Music changed my way of thinking about music, and what career path within it I might take. My professors made me believe in myself where I was full of uncertainty; they encouraged and enabled me to be my creative best... I owe our beloved school everything.”
RUPERT HOLMES
’67, H on DMA ’21 Tony Award-winning Composer
Among Manhattan School of Music’s world-renowned faculty are four-time Tony Award-winner Boyd Gaines, Grammy-nominated Steinway Artist Elio Villafranca, and Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples of the New York Philharmonic, teaching artists who understand firsthand what it takes to build a successful music career in the 21st century.
“I won’t deny that I’ve drifted from a career in music to one in economics, but I still treasure and frequently tap the reservoir of musical knowledge, appreciation, and love of music that comes with a Manhattan School of Music degree.”
JARED BERNSTEIN
BM ’78
Chair, White House Council of Economic Advisers
The Future
As MSM enters its second century, one thing is clear: while it is a thriving institution with a newly enhanced campus, strong enrollment, and a deep bench of superb artist-teachers, the School has a pressing need to build a larger endowment to secure the School’s future and allow the institution to do what it does so well even better
Providing the in-depth, personalized training MSM students receive (including weekly private lessons), as well as student health and other services, comes at considerable annual expense. Increasing the size and impact of its endowment will enable MSM to provide more competitive scholarships to talented students whose financial means often do not equal their exceptional musical gifts . Having the ability to offer more scholarships will allow MSM to attract and retain students from a broad range of communities and backgrounds in a highly competitive enrollment landscape.
Very importantly, growing the endowment will also provide the School with greater financial security and the ability to weather economic downturns and unexpected events. In addition to its virtue as an important enrollment tool, a more substantial endowment would provide a reliable, consistent source of funding for the School’s general operations, enabling MSM to lessen its dependence on tuition.
“ Studying at Manhattan School of Music has been life changing. The generous scholarship I have received inspires me to give back. I hope that one day I will be able to help students like me achieve their goals just as I have been helped and build a platform for classical music in Barbados, my home country.”
FERNANDO WATTS
BM ’22, MM ’24
Classical Voice
Our graduate program in Orchestral Performance, chaired by David Chan, Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (above, center), seeks to produce polished musicians of the highest artistic caliber. Students are prepared intensively in the orchestral repertoire for careers as symphonic players by a faculty made up of players of major New York orchestras.
“ Manhattan School of Music’s Opera Studies Program is one of the best professional training programs in the world today. It teaches students what it truly means to be an opera singer. I can’t imagine having chosen a better place to prepare for my career.”
YUNPENG WANG
MM ’13
Metropolitan Opera Artist
MSM Musical Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George
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