Success Stories

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.

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.

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.

MSM alumni soprano Shelén Hughes (BM ’18, MM ’20) and bass-baritone Evan Lazdowski (BM ’20) have been named winners in the 2025 George and Nora London Foundation Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers, one of the opera world’s oldest and most prestigious competitions. They are pictured above along with the other three principal award winners–Evan is left, Shelén is second from right.

The winners were announced after the competition’s final round on February 21, which took place at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, with both an in-person and online audience.

Shelén Hughes from Cochabamba, Bolivia sang the “Snow Maiden’s Aria” from Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden, winning the George London Award of $12,000 in memory of Leonie Rysanek sponsored by an anonymous donor.

Evan Lazdowski from Moultonborough, New Hampshire sang “When my cue comes, call me” from Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, winning the George London Award of $12,000 sponsored by the New York Community Trust and the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers.

Learn more about the competition here.

Under Artistic Director & Conductor Dr. Justin Bischof (BM ’90, MM ’92, DMA ’98), the Modus Operandi Orchestra returns to Merkin Hall on March 12, 2025, at 6:30 PM. 

MSM Classical Piano Co-Chair and faculty member Alexander Moutouzkine (BM ’03, MM ’05, AD ’06) will be the featured soloist on Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”). The evening, entitled “The Three B’s,” will also celebrate two other Beethoven masterpieces, the Coriolan Overture and Symphony No. 7.

For tickets (student price available), visit this link.  

MSM AFFILIATE ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL:

Eiko Kano (BM ’05, MM ’07), Concertmaster
Marina Alba (MM ’26), Violin I
Carlos Rafael Martinez Arroyo (BM ’22, MM ’24), Violin II
Hao Yuan (PPD ’25), Violin II
Jihyun Baik (PPD ’25), Violin II
Milad Daniari (BM ’15), Double Bass
Anna Urrey (MM ’11, PS ’12), Flute I
Hsuan-Fong Chen (PS ’15), Oboe I
Benjamin Fingland (MSM faculty), Clarinet I
Blair Hamrick (PS ’18), Horn II
Changhyun Cha (MM ’20, PS ’21), Trumpet I
Sean Ritenauer (BM ’07, MM ’09), Timpani

Violinist Risa Hokamura (BM ‘24), a first year master’s student of Lucie Robert and Koichiro Harada as well as a Young Concert Artist, will be performing the Six Eugene Ysaye Sonatas for Solo Violin op 27 on March 7, 2025 at the Kioi Hall in Tokyo.

Risa Hokamura had her recital debut with Young Concert Artists at the Kaufman Center’s Merkin Hall in New York City on February 8, 2023 and at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater in Washington, D.C. on March 23, 2023.

At the age of 10, Risa Hokamura began to capture top prizes in competitions in Japan. She won the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and First Prize in the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions at the age of 17.

More about Risa Hokamura here.

MSM Musical Theatre alumni Alesha Nicole Jeter (BM ’23) (in photo taken backstage, on right) and Lars Hafell (BM ’20) (on left) are currently performing in the ensemble of the Book of Mormon national tour with stops in Arkansas, Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, and other states through early June, with other dates being added.

Lars Hafell is a Kentucky native now based in NYC. Alesha Nicole Jeter’s most recent role was as Auntie in the Kennedy Center’s TYA National Tour of Show Way The Musical.

Learn more about the tour here.

Krakauer and Tagg’s Good Vibes Explosion will perform a series of concerts in February the Tristate Area (New York & Connecticut), including a residency with Fairfield University and performing at the Quick Center in Fairfield, Connecticut; The Local in Saugerties, New York; and Flushing Town Hall (in a rare New York City appearance for the band) as part of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts.

Krakauer and Tagg’s Good Vibes Explosion is a touring project conceived and created by Grammy-nominated “ebullient clarinet wizard” (Time Out NY) David Krakauer and multi-instrumentalist/producer Kathleen Tagg, showcasing a multi-generational/high-octane group of collaborators from very different backgrounds, hailing from the USA, Canada, Iran and South Africa.

Their album Mazel Tov Cocktail Party  has received rave reviews across North America and Europe: France’s Le Monde calls it: “a breath of fresh air, an incentive to dance…In the face of the overwhelming negativity and alarming rise of hatred and intolerance in today’s world, let’s breathe and dance together…More than a suggestion, an injunction.”

Touring information here.

Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron will make her Carnegie Hall debut on March 20 with pianist Kunal Lahiry. Fleur Barron recently won Best Opera Recording at the 2025 Grammy Awards for her role as Adriana Mater in Saariaho: Adriana Mater. Another MSM alumnus, tenor Nicholas Phan ( ’02), won as well for the recording, interpreting the role of Yonas.

The Carnegie Hall performance featuring Fleur Barron and the pianist Kunal Lahiry, entitled The Power and the Glory, is taking place in Weill Recital Hall.

The event description underlines the talents of the two performers: “Fleur—who has been called “a knockout performer” by London’s The Times—traverses 150 years of music and poetry, plus several traditions alongside BBC New Generation Artist Lahiry, whose technique at the keyboard has been called “orchestral in its scope and power.”

Information about the concert here.

MSM vocal arts student Sofia Gotch (MM’ 23, PPD ’25)—in photo (middle), with her MSM vocal teacher Ruth Gordon (on left), and MSM Dean of Vocal Arts Carleen Graham (on right)—is one of 20 semifinalists in the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition; the semifinalists range in age from 24 to 30 and were selected from an applicant pool of nearly 1,500 aspiring opera singers.

The semifinalists, who have moved past regional auditions across the United States, will compete in the semifinal round of the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition on Sunday, March 9, 2025, beginning at 11AM ET. The semifinal competition will be held on the Met stage before a panel of judges.

For more information, click here.

MSM alumnus Tony Mazzocchi (BM ’95, MM ’97), who studied classical trombone at MSM, has been named the new Executive Director of the Kaufman Music Center in New York City, a performing arts complex that houses Lucy Moses School, Special Music School, the Merkin Hall concert venue, and the new Pathways program for low-income middle school students.

“A visionary leader who has dedicated his career to shaping the future of music education and performance, Mazzocchi has served since 2020 as Director of the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, and Executive Director of the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont since 2010,” writes the Kaufman Music Center in a website statement. “An accomplished trombonist, Mazzocchi has performed with leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony and San Diego Symphony, and in numerous Broadway productions.”

In a statement,Tony Mazzocchi says he is deeply honored to assume the leadership role and calls the Kaufman Music  “a truly extraordinary organization that stands at the unique intersection of education, performance and public service. I am excited to further demonstrate the power of the arts to develop individuals and strengthen communities.”

Learn more here.

This year, 14 members of our MSM Community were part of GRAMMY Award-winning projects (out of our nearly 50 nominations). The 67th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on February 2 honored winning and nominated recordings, compositions, and artists for work released between September 16, 2023, and August 30, 2024, as chosen by the members of the Recording Academy.

Read our full list of winners in the MSM Community here.

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.