mannes school of music welcomes 10 distinguished artists and educators to faculty

New Faculty Amplify Commitment to World Class Conservatory Experience and Presentation of Innovative Live Performances

Students rehearsing in the Glassbox Theater at Mannes School of Music

February 1, 2018 – Richard Kessler, Dean of Mannes School of Music and Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts at The New School, today announced multiple new Mannes faculty appointments. Among the distinguished artists and educators new to Mannes are Grammy-nominated composer Anna Clyne, Imani Winds ensemble member, Urban Classical Music Project founder and horn player Jeff Scott, internationally acclaimed pianists Blair McMillen, Ursula Oppens, and Ann Schein, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra members Wen Qian (violin) and Javier Gándara (horn), and recently retired Met Orchestra horn player Michelle Baker. Also in the area of strings, Jennifer Koh and Shmuel Ashkenasi have both joined the faculty and will begin teaching in the Fall, 2018 semester.

“A cornerstone of what makes for a great music conservatory is the standard of excellence of the major faculty,” said Kessler. “This standard was set a century ago when David Mannes appointed Ernest Bloch and later George Szell, to teach composition and theory. Today, we are proud to announce the most recent additions to the major faculty, an exemplary group of performers, composers, and pedagogues.

“On a sentimental note, we are thrilled to welcome the noted pianist Ursula Oppens, whose mother, Edith, was a member of the Mannes piano faculty from 1959 to 1984.”

While maintaining teaching studios at Mannes, the new faculty members will also play roles in many College of Performing Arts activities, such as working with the chamber music program and offering performance and career workshops, master classes, recitals, and more.

About Anna Clyne:
http://www.annaclyne.com/

About Jeff Scott:
http://www.musicbyjeffscott.com/

About Blair McMillen:
http://arielartists.com/artists/blair-mcmillen/

About Ursula Oppens:
http://www.colbertartists.com/ursula-oppens/

About Ann Schein:
http://www.annschein.com/

About Wen Qian:
http://www.metorchestramusicians.org/wen-qian/

About Michelle Baker:
http://www.metorchestramusicians.org/michelle-baker/

About Javier Gándara:
http://javier-gandara.com/

About Shmuel Ashkenasi:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmuel_Ashkenasi

About Jennifer Koh:
www.jenniferkoh.com

About Mannes School of Music

Entering its second century as a dynamic center of musical learning, Mannes School of Music is a standard bearer for innovative artistry, dedicated to developing citizen artists who engage their communities and the world through music. Mannes upholds a rich tradition of pedagogical excellence established by founders David and Clara Mannes in 1916. Eminent recitalists as well as visionary educators, they sought to educate the whole person within each student, developing a strong technical foundation for music making while also instilling a sense of what it means to make a life in music. Today the founders’ vision is alive and well, and Mannes students graduate well prepared with the knowledge, understanding, and skills they need to thrive as artists in the 21st century.

Through its undergraduate, graduate and preparatory programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by world class faculty and visiting artists. Beyond the mastery gained through one-on-one instruction, ensemble participation, master classes, and a thorough grounding in theory imparted by the renowned Techniques of Music department, students benefit from Mannes’s leading edge cross-disciplinary approach. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes affords students unique opportunities for collaborative work. Projects can often extend beyond the College’s walls to include New School partners such as the Parsons School of Design, as well as prominent arts organizations across the country.

Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall. Also home to Jazz and to Drama’s BFA program, the building hums with creative practice and exploration, culminating in performances across campus as well as at prestigious New York venues such as City Center, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Mannes proudly maintains a long-standing tradition of providing access to free and affordable performances for the public, including John Zorn’s ground-breaking experimental music venue, The Stone, which makes its home in the Glass Box Theater.

Mannes’s distinguished alumni include the 20th century song-writing legend Burt Bacharach; the great pianists Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and Bill Evans; acclaimed conductors Semyon Bychkov, Myung Whun Chung, JoAnn Falletta, and Julius Rudel; music theorist and educator Carl Schachter; path-breaking jazz fusion guitarist Larry Coryell; beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade as well as the newest opera stars of today, Yonghoon Lee, Danielle de Niese, and Nadine Sierra; and Pulitzer Prize-winning arts journalist Tim Page.

For more information about the College of Performing Arts, please visit www.newschool.edu/performingarts

About The New School

Imagine a university where scholars, artists, and designers find the support they need to challenge convention and fearlessly create positive change in the world. Imagine a community where walls between disciplines are dissolved, so journalists collaborate with designers, architects with social researchers, media specialists with activists, poets with musicians. Imagine an intellectual and creative haven that never has and never will settle for status quo. In 1919, a few great minds imagined a school that would rethink the purpose of higher learning. The New School was the result. Today, it is the only comprehensive university housing a world-famous design school, a premier liberal arts college, a renowned performing arts college, a legendary social research school, and many more schools and programs designed for students of every age and stage of life. No other university offers a more creatively inspired, rigorously relevant education. Their academic centers in New York City, Paris, Shanghai, and Mumbai offer more than 10,000 students more than 135 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

 

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Media Contacts:

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