Music School history

In 1953, President Mannes and the school's director, Felix Salzer, obtained a charter from the State of New York.

In 1956 Doctor Schenck retired, and John Brownlee — noted baritone and then member of the MSM voice faculty — was appointed to head the School.

It was renamed the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in 1957.

1962: The Interlochen Arts Academy, the first independent fine arts boarding school in the United States, opens in Interlochen, Michigan.

1964: Manhattanville College establishes the first graduate degree program in music education.

By 1965, continued growth once again resulted in a shortage of practice rooms and rehearsal space for large ensembles.

1967: The Tanglewood Symposium draws together 34 major music educators to analyze the role and state of musical education in the United States.

After relocating in 1969 — from its long-time East Side home to larger facilities on West 122nd Street and Claremont Avenue — MSM’s college enrollment increased, the preparatory division expanded, and extension/evening classes were added.

To help alleviate this problem, a new rehearsal-performance hall was built in 1970 to accommodate the Marching Band, Symphonic Band, University and Civic Orchestras and various music festivals.

1975: The Education Act for Handicapped Students triggers growth in music therapy education and reforms music programs to address students of all abilities.

Metropolitan Opera conductor George Schick succeeded Brownlee as the School’s third president, and John O. Crosby, founder and general director of the Santa Fe Opera, became president in 1976.

In 1979, the South Carolina Legislature’s approval of funds for planning a new fine arts complex came with the promise of a concert hall and a facility to house the entire music program.

In 1984, under President Charles Kaufman, Mannes moved to a larger home on West 85th Street.

In 1989, Mannes became a division of The New School for Social Research (now called The New School), a progressive university associated with such musical pioneers as Aaron Copland, Henry Cowell, and John Cage.

Earmarked as one of the top three university projects, a new music building was recommended for state funding in 1990.

In 1991, the Legislature approved a bond bill that included funds for a new music building, and construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony at the Koger Center on Feb.

Marta Casals Istomin, former director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, was appointed president of the School in 1992.

The National Standards for Music Education were developed in 1994.

In 2000, following the two-year interim deanship of Alvarez, Jamal J. Rossi was named dean.

Marta Istomin’s tenure saw the construction of the G. Chris and SungEun Andersen Residence Hall, which opened in 2001, on property adjacent to the existing School.

In 2005, Doctor Robert Sirota was appointed president after his tenure as Director of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.

He instituted a graduate program in Contemporary Music Performance and, in 2010, the Center for Music Entrepreneurship, which continued MSM’s long history of career development services and offerings.