Many singers believe that Manhattan is the center of the universe, and with good reason. For music, theater, art and general excitement, it stands among the great cities of our time, but with an attitude that no other can rival. And it is home to one of the finest training grounds in the world for singers—the Manhattan School of Music (MSM), located just a heartbeat or two from Columbia University and a cab ride from the Met, City Opera, and New York’s countless other cultural attractions.
It is impossible to examine MSM outside the context of its urban surroundings. Founded in an Upper East Side brownstone in 1918 and relocated to its current Morningside Heights location in 1968, the School’s identity is deeply entrenched in New York City. It is the City—a source of renowned faculty and visiting artists, and a living classroom for students—that provides the School’s creative juice.
For Beth Clayton, a successful young mezzo who graduated from the School in 1994, location was a paramount consideration in choosing a graduate voice program. “It was very important to me to be in New York City,” she says. “You’re surrounded by music, and you learn so much by observing. It’s energizing. I got to see so many professional productions, and to perform in the City as well. You can’t ask for more things to be happening around you, and to be pursuing my own things at the same time was amazing.”
Thriving on the talent, energy and cultural resources around it, MSM continues to grow and change while maintaining its intimate neighborhood-school quality. This is quite a feat for one of the nation’s largest private conservatories.
“Basically, I like to hear every student who comes into the School so I know where they are vocally when they start,” says chairman of the voice department Maitland Peters. Maintaining this kind of connection takes serious commitment from Peters and his faculty cohorts. “We listened to almost 800 tapes last year,” he says. “During spring auditions, we hear people for six straight days, taking a little break for lunch. One thing that’s nice is that we look for potential—the singer who has something special that we can develop.”
In the 2001-2002 school year, 190 singers with that something special were enrolled in the voice program. Approximately 75 percent of these were either Masters in Music, Doctor of Musical Arts or Professional Certificate candidates, and the rest were undergraduates. Serving these students is a respected faculty that includes 15 voice teachers and a host of others in the areas of diction, coaching, acting, dance, language, theory, history and more.
The faculty at MSM is a huge draw for some young singers. It includes individuals who have had spectacular careers of their own, and many who are still performing regularly. “For me, it was all about wanting to study with a specific teacher—Mignon Dunn,” says Clayton. “I wanted someone who was an active singer, and she has had a fabulous performance career. There was also a talented coaching staff, and that was a big benefit. They gave really good professional input, which was somewhat new for me.”
Though she didn’t have a specific teacher in mind when she auditioned for Manhattan, mezzo Ronnita Miller, a second-year grad student, ended up in Cynthia Hoffman’s studio. It proved an excellent match. “She’s really helped me to open up and get in touch with the physical side of singing, the mechanics of the voice, where everything is and how it works together,” says Miller. “Singing is complicated, and I never really appreciated how much until now. I love my teacher.”
Other faculty members include Betty Allen, Edith Bers, Arthur Levy, Marlena Klienman Malas and Patricia McCaffrey. And though not all receive the same glowing reviews as Hoffman and Dunn, students who are unhappy with their voice teachers may change studios at any time during their stay at Manhattan.
Vocal performance students get 14 hours of private voice lessons per semester and a minimum of ten hours of coaching—more if they’re preparing for a recital or an opera role. This is less time than singers receive at some rival programs; still, it is sufficient to prepare students for the performance demands of the MSM program, which are fewer than what you will find at Curtis, Indiana or Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. But the quality of performance is across-the-board excellent, and students of all levels keep constantly busy.
Undergrads have a full schedule of academic courses along with subjects such as chorus, a weekly performance seminar, and Opera Theatre—a class that gives all juniors and seniors the chance to work on small scenes and occasionally a one-act opera. Graduate coursework is much more performance-oriented, providing workshops, masterclasses, various ensembles, recitals and other miscellaneous events. “We did a performance with orchestra at St. John the Divine with Julius Rudel conducting, La clemenza di Tito with full orchestra, a fully-staged Carmen with two pianos in seminar, Cosi fan tutte—all this year in the spring,” explains Peters. And then there’s Opera Studies, which produces two fully-staged operas and an evening of opera scenes with orchestra each year.
Graduate students must audition for Opera Studies, and less than half of those who do make the cut. The director of the program, Gordon Ostrowski, hears from 125 to 150 singers every year and accepts about 50 or 60. The fact that it’s competitive, he feels, inspires singers to try harder. “Those who participate in our productions are heard by managers, producers and stage directors,” he says. “Singers have gotten auditions at City Opera based on work they’ve done here. And I’ve also had the opera call me and hire my students as chorus members.”
Even though Ostrowski double-casts female roles in all productions and tries to rotate performance opportunities to accommodate the maximum number of students, not all those who make it into Opera Studies achieve a place in a mainstage production. Beth Clayton was one who did. “I felt pretty lucky, because I always got cast, and a lot of people didn’t. We did things that were well conducted, had really good directors, and with professional costumes. I did a world premiere the first year I was there. It was a great experience, but they could have done works that utilized more people.”
Ronnita Miller knows how it feels to get close and not achieve a mainstage role. She participated in Opera Studies in the spring of 2002 and wasn’t cast in a production. “It’s a tough program and hard to get in a mainstage production,” she admits. “But you will perform. I’ve performed every semester I’ve been here. I just don’t know if it will be enough to prepare me for a career.”
Dean of faculty Richard Adams believes that if someone is really ready, they can launch a career out of the school, and that those who are not ready get ample opportunities to develop. He insists that the goal of the program is to prepare students technically, musically and dramatically for a career in music. They even offer courses and instruction on career management and development, something that is conspicuously lacking in other voice programs.
Adams, who spent 20 years in concert management before joining the MSM faculty, taught a class last year called “The Business of Vocal Music.” “Students learned practical things about head shots, audition preparation and what conductors look for,” he says. “We brought in publicity people and singers who were working. The class project was to put together a press kit so that they had an 8×10, bio, sample programs, and a human interest story.”
Ostrowski includes business-related sessions in Opera Studies as well. Miller and Clayton recall speakers coming in to talk about management, how to negotiate, career planning and so on. “The last one, from Houston Grand Opera, told us about auditioning in the professional world—what to look for and ask about,” says Miller. “We learned about things to be aware of and how to present yourself, which I think is extremely helpful.”
The School also accommodates students who have professional engagements by arranging leaves of absence if necessary. “It’s really important, because part of the reason we’re here is to create professionals. We have a relationship with City Opera and the Met. They come to our performances to see upcoming talent,” says Adams.
Unlike many rival institutions, MSM does not focus exclusively on opera. Its students get a sampling of various styles as they progress through the voice program. Besides Opera Studies, the program offers ensembles in musical theater and baroque arias. “Virtually 100 percent of our singers come in with operatic dreams,” Adams admits, “but while they’re here, some may change their career goals. Ours is a school that embraces all kinds of music. We even have jazz singers.”
This all-embracing philosophy has led the School’s voice department to take chances in areas where others may fear to tread. For example, rather than grooming students on standard repertoire, Opera Studio regularly produces new works, world premieres and revivals of seldom-performed operas. This gives students a chance to do quality work with fresh material, avoiding inevitable comparisons with professionals who have mastered more common roles. The operas also attract New York audiences and critics who hunger for something different.
Many singers walk away from Opera Studio productions with valuable exposure and a commercial recording to their credit. “We’ve issued a series of ten CDs of our performances,” says Ostrowski. “These are works that haven’t been recorded, and we hope it will encourage future performances. I don’t know of any other school doing this.”
Opera Studio also departs from the norm by offering Discover Opera, an outreach ensemble in which students create a new opera and take it into area public schools. The program gives students a chance to perform and work with kids while developing stage presence and confidence. For Miller it was an eye-opener. “When I started here, it was opera all the way,” she says, “but my thinking has changed somewhat. Discover Opera was the most challenging and rewarding experience I’ve ever had. Since then I’ve been thinking of other ways I might be able to use my musical experience, including some administration.”
Still, MSM is not a school for aspiring teachers and administrators. The voice department offers no courses in pedagogy or arts administration. Its faculty aims to develop world-class singers, or at the very least plant the seeds to start this growth process. Though no one expects them to jump right into a career at the major opera houses after two years of graduate studies, MSM singers consistently get rave reviews from respected publications such as Opera News, The New Yorker, The New York Times, New York Magazine and The Village Voice.
Even Maitland Peters, who has listened to countless students over the past ten years, is continually surprised by what he hears. In May of 2002, after five days of juries with very little break time, he found himself in an unusual state. “I’d sat there all week listening to unbelievable singing and performing by musical geniuses, and I had to say I wasn’t the least bit tired. In fact, I felt enlightened. I had to thank my faculty because the consistent level of singing was phenomenal.”
Miller and Clayton agree that the level of singing inspires students and sets a high bar of achievement. They also found the academics to be top notch and the relationships among faculty members productive. “Many of the teachers are active composers and writers—people who are doing what they teach,” says Clayton. “They have lives that extend beyond the classroom, which I found very exciting. I finally felt that my life was being applied. It wasn’t just in a book anymore.”
MSM also has the kind of facilities that enhance the learning, and performing, experiences of students. There’s the 850-seat John C. Borden Auditorium for opera that gives young singers the big hall experience, a 250-seat recital hall, two small 75- and 35-seat recital halls, and an 82,000-volume library with an extensive music collection. And the campus continues to grow. A black box theater—in which the voice department will do scenes, smaller operas and auditions—is about to be completed. And last September, MSM opened the G. Chris and Sungeun Han-Andersen Residence Hall that houses 380 students. The new hall, adjacent to MSM’s main campus, also has 60 practice rooms.
“This is the first time we have had a residence hall on campus,” says Adams. “We rented space before, but it was inadequate. And we now have double the number of practice rooms we had two years ago, which is fantastic. There has always been the struggle for those spaces. But I hear so little about it now that it’s really quite gratifying.”
Singers who settle on MSM as their choice of vocal program, and make it through the audition process, will pay more than $22,000 per year at the graduate level for the honor of attending. Add to this $400 for fees, the costs of housing and food, and miscellaneous living expenses, and that number soars to the $35,000 range. And financial aid, while available in various forms, is slim compared to that offered at other institutions.
This year, 144 singers received financial aid in the form of scholarships, loans, or grants, and the average amount was $19,500. Sixty-seven voice majors were on merit scholarships that averaged $6,665 for the year. “We don’t have the financial aid capabilities of other schools,” says Ostrowski. “Students are awarded financial aid at their entrance audition based on talent, and our financial aid office also assesses students’ needs. They may be offered loans or work on campus. We have no graduate assistantships, so most students have to work to come here. Many have jobs singing at churches, small opera companies, Lincoln Center, and different kinds of temp jobs.”
Ronnita Miller is fortunate, however. She managed to piece together enough financial aid to cover her needs. “I got a scholarship that covered 35 percent the first year and 50 percent the second year,” she explains. “I also got offered an RA [Resident Assistant] position in the new Hall. It gives you free housing on top of a 50 percent break in tuition. I only have a little more to cover on my own, which I will do with loans.”
In weighing the pros of MSM’s voice program against those of rival schools, you have an intimate and nurturing environment, reputable faculty, excellent facilities, quality performance opportunities, a creative and varied performance environment, an exceptional outreach ensemble program, a series of professionally-produced recordings of student productions, career management training, and, of course, location, location, location.
On the con side of the coin, MSM has fewer performance opportunities than most of the other “top ten” voice programs in the country, a high price tag and low financial aid quotient, and no real opera emphasis for those seeking that kind of degree. But you may be hard-pressed to find students or graduates who will complain about these paltry issues. For one thing, the voice department has put forth a concerted effort to increase performing opportunities for students at all levels over the past five years. This is an ongoing trend. For another, singers who want to learn at MSM will do everything they can to make it happen. But perhaps most importantly, the singers I spoke with here like their school. Clayton and Miller are both extremely loyal to MSM. It is, they feel, a wonderful place to develop and explore their vocal potential.
Richard Adams thinks he knows why: “There’s vitality here and an interest on the part of faculty and staff in helping the students grow. Manhattan School of Music is a very user-friendly place for singers. And there’s no getting around the fact that New York is part of our classroom. A student can be preparing to sing Carmen and go see it being done professionally. There’s just no substitute for being here.”
