Manhattan School of Music

Elite education in an intimate environment

Top Classical, November 2021
Founded in 1918, the Manhattan School of Music is a music institute in New York City dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of its students, training them in performance and composition.  With humble beginnings as a small community music school, the School is now a renowned conservatory for classical music, jazz and musical theater. Located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City, it has over 500 undergraduate students and offers undergraduate and graduate and doctoral degrees in voice, instrumental performance, jazz, and composition; graduate degrees in accompanying, orchestral performance, and contemporary performance and a doctorate in accompanying.

Under the leadership of Marta Istomin, president since 1992, the School employs a superb artist-teacher faculty of 250 professional musicians, and is also an active presenter of more than 400 public performances.   Manhattan School of Music’s faculty is made up of members of New York City’s leading performing institutions–the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center etc.–as well as acclaimed soloists and chamber musicians.

Scores of alumni have made it big in the music world, including classical composer John Corigliano, who has won a Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy awards and an Oscar, as well as actor and composer Harry Connick Jr., who has sold over 28 million albums worldwide.

Receiving education at such great standards is not available for everybody. Admissions are very selective and the entrance fees are high. In fact a recent study concluded that Manhattan School of Music’s overall typical net price combined with high quality education results in a slightly lower value for the money when compared to other colleges and universities in New York. The intimate environment is very appreciated by the majority of the students. However most of them reported problems due to the low number of rehearsal rooms given the number of students. 

About the education program, even though nobody would argue that it is rich and solid, some voices claim that it might be too restricted letting no space for artistic freedom and creativity. Alexa Smith, Chief of Staff and Assistant Vice President of Special Initiatives at Manhattan School of Music, believes that more space should be given to art in the music programs: “There is room for more art in our music programs. We ask our students to learn from one another. We ask our orchestra members and opera casts to grow from their interactions to produce highly creative art. But if we do not come to the stage with equal liberation, this concept is not possible. Artistic liberation comes from a shared idea of what matters. Free expression and interpretation matter. Technique matters. And the person whose music you are singing or playing matters.” All in all, Manhattan School of Music is and will always be one of the best music institutions every undergraduate would love to attend.

Yale University School of Music

An ideal school only for the best

Top Classical, September 2021
Yale University School of Music is one of the 12 professional schools of Yale University in the United States. Founded in 1854, it is the only music school in the Ivy League that has been committed to cultivating world-class musicians for over 100 years. In addition to receiving professional training in music, students are encouraged to participate in the rich intellectual life of Yale University and to develop and pursue interests in areas outside of their majors. 

In November 2005, an anonymous donation of $100 million which was later revealed to be from Yale alumnus Stephen Adams endowed full scholarships for all students accepted to the Yale School of Music. 

The world-renowned Yale University has cultivated several generations of prominent American leaders and its music school also holds a key position in this field. For more than a century, the Yale School of Music has cultivated generations of world-renowned artists, composers, and prestigious music scholars. The school provides students with a stage to keep up with the times to showcase their talents. 

Music schools don’t usually publish admissions statistics, but Yale School of Music is generally assumed to have less than a 1% admit rate.  International students currently account for approximately 40% of the total number of students, of which Asian students account for approximately 18%. 

In 2020 due to the pandemic situation, the school offered an outstanding support to their students. In a March 31st 2020 a letter to alumni by Dean Robert Blocker outlined an ambitious plan to provide aid, including “a one-time stipend of $500” to all students to assist with travel and expenses; full pay, despite social distancing, for all student employees through May 1st, 2020; and relocation of all international students who could not return home to University housing. 

Alumni interviewed were deeply moved by the School’s actions on behalf of students:  
“I am proud to know that my alma mater, the Yale School of Music, is taking proactive, compassionate steps to aid its students during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. By putting its considerable resources to good use – such as housing students, disbursing emergency funds, or paying student employees for cancelled work – the YSM is taking a lead role among its peers in finding a helpful, humane response. This is a wildly scary time for many musicians around the world, and it is heartwarming to see a world-class educational institution stand up and support its artists.” 

Students in Yale School of Music are very fortunate. Their admission proved they are the best of the best, and only brilliant performers come out from this historical prestigious institution.

Trinity College

Where tradition and innovation meet

Top Classical, June 2021
On a Friday 15th June 1877, 1,118 candidates took the first external Trinity exams. Today’s music graduate exams are direct descendants of those first. 

Trinity’s institutional origins date back to 1872, when the College was created “for the advancement of Church music and the improvement of its musicians.” Trinity’s founder, Henry George Bonavia Hunt, was born in 1847. While still a law student at the London Temple, Bonavia Hunt assembled a group of influential musicians from the Church of England to establish a place for training and practice in choral and instrumental music. Trinity introduced a system of local examinations, first in theory and from 1879 in instrumental and vocal music and finally establishing the current structure of ATCL, LTCL and FTCL, which remains the “industry standard” to this day. 

40 years before married women over 30 could vote in Britain, Trinity decided that public examinations, originally only open to male members of the Church of England, should be open to all, whether men or women, college students or not. Therefore, on November 23, 1878, it was decided “that for the future, the ladies can enter for the higher TCL exams.” 

In 2005, Trinity College of Music and Laban, leading centers of music and contemporary dance, came together to form Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, becoming the UK’s first ever conservatoire of music and dance. This unique and innovative conjunction has created exciting opportunities for collaboration between instrumentalists, singers, composers, dancers and choreographers. The Faculty of Music is celebrated for its fine facilities, which include state-of-the-art practice rooms, the Jerwood Library of the Performing Arts well equipped concert halls in nearby Blackheath.  

Overall, the student’s opinion about the college is very favorable. “Everyone is so lovely and welcoming it would be hard to not feel at home right away”, said a third year Student. However, some point out some problems with Student accommodation which is not the best, but it isn’t actually run by Trinity Laban.  

To finish with, about the courses, the general reaction is very good. When asked, one of the students reported: “In first year, some of the lessons are a bit pointless and feel like a waste of time, but from year two onwards they have improved a lot. The contact hours and one-to-one teaching mean you get more for your money than at a traditional university.” 

The historical prestige that Trinity has achieved continues in force these days and the values and ideals of their founders are already very present in each course and in every student who is admitted.

The Guildhall School

Pure excellence in the heart of London

Top Classical, March 2021
The Guildhall School of Music & Drama is one of the world’s leading conservatoires and drama schools, offering musicians, actors, stage managers and theatre technicians an inspiring environment in which to develop as artists and professionals.

The Guildhall School of Music first opened its doors on 27 September 1880, housed in a disused warehouse in the City of London. With 64 part-time students, it was the first municipal music college in Great Britain. The school quickly outgrew its first home, however, and in 1887 it moved to new premises in John Carpenter Street in a complex of educational buildings built by the Corporation of London to house it and the City’s two state schools. Since 1977 it has been next to the Barbican Arts Centre in the Barbican Complex.

The School is a global leader of creative and professional practice and promotes innovation, experiment and research. Rated No.1 specialist institution in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2013 and 2014, it has over 800 students in higher education, drawn from nearly 60 countries around the world.

Today the school has a 308-seat drama and opera theatre, concert hall, lecture / recital hall and a small studio theatre. The students of the school regularly perform all over London. It has one of the most prestigious performing arts programs in the world, having been ranked the number one U.K. conservatoire in the 2019 Guardian league tables for music and as the sixth university in the world for performing arts in the 2020 QS World University Rankings.

Admission to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama is by a highly competitive audition. The School holds auditions for their music programs in London, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo and from 2021 drama auditions will be held in cities across the UK (including London, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, and Nottingham) along with international auditions in New York.

Among Guildhall’s notable alumni are trumpeter Alison Balsom, the composer Thomas Adès, the flautist Sir James Galway, the pianist Paul Lewis, the violinist Tasmin Little and the singers Kate Royal and Bryn Terfel. Also actors Ewan McGregor and Daniel Craig, and musicians Jacqueline du Pré and Sir Bryn Terfel studied there.

Key to the School’s musical curricula is its annual award for The Gold Medal, a performance competition that began in 1915 and had taken place uninterrupted until 2019. Of course, because of the global pandemic in 2020, the annual May performance had to be put on hold as teaching moved online during the summer term. “Because of COVID we needed to be swift in our response to ensure things like The Gold Medal could occur and, very importantly, that in-person classes could still take place with full scale participation,” said Julian Hepple, head of recording and audio visual at Guildhall School. “To make that happen we quickly turned to Dante and Dante Domain Manager. And, in September, as we returned to in-person teaching, we were able to hold The Gold Medal and broadcast the performance online.”

Beijing Central Conservatory of Music

Home of the best music talents

Top Classical, January 2021
The Beijing Central Conservatory of Music was founded in 1950 and has since then merged with several other art schools to become one of the largest music schools in China. CCOM covers an area of more than 70,000 square meters and its library, with more than 55,000 volumes, is the largest in China.  

Programs and classes range from elementary to advanced. The major focus of the school is on classical and orchestral theory and performing, also with courses dedicated to traditional Chinese music. Over 500 pianos are owed by the conservatory, among many other instruments for the students to practice.  

Over the years, the school has become famous for the impressive level of their students. Indeed, CCOM students have received more than 1,800 awards in national music competitions and almost 500 in international ones. This outstanding level of expertise requires years of training and a lot of practice. In an effort to engage children early on in the appreciation and study of music, the university also has an affiliated program with a local middle school that allows young conservatory teachers a chance to get hands-on experience teaching while the middle school students can develop their talents. 
 
In the last years, the Conservatory has developed strong relationships with foreign institutions and individuals. Foreign musicians and academics are frequently invited to teach or offer classes at the Conservatory, which, in turn, also sends its own faculty members and students to other countries to continue their studies, lectures, or give presentations. 

In 2017 the Conservatory founded the Chinese Music Composition Center to foster new works by Chinese composers. In 2019 a Carnegie Hall concert presented pieces by eight Chinese composers, six of them world premieres. Yu Feng conducted the CCOM Symphony Orchestra in works that incorporate Chinese and Western musical elements, including traditional Chinese instruments.

A number of students of the school have carved a niche for themselves in various genres of musicology: Chen Yi, Ju Jin, Lang Lang, Liang Wang, Sa Ding Ding, Tan Dun, , Ye Xiaogang or Yuja Wang, just to name a few.

Always opened to new disciplines, on April 2018 On the occasion of the visit to China of maestro Walter Ríos, an outstanding Argentine composer and bandoneonist, the first chair of Argentine tango bandoneon and composition was established at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

It’s no surprise that this gigantic music conservatory is the first choice for many aspiring talented young musicians. Definitely a place to consider for those pursuing a brilliant music career.