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August 30, 2013, 11:56 p.m. ET
Classical Music, Modern Problems
New York City's Three Major Conservatories Work to Prepare Its Students for the
Competitive Realities of the Workplace
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By CORINNE RAMEY
On the first day of classes at Mannes, the music conservatory of the New School,
incoming freshmen milled around the lobby. Granted, it was only the first day, but
what would they do after graduation?
"Be the principal trombone in the New York Philharmonic," said Di Wang, a 20-­year-­
old Mahler fan (the third and fifth symphonies, to be exact) wearing a Nike "Linsanity"
T-­shirt.
"Play piano, everywhere," said Javier Ortega, 19. "Be a concert musician, and
hopefully a soloist."
"Be a composer and scholar and activist," said Angel Asangsaerhanda, 19.
Enlarge Image
Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal
The Mannes School of Music
Today's classical music landscape, and
the one these students will enter in four
years, looks vastly different than that of
several decades ago. Orchestras
across the country have suffered
bankruptcy, strikes and lockouts, and
audiences are graying. For many
performers, the National Endowment for
the Arts and CDs have been replaced
by Kickstarter and Spotify.
"Back in the day, the assumption was,
'Well, I'm going to be a trombonist, and I'm going to play in a large orchestra, and
that's going to be my life,'" said Joseph Polisi, the president of Juilliard. "It sure
doesn't work that way now."
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Interviews with a dozen incoming
Mannes freshmen yielded certain
patterns: Students who play orchestral
instruments anticipate symphonic
careers. Composition majors and, to a
lesser extent, pianists were likely to list
several activities—teaching, performing,
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film scoring, owning a coffee shop—that
they could imagine in their futures.
Leaders of New York's three major
conservatories—Juilliard, Mannes and
Manhattan School of Music—all
acknowledge the need for pre-­
professional training that addresses the
Enlarge Image
Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal
prospects and realities of a competitive
Freshman piano major Margaryta Popova, 18, at
marketplace. Much of this involves
the Mannes School of Music.
preparing students for what Mannes
Dean Richard Kessler called a "D.I.Y.
world," one in which musicians create their own performance opportunities.
Today's economic kick-­in-­the-­pants is not necessarily a bad thing. "I think the semi-­
crisis we're in could be one of the best things that could ever happen to classical
music," said Manhattan School of Music President James Gandre, who believes the
genre is viewed as so sacred that it's hard to break from conventions.
Juilliard and the Manhattan School take similar approaches, both offering elective
classes, mentoring and workshops. Juilliard also awards grants for summer
entrepreneurial projects.
"I'm not a fan at all of legislating entrepreneurial qualities," said Mr. Polisi. In perhaps
the musical equivalent of sneaking kale into a smoothie, Juilliard instructors do things
like asking a member of the orchestra's viola section to talk to the audience during an
informal performance, he said.
Violinist Glenn Dicterow, who teaches at Juilliard and chairs the Manhattan School's
orchestral performance graduate program, said that about 90% of his students enter
with dreams of a solo career. When, by the second or third year, he has career
discussions with them, most will suggest a career as a chamber musician.
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This is not terribly lucrative, he tells them: "You'd be better off as an electrician."
"What's left for us to do to make a living?" he asked. "We love our craft." (Job-­search
tip: Mr. Dicterow's day job, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, will be open
after he retires from the orchestra at the end of this season.)
Mannes, once among the most conservative music schools in the country, is
mandating a different approach to pre-­professional training, whether students like it or
not. The school has revamped its curriculum and plans to move into a building on 13th
Street, near the rest of the New School, in fall 2015.
Starting this semester, performance students will be required to study improvisation,
composition and entrepreneurship. The school will reduce the number of pianists and
voice students while doubling the number of composition majors, which Mr. Kessler
believes will contribute to the school's new focus on contemporary music. "If you
don't want it, don't come to Mannes," he said.
Mannes will also add new ensembles like a technology-­based iOrchestra. Its
currently loosely defined existence is a puzzle, and meant to help students think
about ways of changing traditional music practices, said Mr. Kessler. "All these
questions? That's why we're doing it," he said.
There is an economic component to Mannes's motivation as well. It will no longer offer
liberal-­arts classes, instead requiring students to take those courses in other
divisions of the New School. Not only will the quality of the classes be higher, said Mr.
Kessler, but musicians will meet students in other disciplines. He hopes the changes
help the school develop a competitive edge and unique identity that will help with
fundraising and recruitment.
There has been dissent from some students and faculty. But most college students
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don't have a sense of the real-­world skills they'll need after graduation, he said. "They
graduate and get hit by this brutal brick wall: 'How come I don't know that, how come
they didn't teach me that?'"
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Without taking a single entrepreneurship class, some are already thinking about
subjects like fundraising.
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"I want to earn lots of money and then organize a charity foundation for talented kids,"
said Mannes pianist Margaryta Popova, 18. How will a pianist earn lots of money,
exactly? "Teaching, playing, winning competitions," she said. "Or I could marry a rich
man."
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A version of this article appeared August 31, 2013, on page A20 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street
Journal, with the headline: Classical Music, Modern Problems.
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