THE STORY: MARCH 2026

SPRING SEMESTER: JANUARY 4 - MAY 2

Student Accomplishments

Mika Matsuyama (16), student of Jeffrey Panko, Mary Sauer, and Sean Bennett, was awarded second prize in the American Protege competition and will perform in the coming months at Carnegie Hall. Mika also received Honorable Mention placement at the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra Stanger Concerto Competition.

Beatrice Valenzuela (14), student of Desirée Ruhstrat and Timothy Hager was selected to be in the National Youth Orchestra of the USA with Carnegie Hall and its Weill Music Institute.

Daniel Razminia (15), student of Jeffrey Panko, Mary Sauer, and Sean Bennett, received Honorable Mention placement at the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra Stanger Concerto Competition.

Anik Bhattacharjee (15), student of Jeffrey Panko, was awarded honorable Mention in the American Protege competition and will perform at Carnegie Hall in the coming months.

Leo Ma (13), student of MingHuan Xu, has had serval recent successes including First Prize at the 2026 International Music Competition "Berlin" Grand Prize Virtuoso for which he has been invited to perform at the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie in Berlin this April. He also was awarded as a Gold Medalist at the 2026 Canadian International Music Competition (Young Artist Category), and was a Silver Prize Winner for the 2026 London Young Musician International Competition (Young Artist Category - age 15 & under).

Adrian Greenstone (15), student of Michelle Hackman, and Felix Calegari (15), student of Scott Ramsay were both accepted to the Interlochen Musical Theatre Summer Camp.

Neysa Pandy (15), student of Michelle Hackman, was selected to return to the Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard program.

Nathan Ng (5), Olivia Lougheed (5), and Amelia Lucero (4), students of Clinton Velman, all won Silver Medals at the 2026 North Shore Music Teachers Association Sonata-Sonatina Festival.

Reagan Lau (7), Kingston Lau (5), and Amelia Lucero (4), students of Clinton Velman, all received the highest scores at the Midwest Keyboard Performers Challenge at Harper College (pictured below)

IN Residency — Spencer Myer, Piano

Departmental Recital
Sign-up Due This Friday

Departmental Recital Sign-up is due this Friday, March 6th. Please navigate to your MyMusicStaff Calendar, click on “Find & Book.” and claim a spot for Sunday March 15!

Complete the Googleform link to indicate your child's repertoire and if you require any scheduling accommodations. We will do our best to honor time requests.

• Please Sign-up by Tomorrow - Friday March 6th!

• Emails with your assigned recital time will arrive by Monday March 9th.

• Depending on your department, you’ll be assigned a recital time within one of the following blocks:

  • Strings Department*: Recitals will take place between 11 AM and 2 PM.

  • Woodwind Department*: Recitals will take place between 12 PM and 2 PM.

  • Voice Department*: Recitals will take place between 12 PM and 2 PM.

  • Piano Department: Recitals will take place between 1 PM and 6 PM.

Participating in the Departmental Recitals is a great way for every student to show off what they’ve been working on in preparation for Juries, and to observe what other students in their discipline are working on as well. We encourage all Under 18 Students to sign up and attend!

*If you are performing with the NMS accompanist, you can book 30-minute rehearsal times on your MyMusicStaff Account under "Find & Book." Our standard Accompanist Fee will be applied to your account, and includes a 30 minute rehearsal and the performance. String students in Suzuki Book 1 or 2 up to "Witches Dance" can elect to take a 15 minute rehearsal for a reduced fee.

IN Residency— April 2026

Spring Jury Announcement

Spring Jury Information has been sent from juries@newmusicschool.com - please check your inboxes! If you need to make a time or date change request, reply to your jury info email no later than March 22nd to ensure proper organization. 

We look forward to this time of celebration with our students and faculty! 

All Jury opportunities for students are listed below:

• Pre-Jury Day* - for students unable to attend the Standard Jury

  • April 12th: 4:00-5:00pm

• Standard Jury Day - held twice a year in December and April

  • April 25th: Voice 2:00-3:00pm

  • April 25th: Strings - 3:00-7:00pm

  • April 26th: Jury Day - Woodwinds - 10:00-11:00am

  • April 26th: Jury Day - Piano - 11:00am-9:00pm

• Jury Make-up day* - for students unable to attend the Standard Jury Day

  • May 31st 4:00-5:00pm

*please note that in order to be considered for the Showcase Recital or Placement Juries, the student must jury on the Standard Jury Day for their instrument. 

We want to emphasize that Juries are the core of our curriculum. Juries help our faculty evaluate student progress, and give the students clear goals to continue their musical development through our program. We can’t wait to hear all of our students give it their all in their jury performances!

NMS Happenings

Students from Matthew Lorenz’s studio perform at the Hinsdale Music Club’s Young Musicians Festival. Congrats to Angelica Ward, Theo Ward, Alessandra Gosiene, Chiharu Shirato, Reagan Young, and Desh Subramanian!

Mary Flaherty, student of Steve Yepez, gave a thrilling Flute recital!

Violinist Clarissa Bevilacqua works with students Alejandro Valenzuela and Felix Kim while IN Residency during her time at New Music School. She also gave an intentional recital highlighting solo violin works, which included a few pieces from her new album, Mozartiana!

Pianist Steven Osborne spent two days giving our students lessons while IN Residency. And students and NMS friends alike were lucky to hear his interpretation of Beethoven’s great Diabelli Variations IN Recital. Pictured: Tong-Bai Deng, Mika Matsuyama, and Jonathan Truong - all with Steven Osborne.

New Music School Events, Spring 2026

• March 13: IN Recital - Spencer Myer (7:00pm)

• March 13-14: IN Residency - Spencer Myer, piano

• March 15: Departmental Recitals (All Day)

• March 22-28: Spring Break - No Lessons

• March 29: Lessons Resume

• April 12: Pre-Jury Day/Performance Class (4:00pm)

• April 21-22: IN Residency - Antonio Pompa-Baldi, piano

• April 25: Jury Day Voice (2:00-3:00pm)

• April 25: Jury Day Strings (3:00-7:00pm)

• April 26: Jury Day Woodwinds (10:00-11:00am)

• April 26: Jury Day Piano (11:00am-7:30pm)

• May 1: Showcase Recital (6:30pm)

• May 3: Performance Class (4:00pm)

• June 5: Champagne Showcase (7:00pm)

• June 5: Concerto Class Rehearsal - Gantz @Roosevelt (TBD)

• June 6: Concerto Class - Gantz Hall @Roosevelt (TBD)

• June 6: StringStravaganza! - Gantz Hall @Roosevelt (4:00pm)

• June 7: Performance Class (4:00pm)
  
  NMS Academic Calendar available on google calendar here.