In 1999, Pavlina Dokovska, chair of the Piano department, founded the Mannes Sounds Festival and became its artistic director. The festival presents more than 20 concerts annually performed by Mannes' talented students and master classes and lectures by distinguished faculty members and renowned guest artists. The events are held at various prestigious New York City concert venues and cultural institutions.

The Mannes Sounds Festival is one of the outstanding components of Mannes' performance program.

Schedule of Events:

March 27, 2025

7:00pm - Mannes Sounds: A Tribute to Ravel for the 150th Anniversary of His Birth

Solo piano, chamber and vocal works by Maurice Ravel

Location: Steinway Hall

March 28, 2025

7:30PM - Mannes Sounds Piano Cantabile: Point Counterpoint

Curated by Jerome Rose Works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Medtner, Hindemith, Shostakovich, and Lutos?awski The Piano Cantabile Series is part of the Mannes Sounds Festival which was founded in 1999 by Pavlina Dokovska, chair of the Mannes Piano department.

Location:
Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall at Arnhold Hall
55 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011

March 30, 2025

7:30pm - Mannes Sounds Piano Cantabile: Poets in Music

Music by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Schubert, Schumann, and Tchaikovsky

The Piano Cantabile Series is part of the Mannes Sounds Festival which was founded in 1999 by Pavlina Dokovska, chair of the Mannes Piano department. The festival presents more than 20 concerts annually performed by young artists from Mannes, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama as well as master classes and lectures by distinguished faculty members and renowned guest artists and is one of the outstanding components of Mannes' performance program. The events are held at various prestigious New York City concert venues and cultural institutions.

Location:
Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall at Arnhold Hall
55 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011

March 31, 2025

7:30pm - Mannes Sounds: The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds; A chamber opera by Ofer Ben-Amots based on the play by S. Ansky

Stage Direction by Stephen Brown-Fried

Music Direction by Robert Kahn

Through his haunting and evocative score, Ofer Ben-Amots offers an operatic retelling of S. Ansky’s masterpiece of the Yiddish theatrical canon. Wracked with grief for her beloved, Leah, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, recounts her love of a young scholar who died on learning of her betrothal to another man. On the day of the wedding, she becomes possessed by an evil spirit, known in Jewish folklore as a dybbuk. In order to exorcise the spirit and save Leah’s soul, the village must learn the spirit’s true origin.

A partnership with the American Society of Jewish Music and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, directed by Stephen Brown-Fried and performed by students from Mannes and the College of Performing Arts, The Dybbuk is certain to excite your spirits!

Location:
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011

April 1, 2025

7:30pm - Mannes Sounds: The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds; A chamber opera by Ofer Ben-Amots based on the play by S. Ansky

Stage Direction by Stephen Brown-Fried

Music Direction by Robert Kahn

Through his haunting and evocative score, Ofer Ben-Amots offers an operatic retelling of S. Ansky’s masterpiece of the Yiddish theatrical canon. Wracked with grief for her beloved, Leah, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, recounts her love of a young scholar who died on learning of her betrothal to another man. On the day of the wedding, she becomes possessed by an evil spirit, known in Jewish folklore as a dybbuk. In order to exorcise the spirit and save Leah’s soul, the village must learn the spirit’s true origin.

A partnership with the American Society of Jewish Music and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, directed by Stephen Brown-Fried and performed by students from Mannes and the College of Performing Arts, The Dybbuk is certain to excite your spirits!

Location:
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011

7:00PM - Mannes Sounds: Charles-Valentin Alkan: Piano Visionary

Curated by Donald Wagner, a member of The College of Performing Arts Board of Governors, this concert will explore the life and compositions of Alkan, the French pianist-composer friend and contemporary of Chopin and Liszt, who was justly celebrated in his lifetime. However, his fiercely difficult and starkly original compositions did not find consistent champions after his death in 1888, leading to his obscurity for generations- until a revival in the 1960s. We will hear excerpts from some of his most important works for piano- as well as chamber, vocal and pedal piano works- to demonstrate his wide ranging influences and his unique voice.

Location:
Victor Borge Hall at Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016

April 3, 2025

6:30pm - Mannes Sounds: Shall We Dance

Music by: Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Chopin, Brahms, De Falla, Liszt, Puccini, Saint-Saens, Ravel, Zimbalist, Khachaturian, Ginastera, and Piazzolla

Location:
Union Club
101 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10065

April 4, 2025

7:30PM to 9:30PM - Mannes Sounds: American Opera Explored –An Evening of Operatic Arias and Scenes

Curated and directed by William Gustafson

An evening of operatic arias and scenes from some of the greatest American Operas, students will perform works by Leonard Bernstein, Gian Carlo Menotti, Carlisle Floyd, Jake Heggie and Ricky Ian Gordon among others. Curated and directed by William Gustafson.

Theresa Lang Center
55 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011

April 17, 2025

12:00pm - Mannes Sounds Masterclass: Vladimir Feltsman

Mannes Sounds Masterclass: Vladimir Feltsman
Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall at Arnhold Hall
Featuring internationally acclaimed pianist Vladimir Feltsman, this masterclass provides music lovers with a rare opportunity to witness the interaction between gifted Mannes students and a great artist as they examine and explore the craft of performance at the highest level.

About:

Vladimir Feltsman was born in Moscow in 1952. He received his training at Moscow Special Music School and at Moscow Conservatory where he studied piano under the guidance of Jacob Flier. He also studied conducting in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) Conservatory with Ilya Musin. In 1971 he received a Grand Prix at the Margaret Long Piano Competition in Paris, and following that, toured extensively through the former Soviet Union, Europe and Japan. In 1979, because of his growing discontent with the rigid ideological control and restrictions on artistic freedom, he applied for an exit visa from Soviet Union. In response, he was effectively banned from performing in public until he was finally granted the permission to emigrate from USSR in 1987. His debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 1987 immediately established him as a major pianist on the American and international scene. Since then, he performed with all major American orchestras and appeared on the most prestigious recital series and music festivals in the US and abroad. Pianist, conductor and teacher, Mr. Feltsman is recognized as one of the most probing and constantly interesting musicians of his generation. His extensive repertoire encompasses the music from Baroque to the XXI century composers and his discography includes more than 70 recordings. He is a founder and artistic Director of PianoSummer at New Paltz, and a faculty member at SUNY New Paltz and Mannes College The New School for Music.

Location:
Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall at Arnhold Hall
55 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011

May 5, 2025

7:30pm - Mannes Sounds: Festival Finale Concert

Tickets $30. Students/Seniors $15. Available starting 3/21/2025 from Carnegie Hall

Presented by the College of Performing Arts and Artistic Director Pavlina Dokovska, the Mannes Sounds Festival features more than 30 concerts, masterclasses, and lectures each year, performed by young artists from Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama, distinguished faculty members, and renowned guests. The events take place at prestigious New York City concert venues and cultural institutions.

Location: Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

Date: March 27 - May 5, 2025

Location: Various Venues in New York, NY

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