Marsow entered higher education without a clear understanding of what college was meant to prepare her for, so she approached it with a simple plan to learn as much as possible. As a liberal arts college, ������Ƶ provided her with a wide variety of programs to choose from, so she explored nearly every major, taking courses across departments to discover what fit. What felt like “floundering” at the time ultimately became a period of finding herself: She loved music and had a strong affinity for math, which led her to an interdisciplinary major in music and economics. She joined a study abroad trip to Ghana. She also joined the cheerleading squad—she had trained in gymnastics as a child and loved sports; cheerleading was something she had dreamed of doing.

A student, Marsow credits mentors, including Lisa Schwebel, the honors program director, and Professor Robert Cherry, who helped her navigate the economics major, with giving her the guidance and support she needed. She also recalls the “compassion and attentiveness” of professors at the Conservatory of Music (Marsow plays the flute) who not only challenged their students but also recognized and respected the cultural and linguistic differences many brought to the classroom.

Marsow is grateful for her mentors but also speaks effusively about the Magner Career Center staff, relying on them for advice on scholarships, internships, and career opportunities. “I practically lived there,” she says.

Through the center, she received a Jewish Foundation for Education of Women Scholarship, which paid for two summers of internships at Morgan Stanley (later part of Citigroup Smith Barney) and the New York Attorney General’s Office, among others. She also interned at PBS.

As Marsow approached graduation, she imagined a future in finance. As the child of immigrants, she felt a career in the field would provide financial stability. But she had interned at Morgan Stanley during the turbulent years following the 2008 financial crisis. The environment proved deeply discouraging. She found the field male‑dominated, “an atmosphere reminiscent of the show Mad Men,” she says. A speaker at a ������Ƶ event later offered advice that stayed with her: Breaking barriers is admirable, but not at the cost of one’s own well‑being.

Ready for change, she took a job at Carnival Cruise Lines as an entertainment host, then transitioned into a human resources role at B’Above Worldwide Institute, an early childhood education agency. It was a return to the Magner Center that inspired her to start her own business in a field she loved. Through conversations with staff, Marsow realized that the one consistent thing in her life was her love of sports. She applied for jobs in sports management, but nothing came of it. She explored the possibility of starting her own business and wondered whether a local gymnastics school might be in demand. After speaking with families in her community, she discovered that there was indeed a need.

Marsow entered a special entrepreneur program that required her to develop and submit a business plan, marketing strategy, and other foundational documents. She also took free business courses through local organizations. In four short months she opened Prospect Gymnastics.

Today, in addition to teaching gymnastics and running a business she loves, Marsow writes regularly, has published pieces in several magazines, and is working on a memoir. Creative writing has become a meaningful outlet—now, with a flexible schedule and steady career, she has the freedom to develop her voice as a writer.

Looking back at her own journey, Marsow encourages prospective students to explore what ������Ƶ has to offer thoroughly and take their time in choosing a career path, “because the stakes are not as high.” For current students, her advice is clear: Make full use of the Magner Center, pursue internships, and explore widely.

“College may be one of the few times in life when exploration is possible before you go out into the world,” she says. “Join a sports team, take classes in unfamiliar departments, participate in music ensembles or theater productions, and meet as many different kinds of people as you can.” These experiences, she believes, are crucial to personal growth and a future career.

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Tania León, distinguished professor emerita at ������Ƶ and the CUNY Graduate Center, was nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her orchestral piece “Raíces (Origins).”

Sidney Outlaw, an adjunct associate professor of voice in the Conservatory of Music, was named in the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album category for the album Black Pierrot with Warren Jones.

The 2026 Grammy Awards will take place on February 1, 2026, in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS. Winners will be determined by voting members of the Recording Academy, a peer group that includes music creators, artists, songwriters, producers, and engineers.

Watch coverage of this story from News 12 .

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Can you tell us about your background?

I was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 1946. Growing up on a small island in a small community gave me a strong sense of identity, which has prevailed throughout my life. I would walk down the main street in Kingstown, the capital, and I would recognize eight out of every 10 people who passed by, and they would know me. So I always felt a sense of belonging. The culture, food, music, festivals, Carnival, and so on brought people together.

My grandfather was a musician, and all his children took music lessons. My father, an accomplished pianist and saxophonist, started a band called the Mellotones. When I was about nine, I played in the band. We played at local dances, concerts, and the like. We played calypso, of course, as well as boleros, cha-cha-chas, merengues, and lots of jazz standards. From the Mellotones, I formed my own band at age 14. Most of the members of the band were my friends and classmates. We played for school functions, socials, and so on. When the school was having a function, they’d say, “Oh yeah, Frank McIntosh has a band, they’ll play for free.”

What brought you to the United States?

I planned on studying music on the university level. The University of the West Indies did not have a music major. From St. Vincent, I went to Antigua, where the work for musicians was more plentiful. From there, I applied to ������Ƶ. I had considered other options like Juilliard and Berkeley. Still, I chose ������Ƶ because of its broad range of course offerings. I could do music and take classes in chemistry. I was a piano major. Did theory and music history, the whole shebang.

When did your career as an arranger begin?

It began around 1976 with artists from St. Vincent, starting with a Calypsonian named Becket (Alston Becket Cyrus). He approached me about correcting some music he was performing in Brooklyn. Whoever had written the music made some errors. So I corrected it. At his next rehearsal, everything flowed smoothly, so he came back to me and said he would like to record an album. And he sang a song for me. Now I didn’t realize it at the time, but Becket was one of the pioneers of the new soca (soul/calypso) style that combined older calypso with influences of Black American soul, rock, and disco. We went to the studio, and we recorded the first song, A producer in the studio, Buddy Scott, had connections with major record labels, and he secured a deal for Becket with Casablanca Records. That album did very well. One of the songs, was in the movie The Deep.

That catapulted my career. Everyone started calling from all the islands—an artist from Trinidad named Crazy, Winston Soso from St Vincent, and King Short Shirt from Antigua. Then came Explainer, Chalk Dust, and Calypso Rose from Trinidad. That gave me a broad overview of calypso as a whole, because before that, calypso was defined as being only from Trinidad. But now we had singers from Antigua, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia.

Tell us how you became the in-house arranger for Straker Records.

Frankie McIntosh

I had known [music businessman and record producer] Granville Straker in St. Vincent. He had a well-established record store in Brooklyn on Utica Avenue. When he signed artists to his label, he sent them to me to do the music. That went on for years, starting in the early 1970s. As the staff arranger for Straker’s Records, I arranged virtually all his music.

I didn’t have an exclusive contract, so I worked with several other independent labels. I recorded an album for the Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener, which Charly Records produced. Small labels hired me to do work, and that’s how I was able to feed my family.

Ray Allen

Interestingly, all this is musical activity occurred within a very small radius of a mile or two in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, where record shops run by West Indian producers Rawlston Charles and Granvilee Straker were located. Right down the street was Eastern Parkway, where the big Carnival parade happened, and there were many dance halls and clubs in the area. It was a very active place for Caribbean music back then.

Professor Allen, your research focuses on American folk and popular music, including Caribbean Carnival music, with a particular interest in New York City music culture.

I had spent several years gathering information and writing a book on Caribbean music that was eventually published as Jump Up! Caribbean Carnival Music in New York City [Oxford University Press, 2019]. The focus was on the steel band and calypso music that were central to Brooklyn’s Labor Day West Indian Carnival. During my research, I attended a calypso concert, where Frankie was performing. I was really impressed. So I went up and said, “Hey, I teach at ������Ƶ.” We laughed that we had something in common. Later, I interviewed him for the Jump Up! book, and he talked about his work as an arranger of soca and calypso music.

My next project was going to be a book about Brooklyn soca, because the borough was the center of this music from the late 1970s through the 1990s. All the best recording studios, as well as several independent record labels, were in Brooklyn. Frankie was the perfect person to collaborate with because he was in the middle of it, the in-house arranger for so much of soca music that was coming out of Brooklyn. Nobody had ever written about the arrangers—all the books are about singers.

Have calypso and soca music received the kind of recognition and attention from music scholars that other genres of music have?

Ray Allen

The study of world music has developed significantly over the last three decades, and there is now recognition of various genres like Caribbean music. But there is more work to be done. For example, much has been written about Latin music, music from Cuba, salsa, and reggae, but calypso and soca have not made it onto the stage in terms of music that’s recognized outside the Caribbean. Most music fans know the reggae star Bob Marley, but how many have heard of the calypsonians Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener? We hope that this book will put more focus on calypso and soca music from the English-speaking West Indies and that this will help to broaden the kind of work done in academic research.

By the way, when Frankie arrived at ������Ƶ in 1969 there were no courses in world music, Caribbean music, or jazz. In fact, students who wanted to play jazz had to hide out in the basement of the old Gershwin Hall because they were afraid their music professors would not approve. But fortunately, that has changed. Today the ������Ƶ Conservatory offers classes in jazz history, African American music, and world music. And most importantly they run a jazz ensemble so their students can gain firsthand experience playing the music.

Frankie McIntosh

Most books on calypso take a sociological bent, more in the frame of ethnomusicology. What makes our book different is that we deal with the music as sound. You’ve got harmonies and orchestration. There’s an appendix with chord charts for most of the songs—Ray had the patience to do that. I think it was appropriate for us to address the music. Not that other factors, like social and historical setting, don’t come into play, because there’s an introduction to each chapter. However, our book includes aspects such as the small talk among musicians in the studio before recording. For example, we illustrate all the steps from the artist presenting a demo to the arranger, and the arranger’s considerations before writing a note. I would ask myself what the artist expects: Does he intend to deliver a political message? Is his music for dancing? Is the emphasis on drums and bass? Should I put more focus on the horns? All those things are detailed in the book, which I think is what makes it unique.

Ray Allen

By the way, all the songs we discuss in the book are on and a listening guide is provided for those who want to delve deeper into the music.

Frankie, you worked with young people—do you see yourself as a mentor?

Frankie McIntosh

Well it’s funny, because these days, I’m the one who often needs the advice. You see, in today’s world, the definition of music itself has changed. You have rap where there’s no melody, and computers have replaced pencil and paper. So increasingly I find myself looking to young people for guidance, for instance, on selecting music software. They tell me about what these programs can do. And I admire their business approach. They publish and promote themselves. They create their own record labels, whereas my generation just sat and waited to be discovered.

Now in answer to your question, if I were to offer advice or mentorship to younger musicians, I would say that sometimes life has other plans, and it may become necessary to divert or modify your original objectives. Being prepared to make a significant shift, as I did from aspiring to be a pianist to becoming an arranger, is crucial. Because being a pianist would not have supported my family, it’s all about being open-minded and reassessing your priorities to determine what’s truly important.

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Kroll has performed worldwide as a harpsichordist and fortepianist, in both solo recitals and as a collaborative chamber musician. In the United States, he has performed in every state and at festivals such as Aston Magna, Tanglewood, Saratoga, Northwest Bach, Newport, La Jolla, Cabrillo, Grand Teton, and Mostly Mozart. The first American harpsichordist to appear in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and in Bangkok, Kroll’s most recent foreign appearances have been in China, Thailand, Israel, Colombia, Germany, Poland, Hong Kong, and Canada.

Highlights of his career include an appearance as the official guest of the city of Barcelona, Spain; featured soloist in Germany’s Regensburg Early Music Festival, and France’s Festival d’Ambronay and the Bordeaux Hummel Festival; performances and lectures in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong; two concerts for the Czech Republic’s Prague Spring Festival; and recitals at Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Foundation, Rome’s Conservatorio Santa Cecilia and Associazione Musicale Romana, Poland’s Dni Bachowski, and Slovenia’s Radovljica Festival.

He has also made numerous radio and television appearances, including Czech Radio and Czech Television, Radio Nacional España, Catalunya Ràdio, National Public Radio, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Bayerischer Rundfunk, France Musique, the B������Ƶ, and the C������Ƶ.

You can read more about his amazing career . The performance schedule is as follows. These events are open to the public.

Wednesday, September 10, 2 p.m.

Vocal Workshop: Mark Kroll
Don Buchwald Theater (free)

Wednesday, September 10, 5 p.m.

Chamber Music Masterclass: Mark Kroll will conduct a masterclass for Conservatory of Music instrumentalists.
Don Buchwald Theater, (free)

Thursday, September 11, 1 p.m.

Guest Lecture-Recital: Mark Kroll on harpsichord
Don Buchwald Theater ($5)

Monday, September 15, 5:30 p.m.

Composers’ Forum: Mark Kroll
(Zoom, TBA)
Illustrious ������Ƶ alum, harpsichordist, scholar, and Boston University emeritus professor will give a talk to top off his week of concerts and masterclasses at the Conservatory.

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After his courageous emigration to the U.S. in response to the invasion of Ukraine, Voskresensky returns for an unforgettable recital, showcasing timeless works from the classical and Romantic eras. Repertoire: Beethoven (Sonata No. 25 in G major, op. 79); Chopin (Sonata No. 3 in B minor, op. 58); Mozart (Fantasy in C minor, K.396); Tchaikovsky (Autumnal Song -October, In the Troika- November from The Seasons, op. 37bis); Grieg (Sonata in E minor, op. 7). The performance will be from 7-9 p.m. in the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts, Don Buchwald Theater.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear one of the finest pianists of our time perform live. Tickets are only $15, and can be purchased . Students can attend for free with a valid student ID.

On December 6, 2024, Voskresensky left an indelible mark at ������Ƶ Conservatory of Music, where he conducted a captivating, free master class for over two hours, guiding talented students Alice Tung, Nikita Tumanov, and Jason Ruan. Watch the highlights from that inspiring session and get a taste of the passion and expertise he brings to every performance and lesson.

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Born in Berdiansk, Ukraine, Voskresensky is the former head of the prestigious Moscow Conservatory who left Russia in 2022 in protest of the war. He worked with students Alice Tung, Nikita Tumanov, and Jason Ruan (pictured above from left to right)  for more than two hours in front of an audience of students, staff, faculty, and community members who enjoyed the free event.

The former head of the prestigious Moscow Conservatory Mikhail Voskresensky works with ������Ƶ piano major Jason Ruan during Voskresensky’s master class on Dec. 6.

Alexandra Lewis is a full-time doctoral lecturer in the ������Ƶ Conservatory of Music and coordinator for piano studies who holds a Ph.D. in musicology from the CUNY Graduate Center. She said the experience would go a long way in the students’ education.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students,” said Lewis. “To have such a world-renowned teacher come and share his wealth of knowledge and expertise is something they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

Watch coverage of this event from News 12, including Tumanov’s comments about his experience learning from one of his idols, .

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Whistle from Above is Grubbs’ first-ever instrumental album for the label Drag City and his first solo collection since 2017’s Creep Mission. The album includes a series of new pieces, mostly for guitar, but also a piano composition and an exceptionally eerie bit of musique concrète.

Professor of Art Jennifer McCoy and her partner, Kevin McCoy, produced the music video for the track “The Snake on Its Tail” on David Grubbs’ new album Whistle from Above.

The album features another ������Ƶ connection, as celebrated Professor of Art  and her partner, Kevin McCoy, produced a music video for the track “” as well as the cover art for the album.

Grubbs will perform solo dates in 2025 in New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival as well as a week of shows in the United Kingdom in March. You can preorder Whistle from Above and get more information about Grubbs, including concert dates, .

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Part piano concerto and part choral symphony, “Dreams of the Fallen” was commissioned by Biegel and a consortium of five orchestras from around the country. The powerful piece of music explores a soldier’s emotional response to the experience of war using texts written by Iraq War veteran and award-winning poet Brian Turner.

Biegel has created more than 25 commissioning projects spanning 25 years and also performed in the Grammy-winning recording for Best Classical Compendium in 2018 for Kenneth Fuchs’s Piano Concerto. With November being National Veterans and Military Families Month, this Grammy nod means a little bit more to him and everyone involved.

Jeffrey Biegel sits at the piano and works with Jake Runestad. “Dreams of the Fallen” is one of two works on Runestad’s “A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Runestad” album that Biegel performed on. The second, “Earth Symphony,” depicts the future of the planet through text written by Todd Boss.

Biegel explained the project actually dates back to 2011 when Runestad’s appeared at the stage of Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis after Biegel’s rehearsal of William Bolcom’s “Prometheus” for piano, orchestra and chorus. It took a decade to find the best fit for the first recordings. True Concord Voices and Orchestra in Tucson brought in the finest voices in the country together to perform and record.

“Jake revealed himself as a profound composer of choral music, adding orchestra and piano to his writings when we met nearly a decade ago. Few composers excel at all three,” said Biegel. “Within weeks, be called me and shared information about people he knew well who had served in the military. He wanted to create a relevant work reflecting PTSD, focusing on veterans returning from their military duties.

“He brought in Brian Turner with his powerful poems about war and what he lived through during his return. I also interviewed veterans to probe into their mindsets as I had to portray the returning veteran at the piano. To be part of such a powerful project that was inspired by such a talented person who also served our country so valiantly is a tremendous honor,” Biegel said.

“Dreams of the Fallen” is one of two works on Runestad’s A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Runestad album that Biegel performed on. The second, “Earth

Symphony,” depicts the future of the planet through text written by Todd Boss.

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You can read more about Boulanger’s story in this story from The New York Times, “.”

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Kevin Parks

Do you come from a musical family?

No. I was a first-generation college graduate, born on Staten Island. After high school, we were encouraged to take the firefighter’s and postal worker’s tests or think about the military. There wasn’t a lot of talk about going to college. But I had a music teacher who said my harmony homework was solid and that I should try CUNY, that ������Ƶ had an excellent conservatory. I entered as a music performance major in guitar. But an accident with my hand made it clear I would not have a career in performance. So, I left school and reapplied to the Conservatory of Music as a composition major. That decision ended up impacting my entire life.

What was so special about ������Ƶ that you decided to return and try again?

At ������Ƶ, I got the feedback and encouragement from faculty and mentors that I needed, and without judgment. They never said my chops weren’t good enough or I didn’t have traditional European-style ear training or anything like that. They took me as they found me, schooled me up, made me a scholar and a composer, and put me on a path. I went on to Dartmouth and got a Ph.D. at the University of Virginia. I lived and worked in South Korea for 20 years. None of these things would have happened if I hadn’t gone to ������Ƶ. I’m prouder of my bachelor’s degree than anything.

And now you’re at the New York Public Library.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that a first-generation kid from Staten Island would get the gig. I had been working for two decades teaching, composing, and performing experimental electronic music in clubs and other venues in South Korea. I had had some small experience working as a media specialist doing archival work for NYPL, but I applied, not expecting anything. I got an interview, was offered the position, quit my job as a college professor, and moved back to New York City. I love teaching, but come on, it’s the New York Public Library!

What does your typical day look like?

I work on public programming and scheduling free events, but much of what I do is acquire archival materials. I might work on taking in the collection of a radio station that closed down or composers who are looking for a home for their papers. I travel to look at collections and assess their conditions and whether our patrons could make use of them.

What’s in the collection?

Anything that has research value. A collection could have musical scores and photographs. We take analog tapes, videotapes, film, negatives, prints. We take hard drives, but we don’t take a lot of what we call 3D objects—they take up space and often have limited research value. For instance, we were given all of Lou Reed’s letters, notebooks, and audio recordings, but he also had a ton of guitars. We gave those back to the donor, his wife, Laurie Anderson. But one of the fascinating things about the Lou Reed archive is there’s a lot of crumpled things in it. I got the impression that while creating, he would get sort of grumpy and crumple up a piece of paper with notes on it, throw it in the trash, and then somebody would think, “Maybe I should get that and smooth it out.”

Are the archives open to the public?

I always joke about my collection, but the reality is that it belongs to the people. It’s everybody’s collection. If you are a New York City resident and even if you aren’t—it’s all yours. If you want to see something, you make an appointment, and we show it to you. I might stand there while you look, but you get to see what’s in the archives. We are constantly working to make it so that when people like me who were born and raised in New York City come to the library, they can find a little of themselves in it, and that the collection reflects the population that uses it.

There is a big emphasis on documenting the musical life of the city. Someone like Arthur Russell was an essential part of the downtown experimental music scene since the mid-Seventies. His collection materials would overlap with avant-garde composers like Meredith Monk, Mikel Rouse, John Cage, and Christian Wolff, all of whom are in our collection.

Are any faculty from the Conservatory of Music in the public library’s collection?

Yes. Some of the works of professors who were my teachers at ������Ƶ—H. Wiley Hitchcock, Noah Creshevsky, and Charles Dodge—are now in NYPL’s collection. I went back to campus two weeks ago for the first time since graduating to make an inventory of those items. It was amazing to get off the train at Flatbush Avenue and see that everything was different and yet sort of the same. The avenue was still the chaos that it always was, everybody on the street, on the make, doing the do. And then I got on campus—and this will sound corny—but I felt all the feels. I saw the students and the buildings, and I thought, ������Ƶ took a kid like me and decided I was a worthwhile investment. I wouldn’t change that experience for anything in the world.

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