• Manhattan School of Music held its 2026 Gala at the Rainbow Room in New York City on May 20, honoring board chair Lorraine Gallard.

• The evening’s theme was “A Tradition of Mentorship,” celebrating MSM faculty.

• Bebe Neuwirth hosted; performances came from J’Nai Bridges, Ethan Mathias, Meredith Layne Hungerford, Benjamin R. Sokol, and pianist Shane Schag.

• Gallard was recognized for 12 years of service as board chair.

Manhattan School of Music hosted its 2026 Gala at the Rainbow Room in New York City on Wednesday, May 20, honoring MSM board chair Lorraine Gallard and celebrating the school’s faculty under the theme “A Tradition of Mentorship.”

The gala was hosted by Bebe Neuwirth, an MSM trustee, member of the school’s Artistic Advisory Council, and recipient of an honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degree from MSM.

The evening recognized Gallard, an alumna of MSM’s Precollege Division, for 12 years of dedicated service as board chair. She joined the Board of Trustees in 2009 and was elected chair in 2014, helping guide the school through a significant period of growth and distinction. The program also celebrated MSM’s acclaimed faculty, whose work across classical music, jazz, vocal arts, and musical theater continues to mentor and prepare students for careers on the world’s leading stages.

The program opened with remarks by Neuwirth and featured current students and alumni. Ethan Mathias, of the Precollege Class of 2026, performed “Go the Distance” from Hercules, and Meredith Layne Hungerford, a Bachelor of Music candidate in musical theater, performed “Before the Parade Passes By” from Hello, Dolly!, with Shane Schag on piano. Benjamin R. Sokol, a triple MSM alumnus, performed “La calunnia è un venticello” from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Three-time Grammy Award winner J’Nai Bridges, an MSM alumna and honorary doctorate recipient, performed “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” from Carmen and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel, with Schag at the piano.

A video tribute, “Celebrating MSM Faculty: A Tradition of Mentorship,” led into the honoree presentation, with opening remarks by David Loud, music director of MSM’s Musical Theatre program. President James Gandre and trustee Noémi K. Neidorff, a double MSM alumna, continued the tribute, followed by remarks from Gallard.

Notable attendees included J’Nai Bridges, Ted Chapin, Jane Chu, Lorraine Gallard, James Gandre, Howard Herring, Meredith Layne Hungerford, David Loud, Ethan Mathias, Anthony Mazzocchi, Donna McKechnie, Alicia Hall Moran, Jason Moran, Bebe Neuwirth, Noémi K. Neidorff, James Roe, Shane Schag, Robert Sirota, Benjamin R. Sokol, Paul Tetreault, and Ann Ziff.

Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, Manhattan School of Music is recognized for its more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states, its innovative curricula, and an artist-teacher faculty drawn from the New York Philharmonic, the Met Opera Orchestra, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway communities. The school serves Precollege through doctoral students and reaches thousands more through its Arts-in-Education and Distance Learning programs.