KAUFMAN MUSIC CENTER

Music is essential to the human experience and a vital component of education for everyone. That belief has guided Kaufman Music Center since its founding and continues to shape everything we do.

Kaufman Music Center is one of New York City’s leading institutions for music education and performance. Our schools offer outstanding education in music, dance and theater to people of all ages and experience levels, and our intimate Merkin Hall presents today’s most compelling artists.

At the heart of Kaufman Music Center are Special Music School, the nation's only K-12 public school that prioritizes an immersive music education, and Lucy Moses School, one of NYC's finest community performing arts schools for all ages. Our students develop not only as musicians, but as curious, disciplined, creative and compassionate people. Through rigorous artistic training and a vibrant learning community, we prepare young people to thrive in music and in life — whether they pursue careers on the concert stage or in any other field.

Performances at Merkin Hall provide unparalleled access to extraordinary artists, bold ideas, world premieres and unforgettable moments where every performance becomes more than a concert — it becomes a singular experience filled with discovery, conversation and powerful acts of creation.

Experience the future of music with us on stage, in our classrooms, and throughout our community.

ANTHONY MAZZOCCHI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO

Tony Mazzocchi is a GRAMMY-nominated music educator, accomplished musician, author and visionary arts leader working to expand access to music while advancing a larger idea about the future of education: that schools must develop not only what young people know, but who they become. As President & CEO of Kaufman Music Center, one of New York City's leading institutions for music education and performance, Mazzocchi is making the case that music should not be treated as an extracurricular privilege, but as an essential part of developing creative, collaborative, resilient and deeply human young people.

That mission has taken on new urgency as artificial intelligence reshapes education and the world of work. At a moment when technology can increasingly retrieve information, generate content and perform sophisticated cognitive tasks, Mazzocchi has become an outspoken advocate for education that places greater value on the capacities that remain distinctly human: creativity, judgment, empathy, communication, collaboration and connection. His work asks a fundamental question: What does it mean to educate a human being in the age of AI?

Kaufman Music Center's Special Music School (M. 859), the nation's only K–12 public school with music at the core of the curriculum during the academic day, provides a powerful demonstration of this philosophy in practice. Students receive intensive musical training alongside a rigorous academic education, demonstrating that artistic and academic excellence need not compete for space in a child's education. Special Music School's students have achieved extraordinary academic outcomes while developing within a community where listening, creativity, discipline, collaboration and artistic expression are woven into daily life.

Under Mazzocchi's leadership, Kaufman Music Center is now helping extend elements of this model to a new community through SoTru Music School at P.S. 149 in Harlem, developed in partnership with New York City Public Schools. Offered at no cost to families, the program represents the first expansion of Special Music School’s arts-integrated approach to another public school community. The initiative reflects Mazzocchi’s larger vision: that access to sustained, high-quality music education should not depend on a family's income, neighborhood, or ability to secure private instruction.

Mazzocchi also oversees Kaufman Music Center’s Pathways program, which removes financial and structural barriers to intensive music study for highly motivated middle-school students from communities historically underrepresented and under-resourced in classical music. Pathways provides private instrumental lessons, group classes, instruments, ensembles, performance opportunities, masterclasses and mentorship; creating sustained pathways through which young people can discover and develop their potential.

This belief in human potential has defined Mazzocchi's career. Before becoming President & CEO of Kaufman Music Center, he served as Director of the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, where he developed new programs, expanded artist partnerships and advanced initiatives around access and innovation. Since 2010, he has also led Kinhaven Music School in Vermont, significantly expanding its programming, campus and financial foundation while creating new opportunities for young musicians. Earlier in his career, he worked as a professional trombonist and educator, experiences that continue to inform his belief that artistic excellence, collaboration and human development are inseparable.

His influence extends beyond the institutions he leads. Mazzocchi is an author, speaker, and national advocate for music and arts education whose work has been adopted by educational organizations in the United States and abroad. Through public writing, testimony, speaking and advocacy, he has increasingly challenged educators and policymakers to reconsider a quarter-century of educational priorities centered heavily on standardization and measurement and to ask a larger question about what schools are ultimately for.

At a moment when artificial intelligence and rapid technological change are forcing society to reconsider which human capacities matter most, Mazzocchi is not simply advocating for the preservation of arts education. He is demonstrating what a more human-centered model of education can look like, and working to make that model accessible to more young people.

His work reflects a simple but consequential belief: human potential is abundant. Our responsibility is to create the time, access, and opportunity for it to emerge.