Istomin was named president, a position which she held until October 2005 when she retired. Dr. Robert Sirota, former director of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, took over the presidency in 2005. He was succeeded by James Gandre, formerly of Roosevelt University, effective May 2013. Academics Manhattan School of Music offers undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs. Classical majors, jazz majors, Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program majors, cross majors from Barnard College at Columbia, and most recently musical theater majors all take part at the conservatory. MSM offers classical, jazz, and musical theatre training. It grants the Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. It also offers a Professional Studies Certificate and Artist Diploma. Instrumental performing ensembles Manhattan School of Music offers a wide variety of live audience performance experiences for its students. It contains 132 practice rooms and eight performance spaces. There are three major orchestras: The MSM Symphony, the Philharmonia, and the Chamber Sinfonia. In addition, many smaller ensembles are assembled for orchestral chamber music. The MSM Wind Ensemble also performs throughout the year. The Jazz Arts program contains various ensembles, such as the Jazz Philharmonic (full jazz big band with full orchestra), the Jazz Orchestra, Concert Jazz Band, Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and Chamber Jazz Ensemble. Tactus, the ensemble for contemporary chamber music, is made up of graduate students in the school's Contemporary Performance Program (CPP). The school also holds an annual concerto competition with which the winner is offered the opportunity to perform with the Symphony Orchestra. Performance venues Manhattan School contains multiple performance spaces, each dedicated to separate ensemble requirements. The largest is Neidorff-Karpati Hall, where all orchestral and large jazz ensemble concerts are held. Major renovation of the Hall was completed in November 2018. Greenfield Recital Hall and Miller Recital Hall are used for solo and small ensemble recitals, especially for graduation-required recitals. The Ades Performance Space presents everything from fully staged operas to contemporary chamber music. The Carla Bossi-Comelli Studio on the seventh floor is a multipurpose rehearsal and performance space; other performance spaces include the Myers Recital Hall, Mikowsky Recital Hall, Rahm Hall, and Pforzheimer Hall. Notable people Faculty and administrators Harold Bauer Raymond Beegle Gabriela Beňačková John Carisi Paul Cohen Judith Clurman Richard Danielpour Mignon Dunn Andrew Gerle Midori Gotō Randy Graff Horacio Gutiérrez Thomas Hampson Stefon Harris Yehuda Hyman Olga Kern David Krakauer Dave Liebman