Stecher & Horowitz collaborate with MTNA to create gifts for pianists

New York, NY (March 19, 2025) – The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation in collaboration with the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) announce the creation of major prizes in the arts. The prizes and grants, to be awarded annually and carried into perpetuity are: $25,000 Gateway Prize for Advancement in the Arts; $10,000 Joyce B. Cowin Career Grant; and $10,000 Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz Career Grant. They were created to encourage and assist promising young professional pianists/teachers worthy of recognition, who desire to further their dreams of success in this ever-changing world of the performing artist. The Gateway Prize and Career Grants were the genesis of Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz, the Executive Directors of The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, who collaborated with MTNA and its immediate past Executive Director and CEO Emeritus, Dr. Gary L. Ingle. The Gateway Prize and Career Grants will be announced at the 2025 MTNA National Conference, taking place March 15-19, 2025 – in Minneapolis. The first presentation of recipients of the prize and grants will be at the 2026 MTNA National Convention in Chicago.Questions should be directed to the MTNA National Headquarters at mtnanet@mtna.org.

Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz have not only forged a distinguished legacy in the arts but have been dedicated to mentoring the next generation of musicians, ensuring that the future of classical music thrives under their guidance. With careers spanning more than 70 years, they have been a celebrated duo-piano team; educators; the founders and directors of The Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts in Cedarhurst, NY (1960-1999); creators of the Stecher and

Horowitz Piano Library; creators and founders of the NY International Piano Competition (NYIPC) (2002-2022); and now in 2025 as philanthropists. 

 

Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz state, “MTNA has been a part of our lives for more than 50 years, and we cannot think of music education without it. When we established The Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts in 1960, we looked for guidance and fortunately discovered an organization that advocated superior teaching materials and promoted teachers with credibility.  We were immediately drawn to MTNA, and that relationship has lasted a lifetime.”
Gary L. Ingle stated in 2022 upon MTNA’s bestowing Messrs., Stecher and Horowitz’s its highest honor the MTNA Achievement Award, “you represent the epitome of lifetime in achievement of music and the arts. To sum it up, you have made the world a better place for thousands of individuals around the globe, especially young people, to enjoy the life-changing and unforgettable experience brought about by your lifework.”

“MTNA is thrilled to collaborate with The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation”, said Brian Shepard, MTNA’s Chief Executive Officer, “with these prizes and grants, together we can further our goals of advancing the future of music.”

Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz have previously established at MTNA, The Stecher and Horowitz Endowment Fund, The Stecher and Horowitz – MTNA Two Piano Competition, $10,000 in prizes; The Stecher and Horowitz – Power of Innovation Award of $10,000; and The Gary L. Ingle State Leadership Service Award of $1,000.

About the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation
Celebrating six decades, The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation is committed to furthering the education, recognition, and fostering of gifted young musicians, helping sustain and preserve the essence of our cultural life through audience development and community involvement. Serving the competition’s laureates, the Foundation developed emerging talent through its flagship programs: The New York International Piano Competition and The Young Artists Series. The Foundation mentors aspirants, helping them achieve their personal and professional goals through career guidance, artistic development, and performance opportunities. Individuality and excellence are mainstays of the foundation’s core objectives, focusing the young artists’ horizons toward the pursuit of a realistic and attainable career in music. Visit www.stecherandhorowitz.org

About The Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)
Music Teachers National Association-- the preeminent source for teacher support, where members embody like-minded values and commitment to their students, colleagues and society, while reaping the rewards of collaboration, continuity and connection throughout the lifetime of their careers. The mission of MTNA is to advance the value of music study and music making to society and to support the professionalism of music teachers. MTNA maintains two subsidiary programs: MTNA Professional Certification Program and the MTNA Foundation Fund. The Professional Certification Program exists to improve the level of professionalism within the field of applied music teaching and helps the public readily
identify competent music teachers in their communities. MTNA Foundation Fund supports programs to financially assist teachers and students with their educational pursuits while providing an opportunity for
individual and corporate support of MTNA and its programs. Visit www.mtna.org

About Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz
Internationally acknowledged as one of the most distinguished duo-pianists of their generation, Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz have sparked a major revival of interest in the two-piano concert. In 1951, they merged their individual talents to create a unique performing piano duo performing for almost five decades. Stecher and Horowitz were the first duo-piano attraction to be engaged at Radio City Music Hall. For the following five years, they toured the United States and Canada playing 50 solo recitals plus 60 concerts as guest artists with the Roger Wagner Chorale. They also toured Central and South America under State Department sponsorship. Stecher and Horowitz have won critical acclaim and
audience bravos throughout the United States, Canada, Central and South America, Europe, Israel Japan and Australia. The American composer Walter Piston dedicated his Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra to the duo-pianists, who commissioned the work and premiered it in 1964. The unanimous enthusiasm for the concerto prompted Dr. Piston to produce a second version for Two Pianos Soli, which Stecher and Horowitz performed in more than 500 recitals in the U.S. and Europe. In 1968, their debut tour of Europe included Salzburg, Berlin, London, Copenhagen, Brussels, Stockholm and Amsterdam. The superb artistry of the two-piano team was rapturously received by audiences and praised by critics who compared them to the legendary duo-piano team of Busoni and Petri. As the leading Berlin Newspaper Der Tagesspiegel phrased it: “For the fans of the piano it was a feast, an ensemble such as is hardly achieved in Old Europe these days.”
Noted performers and music educators, Stecher and Horowitz founded the Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts in 1960. In 1975, the school became a non-profit educational institution for students of all ages and educational backgrounds. It has been highly regarded as a center for the encouragement of creative potential through its innovative learning programs. In addition to having served as educational consultants to the publishing firm of G. Schirmer, the duo-pianists have written and edited the Stecher and Horowitz Piano Library, a comprehensive teaching series. The scope of the library ranges from beginning piano material for the young student to the highly respected college text, Keyboard Strategies.
Stecher and Horowitz are equally regarded for their unique piano clinics, a series of workshops for piano teachers which they have given throughout North America, Japan and Australia. Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz were honored by the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) in 2023, receiving MTNA’s highest honor – the “Award of Achievement.” In 2012, they received the MTNA “Award for Leadership” and in 1988, the “Distinguished Service to America” and were also that year’s Convention Artists.  In all these endeavors, the virtuosity and versatility of Stecher and Horowitz have earned them an unrivaled reputation and the greatest respect in the music world.