According to Rahm, Istomin created a distance learning program at MSM and expanded the its curriculum, as well as raising the quality of its faculty and hiring leading musicians to hold master classes. The conservatory has doubled the size of its campus during her tenure.

The widow of both cellist Pablo Casals and pianist Eugene Istomin, Istomin said that would focus her engeries on preserving their legacies.

Before coming to the school, Istomin served as the director of France's Evian Music Festival and artistic director of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She also founded the Pablo Casals Foundation and Museum, and with Casals helped to create the Casals Festival, Puerto Rico Symphony, and Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.

Founded in 1917, the Manhattan School of Music trains undergraduates and graduate students in orchestral instruments, voice, piano, composition, and conducting, as well as jazz. More than 800 students are currently enrolled.