Leah Swann laughs when you mention Tanglewood, and her electric blonde mane seemingly gets a charge out of it too. It’s not that she’s dismissive of the venerable stage where she’s been a violist in residence for the past two summers. But a regional paper more or less named her the savior of classical music, and humility won’t allow her that degree of self-regard. Modesty aside, “saviors” are what Leah and her colleague, pianist Gabriela Martínez—both fellows of The Academy (a program of Carnegie Hall, The Julliard School, and The Weill Music Institute)—are expected to be. Their job is nothing less than to revolutionize the career path of young musicians.

Leah and Gabby are part of the incoming class of the ambitious fellowship program, joining 17 other first-year and 15 second-year musicians who return from last year’s pilot ensemble. With two others they journey to Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, for the first of two four-day residencies. Among other activities, they will work closely with composers Bright Sheng and David Bruce on Carnegie Hall–commissioned works that premiered last season.

It’s almost as though Gabby had been preparing for this role her entire life. Her mother is an architect and music teacher in Venezuela, and Gabby is the fourth female pianist in her family—the first to pursue the instrument professionally. When she was only 11, her parents transplanted the family to New Jersey so Gabby could take weekend instruction in Juilliard’s pre-college division. Their commitment paid off; in May she graduated with a master’s degree from The Juilliard School.

At Skidmore, Gabby will be performing Bright Sheng’s Sweet May Again. “It’s an amazing piece,” says the pianist, who considers herself both a New Yorker and a Venezuelan in equal measure. “I’m really looking forward to playing for him. I’ve heard his music before, but it’s a totally different thing to play for him, so it’s really cool.”

The Academy fellows are among the best and brightest, teaching because they believe it’s essential and studying because music is what they love to do. For this generation, those who can, do teach.

“It’s what every musician who’s about to graduate wants to do,” says Gabby. “There’s nothing like this.”

After Skidmore, Leah and Gabby will mentor New York public school students—Leah in high school, Gabby in middle school and high school. Leah, who grew up in Houston, Texas, believes that if it weren’t for public school music instruction, she might not have started on the path that led her to Carnegie Hall. She thinks her students deserve the same chance. “To a lot of society, classical music is a kind of foreign language,” she says. “They need someone to give them the key to understanding it.”