By Roberta Hershenson
THE sounds of a rock band blasted through a downstairs studio on Central Avenue here, while upstairs teenagers rehearsed for a production of “Guys and Dolls.” These days, you are as likely to hear jazz or a Broadway tune as an aria at the Music Conservatory of Westchester, but that does not mean the school has forgotten its Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
“Classical music will always be one of our main areas of focus,” said Carol Shiffman, the conservatory’s new executive director, who is grounded in the classical arts. “The heart of what we do here is private instruction one to three times a week. A knowledge of music theory will help in any field.”
Ms. Shiffman said she was chosen from a pool of 80 applicants to succeed Aaron Flagg, who left in June after five years at the helm to become dean of the Hartt School at the University of Hartford. She arrived at an encouraging time for the conservatory, a nonprofit institution founded in 1929 by a group of musicians including the cellist Pablo Casals.
Fall enrollment is holding steady at 700 students despite the weak economy, and summer enrollment rose this year. The school’s $3 million budget has remained level for three years, and the conservatory provided $110,000 in scholarships to more than 115 students this year, made possible in large part by contributions from the board of directors.
To mark its 80th anniversary, the conservatory is planning a series of events, beginning at 1 p.m. on Oct. 3 with a free public celebration featuring proclamations, faculty and student performances and a birthday cake. Other events for the year range from children’s concerts to a performance by one of the conservatory’s former students, the pianist Garrick Ohlsson, on May 8.
In an interview in her office on her third full day in the job, Ms. Shiffman said she loved “being on the ground” where people connect with art. A trim and energetic former dancer who founded her own troupe before becoming an arts administrator, she has worked as a senior grants officer for the California Arts Council, as the dean of music at Cornish College of the Arts near Seattle and as the dean of the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College in Purchase. The move to Purchase in 2007 brought her back to her native New York — her mother ran a youth arts center in Queens — and she lives in Rye.
“Her background was impeccable,” said Christine Meyer, the conservatory’s development director. “She has so many connections to different facets of the arts, and we’re a building that wants to be an arts center in White Plains.”
The 36,000-square-foot school, which features 43 soundproof teaching studios and classrooms and a jewel-like recital hall, is already used for weekly rehearsals by groups like the Westchester Choral Society and the Hudson Valley Jazz Band. The Steffi Nossen School of Dance is in the building, as is the conservatory’s own Music Therapy Institute. The school also holds programs involving a few thousand children and adults throughout the county.
The Renata Scotto Opera Academy, which brought renown to the conservatory a few years ago, is defunct, but a two-week intensive vocal program is still held each summer. Vocal classes — like acting for singers and sight-singing, along with instrumental classes for young children — are among the most popular courses this fall, Ms. Shiffman said. She added that the school hopes to make Latin jazz and other “more ethnically specific music” available.
The school’s philosophy is rooted in a “set-your-own-goals” approach, rather than a “you-must-practice” one, she said. “There are ways of inspiring beyond fear, that focus on the joy of playing.”
The Music Conservatory of Westchester’s 80th anniversary celebration will begin at 1 p.m. on Oct. 3 at the conservatory, 216 Central Avenue, White Plains. Admission is free. Information: musicconservatory.org or (914) 761-3900.
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