Grand opening of new White Plains music education, retail, performance venue a ‘High Note’, Castelli says

Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli (R, C – Goldens Bridge) joined the Music Conservatory of Westchester (MCW) and Faust Harrison Pianos on Saturday to announce the establishment of an expansive new Faust Harrison piano retail, restoration, and performance center on the Conservatory’s campus.

“On Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening of Faust Harrison Pianos’ new facility located at the Music Conservatory of Westchester campus,” Castelli said. “The evening was marked by outstanding performances from local artists, in a magnificent showroom of over twenty thousand square feet, with surprisingly good acoustics.  The highlight of the evening was a musical selection played via cutting edge digital technology by a renowned artist in Colorado, which was transmitted real-time, online, visually observed on a viewing screen, but played remotely on a piano in the Faust studio here in White Plains.”

The Center celebrated it grand opening at a gala reception and is already adding an entirely new dimension to MCW’s performing arts education facilities, Castelli says.  The event was the fifth local grand opening or groundbreaking ceremony attended by Castelli this week.

“The Faust family has long had a tradition of excellence in service, and this showroom and restoration facility is the crowning glory of a wonderful family business,” Castelli said said. “Pianos for all levels are on display, from uprights, and small pianos for starting students, to the finest concert grand pianos in the world. Pianos, by such makers as Yamaha, Bechstein, Mason & Hamlin and Steinway, are on display and available to be played.”

MCW’s two-building campus is a cornerstone for arts education within Westchester and the surrounding region, both through its own programming, and through the additional arts organizations it houses, including The Steffi Nossen School of Dance and the Westchester Choral Society.

Faust Harrison Pianos is the leading independent retailer of new, used, and rebuilt top-quality pianos in the entire New York metro area. The two neighboring organizations provide the community with an extraordinary level of piano and music education, made possible through a highly accomplished faculty, a world-renowned team of piano professionals, and advanced music technology.

The new Faust Harrison Piano Center occupies a freshly renovated 24,000 square foot facility located directly adjacent to MCW’s 216 Central Avenue building in White Plains. “As a bonus, the Faust family has announced that a free concert series will take place there, on a regular basis, which will promise to bring world-class talent to our local area for the enjoyment of all,” Castelli said.

In the future, Faust Harrison’s extensive collection of technologically advanced keyboard instruments, such as the Yamaha Clavinova and Yamaha AvantGrand, will be incorporated into cutting-edge educational programs for MCW students. Faust Harrison will also incorporate the Disklavier, which enhances the piano education experience via its industry-leading performance reproducing technology.

The winner of School Band & Orchestra Magazine’s 2011 Best Tools for Schools Award, the Disklavier was also the first music product to win the Music Teachers National Association’s (MTNA) Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award. In addition, the MCW campus will become perhaps the only one in the nation to include an on-site “old-world craftsmanship” piano restoration center.

“The Music Conservatory of Westchester, which recently celebrated its 80th anniversary, is proud to serve 3,700 students ranging in age from two to 87 years, representing more than 30 nationalities and hailing from 102 communities in a five county area,” said Carol Shiffman, Executive Director of The Music Conservatory of Westchester. “We are thrilled to welcome Faust Harrison Pianos to our campus and look forward to the many benefits our students, faculty and community will reap from this unique collaboration.”

According to Shiffman, the new relationship between MCW and Faust Harrison Pianos will also bring more high-quality musical performances to the Westchester arts community, as both organizations will regularly host joint and individual live performances by a wide variety of  musicians.

There will be expanded MCW student, faculty and guest artist recitals, as well as solo and ensemble performances by the same outstanding classical, jazz, experimental, and avant-garde musicians who have made “Piano Row” a critical destination for music performance in New York City, available now in White Plains, she said.

“Faust Harrison Pianos and MCW, combined, offer more than a century of musical knowledge, educational expertise, top-quality instruments, and acclaimed concert performances,” noted Irving Faust, of Faust Harrison Pianos, also the exclusive New York retailer of Yamaha Pianos, an integral supporter of the new MCW-Faust Harrison collaboration.

“Yamaha provides the widest and most sophisticated array of musical instruments and technologies available in the world today,” Faust said. “We’re thrilled to provide these exceptional instruments to help expand the range of pedagogy and performance at the new center.”

Both MCW and Faust Harrison Pianos are operated by professional musicians dedicated to maintaining quality and integrity in their teaching and in their instruments, and to serving the community. In addition, the Conservatory is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, is a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education, and is chartered by the New York State Board of Regents.

“This was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and I want to thank the Faust family personally for their decision to make this investment in our community,” Castelli said. “Its proximity, adjacent to the conservatory, itself an institution of considerable renown, makes for a complimentary marriage, bringing together great instruments and great artists. I wish them good luck in the future, and encourage all of those, whether musically inclined or not, to visit the showroom.”

Founded in 1929, the Music Conservatory of Westchester (www.musicconservatory.org) is a non-profit community school of the arts, providing music, musical theatre education, and music therapy for people of all ages and abilities. The Conservatory’s 36,000-square-foot facility in White Plains offers a Recital Hall and 43 acoustically designed classrooms and teaching studios. Their comprehensive programs, which serve 3,700 students annually, include performing ensembles, musicianship classes, student performances, master classes, workshops, and more.

Established in 1983 by concert pianist Sara Faust, and subsequently joined by composer and pianist Michael Harrison, Faust Harrison Pianos is the nation’s pre-eminent retailer of high quality new, used and restored pianos. The Faust Harrison lineup of pianos can be seen and played in its showrooms in Manhattan (207 West 58th Street); Westchester (214 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY); and Long Island (277 Walt Whitman Road – route 110 – Huntington, NY – opening shortly).