Local Treasure : The Bloomingdale School of Music
By Caitlin Hawke
Bloomingdale, like a lot of the UWS, has a great musical tradition. After all, we can boast that right in our catchment, around 1925 Ira and George Gershwin shared a house at 316 W. 103rd Street. And we have Duke Ellington's mansion nearby at 333 Riverside Drive, and his studio around the corner at the Canavan mansion where Tempo Music was housed and run by the Duke's sister Ruth. If that's not enough, it seems Nina Simone also lived on that stretch of RSD. And I know from the wonderful Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group that Billie Holiday's mother had a restaurant on W. 99th Street.
There's a tradition of musical education in these parts (I know because walking the streets in the afternoon you can hear all kinds of voice and piano lessions). So, it stands to reason that we'd boast a music school all these many years later right nearby at 323 W. 108th Street, the Bloomingdale School of Music (BSM). It's been here since 1972 and offers a full course load as well as public performances, many of which you'll see on our calendar.
I thought it would be nice to share the slice-of-life piece that appeared two days ago in The Manhattan Express about BSM and its director Erika Floreska by Jackson Chen. Click here to read it.
Or click on the image below. Enjoy!
Bloomingdale, like a lot of the UWS, has a great musical tradition. After all, we can boast that right in our catchment, around 1925 Ira and George Gershwin shared a house at 316 W. 103rd Street. And we have Duke Ellington's mansion nearby at 333 Riverside Drive, and his studio around the corner at the Canavan mansion where Tempo Music was housed and run by the Duke's sister Ruth. If that's not enough, it seems Nina Simone also lived on that stretch of RSD. And I know from the wonderful Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group that Billie Holiday's mother had a restaurant on W. 99th Street.
There's a tradition of musical education in these parts (I know because walking the streets in the afternoon you can hear all kinds of voice and piano lessions). So, it stands to reason that we'd boast a music school all these many years later right nearby at 323 W. 108th Street, the Bloomingdale School of Music (BSM). It's been here since 1972 and offers a full course load as well as public performances, many of which you'll see on our calendar.
I thought it would be nice to share the slice-of-life piece that appeared two days ago in The Manhattan Express about BSM and its director Erika Floreska by Jackson Chen. Click here to read it.
Or click on the image below. Enjoy!
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