Music Conservatory of Illinois

Did you reserve a spot with your faculty for the fall? Reach out to confirm your lesson time!

Did you take a break from lessons this summer, but want to schedule for the fall? Schedule your lesson time, NOW! (lesson spots are first come, first serve)

Want to start lessons for the first time? Let's do it!

TEXT (224) 307-5124 | EMAIL [email protected]

Don't wait! Pre-Piano is our most popular class and provides the perfect introduction to general music and piano.

Email us at [email protected] or Text/Call us at (224) 307-5124.

Fall Registration is NOW OPEN at MCIL! Reserve your spot in one of our many group classes, or inquire about private lesson availability. Call us or visit our website for more information! 🎶✨

Music Conservatory of Illinois Private lessons in PIANO, VOICE, GUITAR, UKULELE, VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO, DOUBLE BASS, and HARP

This summer, MCIL is happy to offer, once again, the MCIL Summer Gold Star Challenge. This practice challenge is open to all students of MCIL and runs from the beginning of summer Session to the last day of August. The challenges may be met in any order, and there is no cost to sign up!

Those who complete the summer challenge will receive a Gold Star Trophy.

Teachers only need to share the challenge with their students and collect them at the end of the summer!
1) 1-3 pieces learnt (depending on difficulty, teachers will decide on an individual basis).
2) technique or theory challenges are also good goals to complete over the summer.

Come, stretch your wings and try something new! Listen, experience, and even play a Harp. FREE & OPEN TO ALL! Please RSVP via email to [email protected]🎶🤩

Music Conservatory of Illinois - Home Lessons in Piano, Voice, Guitar, Ukulele, Violin, and More!  2809 Central St. Evanston IL 60201  Email: [email protected]  Phone/Text: (224) 307-5124 ONLINE and IN-PERSON PRIVATE LESSONS as well as GROUP LESSONS.  Please fi

ALUMNI NEWS: Neal Francis, alumna of Martha Yelenosky performing in NYC, at Carnegie Hall. The Music of Crosby, Stills and Nash is the 19th annual "Music Of" benefit. 100% of net proceeds go towards music education for underserved youth. The all-star lineup includes Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle, Neal Francis, Guster, Iron & Wine, Sarah Jarosz, Rickie Lee Jones, Joseph, Taylor Meier (of Caamp), A.C. Newman, Aoife O’Donovan, Grace Potter, Sammy Rae, Real Estate, Todd Rundgren, Yola, and Music Will. Link for more info: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2024/05/13/The-Music-of-Crosby-Stills-and-Nash-0800PM

Monday, May 13, 2024 8 PM Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage

How exciting! We are only a month out from these FREE + FABULOUS performances! Come hear our students execute greatness on piano, voice, harp, violin, guitar, ukulele, and MORE!

Come enjoy the beauty of music with us on June 9th! Bring your friends and spend the afternoon with us. 🎶🤩

You could join our next session! Limited spots left!

Musicians and Music Appreciators join us for Spring Recitals! June 1st and 2nd. We can't wait to hear what everyone has been working on.

Music Conservatory of Illinois - Home Lessons in Piano, Voice, Guitar, Ukulele, Violin, and More!  2809 Central St. Evanston IL 60201  Email: [email protected]  Phone/Text: (224) 307-5124 ONLINE and IN-PERSON PRIVATE LESSONS as well as GROUP LESSONS.  Please fi

🎉 Exciting News Alert! 🎉We're thrilled to share that Justin de la Cruz, former MCIL faculty member and Director of Choirs at Niles West High School, has led his choir to the finals at ICHSA! 🎶
They're heading to NYC next and could use your support on this incredible journey. Please consider showing your support by making checks out to Niles West High School. Let's cheer them on as they shine on the big stage! 🌟

🎶 Join Our Team! 🎻
Are you a passionate CELLO player with a knack for teaching? We want YOU to join our faculty team at the Music Conservatory of Illinois!
We're currently seeking a talented cello teacher to inspire and mentor our students. Immediate availability!
📧 For more details and to schedule an interview, please email [email protected]. Compensation will be based on experience and degree.
Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to share your love for music and make a difference in the lives of aspiring musicians. Apply now!
🎵

Tania León (b. Havana, Cuba) is highly regarded as a composer, conductor, educator, and advisor to arts organizations. Her orchestral work Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music. In 2022, she was named a recipient of the 45th Annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements.

A founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, León instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series, co-founded the American Composers Orchestra’s Sonidos de las Américas Festivals, was New Music Advisor to the New York Philharmonic, and is the founder/Artistic Director of Composers Now, a presenting, commissioning and advocacy organization for living composers.

Honors include the New York Governor’s Lifetime Achievement, inductions into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and fellowship awards from ASCAP Victor Herbert Award and The Koussevitzky Music and Guggenheim Foundations, among others. León has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Colgate University, Oberlin, SUNY Purchase College, and The Curtis Institute of Music, and served as U.S. Artistic Ambassador of American Culture in Madrid, Spain.

Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winning composer Jennifer Higdon heard almost no classical music before going to college to study the flute. Since then, she has embraced the art, writing music that has been described as “lithe and expert.” In addition to her many commissions, Higdon now teaches at Curtis Institute, preparing our next generation of composers.

When JoAnn Falletta matriculated at Mannes College of Music as a guitar major, she had already set her sights on the conductor’s podium. Despite the administration’s doubts that a woman could be a Music Director, they changed her major, and Falletta never looked back. Now many years into her career as the Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta never lost her love of guitar, establishing an international competition in 2004.

Falletta accepted her first individual GRAMMY Award on Feb 10, 2019 for Best Classical Compendium for the recording of Fuchs: Piano Concerto 'Spiritualist'; Poems Of Life; Glacier; Rush with the London Symphony Orchestra. The album which was released in August 2018 features music of Falletta's long-time friend and composer Kenneth Fuchs.

American composer and flutist Valerie Coleman was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. She displayed a strong interest in music as a toddler, picking up sticks in the backyard and pretending they were flutes. She started formal music training in the fourth grade, and by age fourteen she had written three symphonies.

Coleman earned degrees in composition and flute performance from Boston University and graduated with a Masters Degree in flute performance from Mannes College of Music. While she was still a student, Coleman began planning a chamber music ensemble. She chose the name Imani Winds, Imani being the Swahili word for faith. The group focuses on music by underrepresented composers from the non-European side of contemporary music, and their repertoire includes music that is inspired by influences from the music of Africa, Latin America and North America.

In 2019, Coleman composed Umoja, Anthem for Unity for the Philadelphia Orchestra, which was the first work commissioned by the orchestra from a living African-American woman. And Valerie Coleman was named Performance Today's 2020 Classical Woman of the year.

Dr. Joanna Goldstein is a professional pianist and Professor Emeritus of Indiana University Southeast. A fiercely passionate advocate for women in classical music, Goldstein has produced two albums, both of which highlight women composers throughout history. Her first album, Nasty Women: Piano Music in the Age of Women's Suffrage, features solo piano repertoire composed by seven women who convened in 1925 at a music conference held in Washington, D.C., just 5 years after the passage of the 19th Amendment, as well as seven of their contemporaries.

Avlana Eisenberg is a conductor, as well as a lawyer and professor of law at Florida State University (as if being a conductor wasn’t challenging and time-consuming enough). Born in San Francisco, and daughter of acclaimed violinist Zina Schiff, Eisenberg was, you guessed it, a child prodigy. Starting on violin, she debuted at age seven with her mother and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, playing Bach’s Double Violin Concerto. Eisenberg went on to study at Yale, took an interest in conducting, and founded and directed the Silliman Symphony. She then earned her law degree from Stanford University, as well as two conducting degrees from The Peabody Institute and the University of Michigan. A Fulbright Scholarship took her to Paris, where she assisted Paris National Opera director James Conlon.

As a conductor, she’s led ensembles across the globe, from the Aspen Music Festival, to the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (the latter two for commercial recordings). In addition to her numerous international engagements, Eisenberg spends considerable time in the Boston area, having previously taught law at Harvard University and Boston College, as well as her current role directing the Boston Chamber Symphony. She is also a tenured professor at the Florida State University College of Law, where she has taught since 2015.

Tailleferre was the only woman in the group of French composers, Les Six. Encouraged and inspired by her friends – including Poulenc and Ravel – she wrote many of her most important works during the 1920s, including her first Piano Concerto, the Harp Concertino, the ballets 'Le marchand d'oiseaux' and 'La nouvelle Cythère'. She was composing and playing piano right up until her death at the age of 91.

Chaminade was composing from an early age, even playing some of her music to Georges Bizet when she was eight. She wrote mostly pieces for piano and salon songs, which were hugely popular in America. She composed a Konzertstück for piano, the ballet music to 'Callirhoé' and other orchestral works. The composer Ambroise Thomas once said of her, 'This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman.'

This Venezuelan pianist, singer and composer performed for Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1863 and at several of Henry Wood's promenade concerts. She composed at least 40 works for piano, two for voice and piano, two for choir and orchestra, and two pieces of chamber music. Her song 'Tendeur' was a hit in her time. Remarkably, a crater on Venus is named after her.

For years, Clara Wieck Schumann was known only as Robert Schumann’s wife, but she was an extraordinary composer and pianist in her own right. Were it not for Clara’s pianistic gifts, Robert Schumann might never have pursued a musical career. After hearing her perform at a house concert, he pleaded with his mother to let him quit law school and study music instead. As a performer, Clara revolutionized the programming of piano solo recitals. She was one of the first classical pianists to memorize music for performance. She was also the main breadwinner for the Schumann family during her marriage to Robert and many years after his early death.

When you think of the composer Mendelssohn, many people will think of Felix, but his sister F***y was an incredible composer and musician in her own right. This brother/sister team made quite the dynamic duo—they supported and influenced each other throughout their lives and remained very close.

When it was difficult for women to publish their work, her brother offered to publish her work under his name, and in return, she gave critical feedback on his work. This led to a rather embarrassing episode when Queen Victoria received Felix at Buckingham Palace and told him she would sing one of her favorites of his songs—which he admitted was actually by F***y.

Marianne von Martinez, also referenced as Marianna Martines, was somewhat of a child prodigy. A vocalist, keyboardist, and composer, Martinez’s talents were noticed by her neighbor Pietro Metastasio when she was only nine years old. Metastasio provided Martinez with education in French, English, German, and Italian, in addition to other subjects that made her education superior to that of most other upper-middle-class girls of the time. She regularly performed in the Viennese court, and had a mass performed in the court chapel as a teenager.

Martinez was very highly regarded by all musicians with whom she came into contact. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart often invited her to perform four-hand piano sonatas alongside him. Music historian Charles Burney visited her in 1772 and wrote high praises in what “remains the most extended and enthusiastic appreciation of her skills as a singer, keyboard artist, and composer” and serves as “a testimony to her intelligence and refinement”. Martinez was honored with an induction into the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 1783, whose membership also includes such names as Arcangelo Corelli, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Niccoló Paganini.

Unlike many other Viennese musicians of the time, Martinez never sought a patron or church to fund her music-making. She never married and simply created her music for her own joy while also caring for her mentor, Pietro Metastasio, in his old age. Upon Metastasio’s death in 1782, Martinez inherited his harpsichord and music library, as well as a large sum of money. She used these resources to open a singing school in her home in the 1790’s. Her home was also a chamber music destination, with tenor Michael Kelly and keyboardists Mozart and Haydn often attending soirées and performing for or alongside her.

Much of Martinez’s acclaim died along with her in 1812. For centuries, she has gone largely unknown, while her counterparts Mozart and Haydn were and still are household names. Her music has been rediscovered in recent years, and many of her pieces have been published since the 1990’s by publishers that seek out and promote works by female composers.

Born in 1619 in Venice, Barbara Strozzi was hailed as one of the finest singers and most prolific composers of the time, eventually publishing eight collections of songs before her death in 1677 — more music in print than even the most famous composers of her day. As the daughter of renowned poet Giulio Strozzi and a cadet member of one of the most powerful families of Florence, Barbara spent her life in creative circles, mingling with all levels of Italian society.

Her music is daring for a composer of her time and remarkable for many reasons. Perhaps most apparent is the tremendous care that she takes in setting her texts, creating intimate relationships between the words and music, as well as the unusual and often surprising harmony she explores. Her creativity was such a force in fact that she is sometimes credited with the genesis of an entire musical genre — the Cantata.

Marin Alsop is one of the world’s best conductors, having taken her baton to the helm of most of the US and Europe’s top orchestras, and served stints as chief conductor of orchestras like Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony.

In 2011, she became the first woman to conduct at Teatro alla Scala in Italy in its 230-year history. Alsop is also a violinist, including in the New York Philharmonic earlier in her career, and she’s an inspiring mentor who leads life-changing education initiatives that inspire people with music all over the world.

Few classical artists share the deep musical achievements or cult status as Martha Argerich. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she took up the piano aged five, and was soon hailed as a prodigy, performing in public. At 16 years old, she stormed the world, winning the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition within just three weeks.

What followed is a career as a recording artist and concert pianist that’s utterly unparalleled. Every performance shines with her moody, unpredictable genius. She has also fostered countless younger players and new generations of talent. As the classical music world rose to glitzy heights over the last 60 years, she has anchored an entire industry in deep musicality, integrity and inspiration.

Lili Boulanger was born in 1893 in Paris, France to a musical family. Her mother, father, and sister Nadia were all trained composers or performers. When her father, Ernest, was only 20, he won the Prix de Rome. This coveted prize, which provided a year’s study in Rome, was the greatest recognition a young French composer could attain. Other winners of this prestigious award include Hector Berlioz, Gabriel Fauré, and Claude Debussy. Lili’s immense talent was recognized early on, and at the age of 2 she began receiving musical training from her mom and eventually her older sister.

In 1895 she contracted bronchial pneumonia, after which she was constantly ill. Because of her frail health, she relied entirely on private study since she was too weak to obtain a full music education at the Conservatoire.

In 1913, Lili became the first woman to win the Prix de Rome for her Cantata Faust et Helene at the age of 20, the same age her father was when he won this award. Her phenomenal success made international headlines. Due to her quick rise to fame, she signed a contract with Ricordi that offered her an annual income in return for the right of first refusal on publication of her compositions. While in Rome, she finished several compositions including the song cycle, Clairières dans le ciel. Her study in Rome was cut short by the outbreak of World War I. Upon her return to Paris, she founded an organization which offered material and moral support to musicians fighting in the war.

In 1916 she returned to Rome to finish her study and began working on her five-act opera La princesse Maleine, as well as her large-scale settings of Psalms 129 and 130. This time a rapid decline in her health forced her to leave Rome and return to France. In the final two years of her life she concentrated her energy on finishing the compositions she had begun in Rome.

During her short life, she wrote many beautiful and complexly constructed pieces, including an unfinished opera. She had to dictate her last work, a Pie Jesu, to Nadia, because she was too weak to write. Lili Boulanger died of tuberculosis at the age of 25.

A prolific composer and conductor, and teacher to some of history’s greatest music-makers, Boulanger was an unstoppable force in 20th-century music.

She wrote several choral, chamber and orchestral works, was the first woman to conduct many major US orchestras, and her star roster of pupils included Leonard Bernstein, Philip Glass and Daniel Barenboim, no less.

Boulanger’s passion for pedagogy followed the tragically early death of her sister Lili Boulanger, who was then considered one of France’s most exciting young composers. When Lili died aged just 24, her elder sister lost her taste for composing. Instead, she decided to dedicate herself to a lifetime of teaching and nurturing others in music.

Florence Price was one of the first women to have a symphony performed by a major US orchestra, and the first Black woman to do so: she made history in 1932 when Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her Symphony in E minor.

Price wrote numerous orchestral works, chamber pieces and songs, and was also a pianist and teacher. Due to her race and s*x, she didn’t get the recognition she deserved in her own lifetime, but new music of hers was recently discovered and she’s finally getting the recognition she deserves.