The Wisconsin Conservatory of Music is an independent music school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

. The conservatory teaches many types of music, including classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, and blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

. It also hosts many musical concerts throughout the year.

History

The school is descended from two music schools, both founded in Milwaukee in 1899: the Wisconsin College of Music, originally located in Mendelssohn Hall across the street from the Central Library, and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, originally housed in the Ethical Building on Jefferson Street facing Cathedral Square. The two schools merged in 1971. It now describes itself as "the oldest and largest non-profit independent music school in the state."

In 1932 it leased the mansion originally built by industrialist Charles L. McIntosh in 1903. McIntosh was born in New York State, and became a banker in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

. In 1895 he moved to Racine, Wisconsin

Racine, Wisconsin

Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...

 and bought a controlling interest in the J. I. Case Company

Case Corporation

Case Corporation was a manufacturer of construction and agricultural equipment. In 1999 it merged with New Holland to form CNH Global, a Fiat Group division...

. The architect was Horatio R. Wilson of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. In 1921
McIntosh sold the house to William Osborne Goodrich (1863–1956), who was married to Marie Best Pabst (1868–1947), the daughter of Frederick Pabst

Frederick Pabst

Frederick Pabst was a German-American brewer who founded the Pabst Brewing Company.-Early life:Johann Gottlieb Friedrich Pabst was born on March 28, 1836, in the village of Nikolausrieth, then in the Province of Saxony, in the Kingdom of Prussia...

 (1836–1904).

Today

The school serves over 1000 students each semester and holds classes in multiple locations throughout Milwaukee County. It employs over 50 teachers and performers. Both group classes and individual instruction are available. It has an annual budget of about $2 million dollars (70% of the operating expenses are covered by tuition) and is not funded by any government agency.

Notable faculty and students

Noted faculty have included the pianists Adelaide Banaszynski ("Miss B") and Ralph Votapek. Other current and former faculty include Margaret Hawkins, Lee Dougherty, Pearl Brice, Benjamin Verdery, Rebecca Penneys

Rebecca Penneys

Rebecca Penneys is an American-born pianist of Russian-Jewish decent. Penneys is considered a world-class recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator. In 1965, she was the youngest contestant to have ever entered the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw,...

, Tony King and Jessie Hauck.

Noted students have included Lynne Arriale

Lynne Arriale

Lynne Arriale is an American jazz pianist. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received her Master's Degree from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and in her initial training was classical. However her interest in the works of Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock led her to jazz. She gained...

 (pianist), Gerald Cannon (bassist), Lee Erickson (conductor), Daron Hagen

Daron Hagen

Daron Aric Hagen , is an American composer, conductor, pianist, educator, librettist, and stage director of contemporary classical music and opera.- Early life and education :...

 (composer), David Hazeltine

David Hazeltine

David Hazeltine is an American jazz pianist.Today a major pianist in the New York and Japan scenes, David Hazeltine has been playing gigs since he was thirteen. He did not seriously consider going into music until right before college. Once he entered into the jazz world he was encouraged by Chet...

 (pianist), Liz Lerman (choreographer), Liberace

Liberace

Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...

 (pianist), Brian Lynch

Brian Lynch (musician)

Brian Lynch is a Grammy Award-winning New York based Jazz trumpeter, currently touring and recording as a member of the Phil Woods Quintet and Eddie Palmieri's Afro-Caribbean Jazz group, as well as leading his own groups and appearing with various other bands including the "Latin Side Of Miles"...

 (trumpeter), Wayne Taddey (pianist), Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder is an American stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter, and author.Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers...

 (actor), and Carl Zeidler

Carl Zeidler

Carl Frederick Zeidler was the mayor of the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1940 to 1942.Born in Milwaukee, he graduated from Marquette University in 1929 and receiving a J.D...

(former mayor)