Teacher Directory

The Music Conservatory of Westchester (MCW) is a nonprofit community music school founded in 1929, making it one of the oldest and most distinguished music institutions in Westchester County. Legendary cellist Pablo Casals was among its founders, and jazz legend Cab Calloway once served on its board. Located at 216 Central Avenue in White Plains, NY, MCW serves 2,800 students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. The Conservatory is one of only sixteen non-degree-granting schools nationwide to be accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. MCW offers private lessons in piano, jazz piano, harpsichord, violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, voice, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, tuba, drums, concert percussion, classical guitar, jazz guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, and ukulele. Programs include group classes, a Suzuki program, early childhood classes, music production, summer programs, performing ensembles, a Theater Arts Prep Program, the Music Therapy Institute for children and adults with disabilities, and Healing Our Heroes providing music therapy services to U.S. military veterans. MCW's Scholarship Program provides need-based tuition assistance for financially deserving students. The Conservatory's Recording Studio, Technology Lab, and Piano Lab, completed in 2022, provide state-of-the-art facilities for the next generation of music-makers. MCW also offers lifelong learning for adults, community outreach programs, and free community performances.

Dave Long is a pianist, composer, and piano teacher serving Westchester, Dutchess, Putnam, and Orange Counties in New York. He began his musical studies with percussion and drum set in elementary school, later expanding to piano, guitar, and music theory. As an undergraduate at Boston University, he studied piano, music theory, music history, ear training, and sight singing, and participated in jazz ensembles. He also studied music theory and conducting at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. For the past decade, Dave has studied with world-class pianist and teacher Seymour Bernstein, professor at New York University and the subject of the 2014 documentary 'Seymour: An Introduction' directed by Ethan Hawke. Dave is a member of the Music Teacher's National Association (MTNA) and offers in-home piano lessons covering classical, jazz, and improvisation.

Vassa Shevel is a distinguished pianist, chamber musician, and educator. Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, she won the Cappella Competition at age eleven performing the Bach Double Concerto and began her undergraduate education at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, where she studied with Galina Orlovskaya. Immigrating to the U.S. with her family in 1978, she continued her studies at the New England Conservatory and SUNY Purchase and earned her master's degree at the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Oxana Yablonskaya. She has studied piano with Jacob Maxin, Russell Sherman, Jerome Lowenthal, Gregory Haimovsky, and Karl Schnabel, and chamber music with Yehudi Wyner, Jennifer Langham, Lawrence Lesser, Nancy Cirullo, Paul Doctor, and Robert Levin. A finalist in the Murray Dranoff International Competition, Ms. Shevel has performed at Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Symphony Hall in Boston, and major venues and festivals in Europe. She is the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble, which she founded in 2005 with pianist Inessa Zaretsky to make classical music highly accessible to all New York area residents. She is also a member of the Philadelphia Piano Duo with Claire Belkovsky, Co-Artistic Director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Series in New York, and Co-Artistic Director of the Incontri di Canna Festival in Calabria, Italy. Ms. Shevel is on the piano faculty at the Mannes College of Music at The New School and maintains an active private teaching practice.