About Us

 The Bennett Conservatory of Music was founded by a family of musicians in 1950 and has served four generations of students. Its primary mission is to promote musicianship for all ages through private instruction, chamber performances, and student recitals. The Bennett Conservatory of Music is dedicated to excellence in teaching, exploring traditional and modern musical styles, and serving as a cultural resource for the appreciation of music and other arts in Northern Westchester. 

Jane Parkhouse Director
 

Charles H. Bennett 

Cornelia Cotton 

Deslyn Downes-Dyer 

Jacob Alex Dyer 

Mary Ann George 

Meredith Hertlein 

Veronica Rawlings 

Nance Shatzkin 

Kristan Temme 

Barbara Bennett Woodhouse  

Rarely outside of a large city can one find a school to compare with the Bennett Conservatory of Music, either in of instruction available, the superior qualifications of the teaching staff, or the cultural activities sponsored by the school for the students, their families, and the community.

This site attempts to outline what the Conservatory has to offer, but it cannot adequately convey the atmosphere of friendliness, informality, enthusiasm, and dedication in which this instruction takes place. It can only imply some of the unique advantages to the student which such a school can offer - the chance to see and hear such a variety of artistic efforts, to take part in coordinated artistic projects, to know that one's own lesson is a small but significant part of a group effort to make life richer through the enjoyment and the disciplines of art.

The Bennett Conservatory of Music is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational institution registered with the Regents of the State of New York.

The Bennett Conservatory of Music does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, nationality, ethnic origin, religious belief, gender, or sexual orientation in its employment practices or in the administration of its educational policies.

 The Bennett Conservatory of Music mourned the death of Else Bennett in 2020, the last of the school's founding generation, and its director for half its seventy years of existence.

The Else Bennett Scholarship Fund 

was established to celebrate her life 

and influence by fostering music talent for many children and encouraging 

the joy of music making to all. 

Born Else Torp, she grew up on a farm in Denmark and remembers climbing a tree and throwing cherries at occupying German soldiers, something that would have been a lot more dangerous had she been a little older. 

Though her passion was art, she attended business school and was working as registrar of the Danish Royal Academy of Music when she met Charles Cedric Bennett, the violinist and youngest member of the Conservatory’s founding trio. They fell in love and married two years later. She always called him Charles, but he often called her his beautiful Viking. After a stint in Los Angeles, where he worked as a music therapist, they came to Croton in 1974 to take over the reins of the Conservatory from the remaining founders Boyd and Anne Bennett, Mercedes and Gene Hill having died a few years earlier.

In June 2015, Croton’s Mayor honored Else with a proclamation in recognition of her outstanding service to the Conservatory and to Croton, followed by a party and exhibition of her paintings at the Conservatory, and she turned the reins over to Jane Parkhouse, our current director.

Else was a warm and welcoming presence. Modest as a person, she took a genuine interest in all the students and staff. Justly proud of the handful of Conservatory alums who became famous as musicians, she took greater joy in following the careers of the many hundreds of children—even babies, during the Conservatory’s years hosting Music Together—whose lives were permanently brightened by music. Her wonderful Danish cookies and cakes added greatly to receptions and parties. An accomplished painter, she excelled in pastoral and local scenes. She will be missed by the generations of the Conservatory’s students and their families.