Levine School of Music

The Levine School of Music is the preeminent center for music education in Greater Washington committed to offering music instruction of the highest quality and performance opportunities to anyone regardless of age, ability or means. The School was founded in 1976 in memory of prominent Washington attorney and amateur adult music student Selma M. Levine.

Today, Levine provides music instruction to 3,500 students (including 900 adults) at four campuses throughout Greater Washington: Upton Street in Northwest DC; THEARC in Southeast DC; The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD; and the Westover Baptist Church in Arlington, VA.

The School employs a world-class faculty of 150 offering instruction in 22 instruments and voice. Levine is one of 12 community music schools accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music among university music departments and conservatories in the United States, and is the only community music school to be designated as an “All Steinway School.”

Levine presents its faculty, visiting artists of renown and its leading students in performance at prominent venues throughout the tri-state region through Levine Presents. This year, Levine Presents will include approximately 200 performances, master classes and lectures with something for every musical taste provided for free or at a modest cost.

To honor its mission of opportunity, Levine also scholarships and provides instruction free-of-charge to more than 600 disadvantaged at-risk youth and low-income seniors through outreach programs at early childhood development centers, family support centers and assisted living residences for seniors in underserved neighborhoods in Washington at a cost to Levine of over $500,000 each year.

Accomplishments in the past five years:

- In June 2009, a group of Levine at THEARC students performed in the first The White House Music Series: Jazz Studio hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama featuring Wynton Marsalis, as well as Levine alumnus Kush Abadey.

-40 Levine students from all campuses also participated in The White House Classical Music Student Workshop hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama and featuring violinist Joshua Bell.

-Levine’s outreach programs were chosen as a “Best Practice” by the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts and were featured on the CBS Evening News.

-Levine celebrated the five year anniversaries of its campuses at the Music Center at Strathmore and THEARC (Town Hall Education, Arts & Recreation Campus) in Southeast DC.

-Levine has dedicated more than $3 million to scholarships and free outreach programs for at-risk children in neglected neighborhoods across the District.

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