Propelling young people’s musical talents

Though the Stecher and Horowitz School for the Arts moved from Cedarhurst to Manhattan in 1999, the piano duo’s legacy is still alive in the Five Towns.

Melvin Stecher, who was born in Far Rockaway, lived in Cedarhurst and Hewlett Harbor until 1999 when he moved to Manhattan as did the School for the Arts. He started taking piano lessons when he was 8 and made his debut at Carnegie Hall at 19. “It’s rare to fill the big house there but I had everyone from Far Rockaway and the Five Towns there,” he said.

Growing up in Brooklyn, Norman Horowitz met Stecher when he was 17 and the pair decided to team up. “We were really ambitious,” he said. “We thought we’d try our luck at playing two pianos together since it had a little more cachet and we thought we could sell ourselves as young kids. We haven’t stopped working since.”

Following a brief illness Stecher contracted at 28 while on tour in South America, the duo began thinking they needed to have a backup plan if they wanted to continue to pursue their careers as concert pianists. “We felt that if we couldn’t continue we had to have something else,” Stecher said.

In 1960, the Stecher and Horowitz School for the Arts opened at 74 Maple Ave. in Cedarhurst. “When we first opened we rode around nearby neighborhoods to see which houses had bicycles and sent them letters about our school,” Horowitz said.

Forty-five students signed up for piano lessons and as the school became more established 500 students participated in piano, voice and guitar lessons along with various others. “We offered only piano lessons from 1960 to 1975 and then we taught every instrument in the orchestra as well as voice and guitar with a faculty of 25,” Horowitz said.

The duo was actively involved with their student’s progress. “We personally knew what every student was doing and we always felt they were apart of us,” Stecher said. “We gave them all the care and love we could. It gave us great satisfaction to give back and try and help these students avoid any pitfalls they might have in their careers.”

Though closing the Cedarhurst location in 1999 was a difficult decision, it was also a smart one for the men. “It came to a point that we had so much experience and in modesty, we were world-renowned concert artists and we wanted to reach a broader audience,” Horowitz said. “It was really a cultural hub in the Five Towns,” Stecher added.

Margaret Carpenter, a Lawrence resident and vice-chairman of the Board of Directors at the school, has served on the board since the school was in Cedarhurst. She attends all of the concerts and gala events in an effort to fundraise for the New York International Piano Competition, a biennial event that is open to all pianists of all nationalities between the ages of 16 and 21. This year’s competition was held from June 17 to 22 at The Manhattan School of Music and Steinway Hall.

When coming up with the idea for the piano competition six years ago, Stecher and Horowitz had to make it unique from the others. “We decided there would be no elimination in the first round as there typically is with most competitions,” Horowitz said. “We had contestants from 13 countries in this year’s competition.”

Carpenter said it was an intelligent decision for the duo to relocate the school from Cedarhurst to Manhattan. “I think they were wise to do it because oddly enough it got more difficult for the kids to come to the school and practice because many of them were also doing soccer, dance and other extra curricular activities,” she said. “They’re extraordinary people who want to encourage young pianists and we need to put classical music out there to help young people grow.”