The Cortlandt School of Performing Arts to open Pleasantville location

The Cortlandt School of Performing Arts, Westchester’s largest private music school, announced that it will open a new location at 29 Marble Ave. in Pleasantville.

The Pleasantville site will be the organization’s third; it opened in Croton-on-Hudson in 2012 and expanded to Mohegan Lake in April 2017.

Carol Arrucci, who owns the school with her husband, Ray, grew up in Pleasantville.

“I grew up in Pleasantville and when this space became available through my dear friend, Sam Archie, I immediately jumped at it,” Arrucci said.

She has also stayed connected to the town as president of Pleasantville Music Theatre for the past decade.

Arrucci was a music teacher in the Hendrick Hudson School District before opening The Cortlandt School of Performing Art. She has experience on Broadway, where she directed the children’s chorus for a production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” With several Pleasantville students involved in the production, Arrucci later set up a performance group called The Westchester Dreamcoats.

It became a training ground for professional young singers, according to Arrucci, and inspired her to open her performing arts school.

The school now employs 23 professional musicians, with certified music education instructors included.

The Pleasantville location will open in September, and Arrucci reports that students are already beginning to enroll.

“Our music school serves all ages and levels,” she said. “We want to bring quality private music lessons to Pleasantville.

It will offer private lessons for voice and all instruments, and will include acoustic pianos in all studios in addition to offering instrument rentals.