Photo above: Salvatore Febbraio with AAA President Linda Solely Reed
Salvatore Febbraio, a Mount Vernon native who founded and ran a music school in his hometown for more than 50 years, died Saturday, November 27, 2010 at his home on Parkway East. He was 75.
In 1956, he founded the Febbraio School of Music of Westchester in Mount Vernon, offering instrument, vocal and theory lessons to about a dozen children in a small building on North High Street. The school moved to its current location on Locust Street in 1960. Today it has more than 200 students and a staff of about 15.
He continued to serve as director until his death.
“It was something he loved,” said his younger son, Gregg Febbraio, 49, an attorney who lives in
Greenwich, Conn.
Febbraio began playing music at age 5. As a teenager, he gained fame for his talents as an accordionist, after appearing on TV and radio talent contests, such as “The Ted Steele Show.” His professional musical career picked up momentum after he appeared as a pianist on the television show “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” in 1954.
It was after that performance that Febbraio, then 19, met his future wife, Antoinette, then 16. They married two years later. Passing up offers to tour the country with big-name acts, such as trumpeter Louis Prima, Febbraio settled in Mount Vernon to start a family and founded the music school.
Though he favored accordion and piano, he played — and taught — everything from the organ, to
drums, bass and guitar, in addition to teaching music theory.
He was also a sought-after vocal coach, despite his lack of singing talent, one of his sons said.
“He was an early day Prince,” said his elder son, Guy Febbraio, 52, a musician who lives in Mount
Vernon. “He couldn’t even sing, but he could teach singing.”
Febbraio studied music and education at Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music, before receiving a doctoral degree in music from New York University. His more noteworthy performances as an accordionist include a concert he did with students at the 1964 New York World’s Fair in Queens and a 1965 reunion party for West Point’s class of 1915, where he performed for former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, family members said. He was also the administrator of the external degree program of Trinity College of Music of London, New York Centre in the United States.
Dr. Febbraio is listed in the “International Who’s Who in Music” published in Cambridge, England, and “Who’s Who in Classical Music.” He was a published composer and served as consultant to the New York State Education Department for Collegiate Academic Review and as an adjudicator in national, regional and international music competitions.
He was an active member of the Doctorate Association of New York Educators, Music educators’ National Conference Research Fellow, Musicians Association Local 38 and a longtime member of the Governing Board of the American Accordionists’ Association.
His former students have performed on the concert stage, Broadway and throughout the world, and remarkably for six presidents- Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and Bush.
In addition to his wife and son, Febbraio is survived by another son, Guy Anthony Febbraio, and three grandchildren, Nicole, 25, Monique, 21, and Gregg, 14.
