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The Early Years
The Allegro story started in 1961 when the Caneva family opened a music shop in downtown Lockport, called the Lockport Music Center. They sold all types of instruments and taught many of the award-winning band students from Lockport Township High School. The music center went through several changes of ownership over the next 30 years, but it was always a home for young musicians in Lockport
The Growing Up Years
In 1991, Tim Veurink saw an ad in a paper for a music shop for sale. As a teenager, he’d spent many hours hanging out in just such a place, playing guitar and enjoying the “musician vibe.” It sounded like a dreamy business opportunity, as well as a ticket out of his current line of work—accounting, ugh. So Tim walked through the door of Lockport Music and was greeted by a kindly, older gentleman. Tim said to him, “This is a nice place you’ve got here.” And the man responded, “Yes it is. You want it?” And several conversations later, Tim owned a music store. Dreamy!
Tim continued the grand tradition of the Lockport Music Shop—lots of hanging out, playing guitar, and soaking up the vibe. They sold guitars, amps, musical instruments and accessories, and they taught a lot of lessons. But in truth, there was more hanging out than actual sales. Tim kept working at it, in spite of Big Music Stores and the rise of the internet. But the landscape for retailers was changing, and Tim was ready for a change too.
The Year Of Change
In 2001, Tim found himself in a conversation with a local piano teacher, Lori, whose dream was to start a performing arts academy in neighboring Lemont, where most of her student base was located. Tim liked the idea, and they decided to make it a partnership. On September 11, 2001, while the reports of airplanes slamming into the Twin Towers in New York were coming over the radio, they were just starting the remodeling project in an old building in historic downtown Lemont. It was an emotional day. Over the next month, they hung drywall, painted, bought furniture and pianos and toys, until the space was perfect. The Allegro Music Academy was now a reality. On October 23rd of 2001, Lori taught their first lesson.
They were fortunate to meet many great families who wanted to learn how to play music. These families told their friends, who told their friends, and the word travelled fast in the friendly town of Lemont. Soon more space was required to accommodate the growth, and they were able to rent the 2nd floor of the building to add additional teaching studios.
Partners Forever
Lori had become a very expensive business partner, so Tim decided he was either going to buy her out or get her to marry him. Since she’s the reason the studios are so much fun, he chose the second option. Luckily for him, she said yes! Like lots of things in marriage, Tim found himself agreeing with Lori’s ideas more and more, and over time Allegro manifested her vision for adding dance and theatre programs, and today they are the area’s premier performing arts academy.
Through it all, our goals remain the same: We want to teach music, dance and other performing arts to everyone we meet. We still want to be a welcoming place where students of the arts can meet each other, study, hang out, perfect their craft and then perform onstage for a crowd of adoring fans. How cool is that?
We consider our students, teachers and staff to be part of our family– the Allegro family. And guess what? There’s still room in this big crazy house for you and your family Won’t you join us?