OUR HISTORY

Instructor and Students Playing Violin - Cary, NC - Cary School of Music

Cary School of Music was established in May 1993 by Pamela Pandolfi with help from a grant from her brother Emile Pandolfi, an internationally renowned piano recording artist. Pam grew up in a musical family in New York and began playing the violin at age four. She, along with her siblings, studied at the Third Street Settlement in New York and later at Columbia University. The family moved to Greenville, South Carolina, when Pam was 12 and there she continued her study of violin playing at Furman University, spending her summers at Brevard Music Camp and Blythe Shoals Music Camp in North Carolina. Pam, her brother Emile Pandolfi, and sister Barbara Coventry were each featured soloists with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra as teens and all three continued their music education by attending Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The siblings performed extensively together throughout high school and college.

In 1974, Pam moved with her new young family to Cary and continued the tradition of music making by teaching violin, performing with the Raleigh Symphony and other area orchestras, teaching strings in the public schools and educating her own four children in music. Anthony, Michael, Christina, and Catherine studied guitar, trumpet, saxophone, flute and oboe as well as studied piano and violin in their early years. Searching for appropriate teachers for each of her children and finding time in their busy schedules for lessons continued to be a huge challenge for the family. Pam's childhood dream of starting a music school where family members could study diverse instruments at the same time would soon become a reality.

As Cary School of Music continued to grow and expand through the years, Pam's son Michael Mole joined her as Associate Director of the school. Michael graduated from UNC-CH with a degree in trumpet performance and is currently Principal Trumpet with the Durham Symphony Orchestra, and regularly performs with the North Carolina Theater Orchestra, the Broadway Series Orchestras, and in churches and other performance outlets in the area. Ginger Mole, Michael's wife, who has a BA in education, offers Spanish classes to students at the school. Anthony Mole, who has a law degree from Campbell University, established the Music Supply Store to help students easily access needed music and accessories as well as instruments. Pam's eight young grandchildren take lessons at the school and continue the family tradition of music education and performance.