OUR
HISTORY
Our project was born when the current director of the Academy, Tito Quiroz, met his missionary teacher, Nancy Benning. During his stay at the “Cristo por su Mundo” orphanage, Nancy taught Tito the art of music and that is how she implanted in him the love for musical notes.
When Tito was about to finish his degree in Law, he made the decision to make a drastic change in life and dare to follow his Dreams. He rented a garage, equipped it and began to teach violin. From that moment, thanks to his talent and perseverance, he embarked on a path of hope towards the summit of a great success.
Shortly thereafter, his enrolled students were so many that he had to leave his garage for bigger facilities.
BENNING MUSIC ACADEMY
Thanks to the unconditional support of Nancy and Hans Benning towards the project, Tito decided to officially found Benning Music Academy in 2011, honoring his teachers with the name of the academy.
Together, they have promoted the value of service through the love for music, making available to everyone, without social differences, the most beautiful art of all: Music.
HANS & NANCY
Hans & Nancy Benning met at Mittenwald, Germany, when they were both students at the violinmaking school. They discovered that their passion for violinmaking united them and made them a great team. Since then they decided to seal this passion with an eternal love commitment.
Since 1953 the family business of violinmaking, then named Studio City Music, has been synonymous with the making of fine hand-crafted string instruments.
When Hans and Nancy got married in 1964, Hans joined the business, working in the workshop alongside Nancy's father, Paul Toenniges.
During that time, he spent some summers with Nancy's uncle, Carl Becker, Sr., and worked alongside Raymond del Prato and Frank Kovanda in their workshop - both artists in violinmaking and bow making.
In the year 2000 they changed the name of their business to Benning Violins to better reflect the nature of their business and Benning Violins now has a reputation of quality and integrity worldwide.
They had a son named Eric who was introduced to the world of musical instruments at a very early age. Eric showed a great interest and talent for this art and to date he is passionate about it.
Currently Eric, the son of Hans and Nancy, as well as their grandson Nathan, work in the family business and intend to run the store in the future to continue the fourth generation of the business and the tradition. Their nice Laura and great nice Paige are also an important part of the family business.
Nancy & Hans Benning have always had great generosity and service values. Thanks to this, they met Tito Quiroz, a child who lived in the Cristo por su Mundo orphanage and who had his world entirely changed when they introduced him to the wonderful art of music. It was then when something surprising was born and keeps alive to this day.