Once a year the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music turns its Victorian mansion on Seventh Avenue into one big party, with bands in the concert hall, on the landings and in the attic. The 11th House Party is on Thursday, November 5, from 7 to 11 p.m., and this year's theme is a mystery.

The conservatory says more than 500 guests and musicians fill the building each year. The night is BKCM's largest fundraiser, and the money goes to its music education and music therapy programs.

Who is playing

The 2026 lineup spreads across the house:

  • Members of the Mingus Big Band and members of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
  • Funkrust Brass Band and the Sterling Street Orchestra
  • Abby Jeanne and the Shadowband, Aberdeen, Alba Musik, Babadoos, Tonewall and The West Side Cowboys
  • Eggs Benatar, the '80s cover act that has played House Party before
  • Dueling pianos with Ben Easton and Damon Smith
  • Lara Lewison, Marcus Machado, and DJ Taela Naomi
  • FUMBL, the band formerly known as the Unemployed Musicians Baseball League

Rooms around the house carry their own themes: a karaoke lounge, a piano bar, a distillery, and a snack room billed as Recess After Dark, with two VIP spaces.

The mystery

BKCM is framing the 11th edition as a whodunit. Its invitation plays on ten years of House Party guests seeing staircases as dance floors and closets as concert venues, and lists past performers as prime suspects, from Red Baraat with the dhol at the block party to the Xylopholks in the study. Guests are asked to follow the clues.

What BKCM does the rest of the year

The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music is a 129-year-old nonprofit community music school. Its Park Slope campus offers private lessons, group classes, ensembles, music therapy and 17 rehearsal studios open to any musician, and it runs programs at more than 90 sites across the five boroughs. This fall it is expanding to a second location, BKCM Prospect Park West.

If you go

When: Thursday, November 5, 7 to 11 p.m.

Where: Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 Seventh Avenue, Park Slope. The 2 and 3 trains stop at Grand Army Plaza, and the B and Q stop at Seventh Avenue.

Tickets: On sale through BKCM's House Party page, which also offers a deal for first-time guests. Sponsorships are available by contacting the conservatory.

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