Photo Essay: New Steinway & Sons Piano Arrives at UA

University Communications
July 23, 2013

The new Steinway & Sons piano belonging to UApresents, the UA's professional arts organization, has arrived.

The grand piano was acquired thanks to a generous gift provided by the Margaret E. Mooney Foundation in Tucson, Ariz.

Earlier in the year, UApresents executive director Chuck Tennes and UA School of Music Professor John Milbauer visited the Steinway & Sons factory in New York to view five “Model D,” nine-foot grand pianos, then make a selection.

"A concert grand piano is a major purchase to say the least, and I was fortunate that professor John Milbauer, a very astute member of the piano faculty, took time to travel to New York to select this particular instrument," Tennes said.

"Professor Milbauer played a variety of music on each, but only after he had painstakingly evaluated every note on every piano were we able to narrow the selection two," he said. "Then we spent many more hours comparing their tone, their consistency and the action of the keys."

The packaged piano arrived at Centennial Hall on July 18 and will be formally unveiled during an event to be scheduled in the fall. After the piano was unpacked and built, Tennes had a chance to try his hand.

"I had a chance to play the new piano when it arrived. It has a rich and beautiful well-balanced tone," Tennes said. "Our visiting artists are going to fall in love with this instrument." 

The famed classical music artist Lang Lang, who performs at Centennial Hall on Oct. 22, 2013 will be the first artist to perform in concert on the Steinway & Sons piano.

"The concert grand that has been in use in Centennial has done admirable service through the decades, but its prime is past," Tennes said. "This is an instrument that is entirely worthy of artists the caliber of Lang Lang."

Photography credit: Teri McGill

Contact: Darsen Campbell, the UApresents marketing and publicity manager, at 520-626-4420 and dcampbell@email.arizona.edu.

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