Special thanks to the generosity of Sara Sharp and the NWA Community Concerts Association, we now own a brand NEW Steinway Grand Piano.
The gestation period for a Steinway Grand Piano is nearly a year. Nothing is hurried. Even the carefully selected woods that make up the rims, top, soundboards and actions cure for months in Steinway's manufactoring yard, kilns and conditioning rooms before they stabilize at a rigidly specified moisture content. The rim of the instruments consists of layers of hard rock maple and with a bell-quality, full cast-iron plate, withstands the enormous amount of tension exerted by the strings. The finest acoustic-quality spruce is fashioned into the delicate curve of the Diaphragmatic® soundboard, which tapers gently from the center to the edge, assuring the full, rich Steinway sound.
Ultimately, the pieces — massive and delicate — come together through the interweaving of the craft and technology until the instrument is complete. However, it is not a Steinway until voicing gives it the special quality that makes it unique. Here, every subtle nuance is drawn out by balancing and adjusting the keys and shaping, hardening or softening each hammer. In the end, the new piano is transformed from more than 12,000 individual parts into an instrument… and from an instrument into a Steinway.
This year, the Artosphere Festival Orchestra will close out our annual arts + nature festival with their third performance, Bold Spirit: The Best of Beethoven, which will consists of two works by Ludwig van Beethoven and feature Pietro de Maria on our brand new Steinway!
The orchestra's performance of Bold Spirit could never have been so GRAND, if it weren't for the generosity of Sara Sharpe and the Community Concerts Association, who helped plant the seed for our brand new Steinway Grand Piano! And, we are honored to have our brand new Steinway piano christened by world-renowned pianist, Peitro De Maria.
An active concert pianist, De Maria has played as soloist with the best known orchestras, with conductors of the stature of Roberto Abbado, Gary Bertini, Myung-Whun Chung, Corrado Rovaris, Kwamé Ryan and plenty more. He teaches at the School of Music in Fiesole, at the Academy of Music in Pinerolo and at the Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland.
Don't miss the GRAND finale featuring the Artosphere Festival Orchestra in Bold Spirit: The Best of Beethoven is Saturday, June 27 at 8pm at Walton Arts Center. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here.