Students Perform on Historic Pianos

Twelve students from Interlochen Arts Academy, a fine arts boarding high school in Michigan, recently received a unique opportunity to perform on a collection of historical pianos that are part of a Smithsonian Institution exhibition celebrating the piano’s 300th anniversary.

Interlochen students were invited to perform on the instruments as part of the educational outreach program of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. “Piano 300: Celebrating Three Centuries of People and Pianos” commemorates the invention of this universally beloved instrument.

“We are especially pleased that our collections can benefit these splendid young musicians, who have worked hard to master these instruments, transforming their own music making in the process,” said Jim Weaver, music curator at the National Museum of American History.

Among the instruments played was the 1903 White House Steinway. The instrument, used from the time of Teddy Roosevelt through subsequent administrations until 1939, “changed the direction of White House concerts, bringing a steady stream of major pianists,” Weaver said.

Students also performed on a 1745 Antwerp French harpsichord, a Baldwin owned by Liberace (customized with 125 pounds of Austrian rhinestones for Liberace’s Radio City Music Hall appearances), a piano commissioned to represent American industrial progress in the American pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and a Steinway that once stood in Duke Ellington’s New York apartment.

For a virtual tour of Piano 300, visit www.piano300.org.

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