Missouri State University will celebrate its new status as an All-Steinway School with a ceremony, concert and reception on April 16.
Event details
- What: All-Steinway Celebration
- When: 7:30 p.m., April 16
- Where: Ellis Hall
- How: Free and open to the public. (More details.)
About the program
Missouri State President Clif Smart will make remarks. Dr. Shawn Wahl, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, and Missouri State patron Mike Minor (for whom C. Minor Hall is named) will also offer remarks before Sally Coveleskie, national director of higher education for Steinway & Sons, officially grants All-Steinway School status to Missouri State.
The piano concert will feature two new nine-foot Steinway “D” Model grand pianos.
This celebration is the culmination of the university’s nine-year journey to All-Steinway status. It began with the hope that new pianos might replace an aging piano fleet and offer every music major training on industry-standard Steinway instruments.
Students supported this goal by approving a program fee, which paid for the first ten Boston upright pianos for practice rooms and the first two Boston grands for rehearsal spaces in Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts and Wehr Band Hall. Student fees also made possible the purchase of the first nine-foot Steinway concert grand. This instrument was made by hand at the Steinway & Sons factory in New York and arrived to celebrate the opening of the renovated Ellis Hall in 2017.
About Steinway & Sons and the All-Steinway initiative
The Steinway Piano Company is an American piano manufacturing company founded in 1853 in New York City. It has continuously handcrafted pianos since that time, becoming known internationally as the preferred piano for 98 percent of concert artists and the prized instrument for training at discerning music schools.
Missouri State is the fourth school in Missouri to attain All-Steinway status. The dreams, plans, care and attention that have brought these amazing instruments to Missouri State demonstrate our university’s commitment to high quality, value and distinction in musical learning for all students and audiences. Achieving All-Steinway status is part of our role as a destination campus for the arts. It reaffirms a pledge to intentional excellence by providing students, faculty, guest artists and audiences with the best possible equipment for the study and enjoyment of music.