Pianos Lure Students to Pa. Conservatory
The Associated Press
Apr 16 2003 3:00PM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Of the 800 or so
students who annually
audition for the Curtis Institute of Music,
about 40 are accepted.
And for some of those lucky - and talented
- chosen ones, it gets
even grander: their own Steinway piano for
the duration of their
enrollment.
The loan program has been a tradition since
the founding of the
79-year-old Curtis, regarded as one of the
world's most
prestigious music conservatories. Thirty
students now have
at-home Steinways.
``This is something that's really unique to
Curtis on this kind of a
scope,'' said Sally Coveleskie, director of
institutional sales for
Steinway & Sons in New York.
Steven Hackman, now a 22-year-old
second-year conducting
student, had auditioned and was waiting for
his flight home to
Illinois when he read about the loan
program while browsing the
school's Web site in the airport.
``My parents were here, too ... our jaws
just dropped,'' he said.
``I'd never heard of anything like that.''
It can make apartment hunting tougher, and
the students have to
pay for the piano move, which costs at
least $150. But they're not
complaining.
``We're really blessed to have this program
- it's one of the
reasons I came here,'' said Sheridan
Seyfried, 18. ``Otherwise,
you're relying on practice rooms and trying
to schedule time to use
them. To have one at home is just the
ultimate.''
This year, 38 students were accepted at
Curtis, founded in 1924
by publishing heiress Mary Louise Curtis
Bok. The school accepts
only enough students to fill all the seats
in an orchestra plus a small
number of keyboard, composition and
conducting students.
Currently there are 158 students; all are
on full scholarships.
The length of study is open-ended, ranging
from two years to 10
years or longer. Students, mostly
college-age but a few of whom
are in their early teens, graduate when
their teachers decide they
are ready.
Conductor Leonard Bernstein, opera singer
Anna Moffo, violinist
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, pianist Peter
Serkin and composer
Samuel Barber are among Curtis' alumni - as
is the school
president, noted pianist Gary Graffman.
The Curtis Institute purchased its first 45
Steinways shortly after
the school opened and it now has 91,
acquired through donations
and purchases. Besides the school's 16
piano students, 14 others
studying harpsichord, organ, composition
and conducting have
Steinways. Students try them out and pick
the one they like best.
The remaining grands, worth $12,000 and up,
grace the school's
performance venues and practice rooms.
``Steinways are workhorses; they hold up
extremely well. And the
depth of the sound really gives students
idealized training that
allows them a fuller palette to work
with,'' said Hugh Sung, a
Curtis alumnus and faculty member.
Third-year piano student Di Wu, 18, said
she otherwise would
have rented an upright piano for her
studies. Instead, she practices
in her apartment on her 1931 Model B
Steinway - but she worries
it might be spoiling her.
``It's an honor,'' she said. ``I just don't
know how I'll ever be able
to play on anything else after I leave.''
On the Net:
The Curtis Institute of Music Web site:
http://www.curtis.edu
Steinway & Sons Web site:
http://www.steinway.com
04/16/03 14:56 EDT
Terry Peterson
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