College Achieves ‘All-Steinway’ Status with Donation from late Betty Louise Aierstock Moore ’45
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o trace back the origins of Moravian College’s initiative to become an ‘All-Steinway’ campus, a distinction held by fewer than 160 colleges and universities nationwide, a person must go back some 15 years ago to the waning hours before a recital in Peter Hall and a small, but necessary, untruth. Kimberly Buschta Poloni ’99 was prepping for her performance that evening when she realized the lower register of the piano keys was locked up and unplayable. She called upon Blair Flintom, the Music Department’s facilities manager, to help, who in turn contacted a piano technician. Four hours later, the technician had the instrument working, but for how long, he couldn’t predict. “He basically said, ‘the piano was on its last leg and it had to go,’” Flintom recalls. When Poloni later approached Flintom to find out the piano’s status, to calm her nerves, he lied. “You could see the little sweat beading up on her. So when she asked if everything was OK, I said, ‘I was right, there was a pencil in it’ – which wasn’t the case,” he explains. By the “grace of God,” Flintom says, the piano limped through the recital. Shortly thereafter, he approached the faculty and explained how dire the need was for better pianos – the incident before the recital was just the latest example of the equipment faltering because of use. Moravian’s All-Steinway initiative was subsequently born. Fifteen years later, Moravian completed its conversion to Steinway & Sons pianos, securing the final 10 the department needed thanks to a gift from the late Betty Louise Aierstock Moore ’45. This summer, the Moore family presented a gift of $500,000 to the institution, $350,000 of which was marked to complete the All-Steinway campus conversion. “The journey of becoming All-Steinway has been made possible through the generosity of so many individuals, foundations, corporations, fundraisers – including the At-Home Steinway Series – and the Moravian College Music Alliance,” said Hilde Binford, chair of Moravian College’s Department of Music. “A lot of credit for the initiative goes to our previous department chairs, but also Blair. He was the one that realized our pianos were in
bad shape and falling apart, and he pushed for our move to Steinway. He got the ball rolling.” On Aug. 1, President Bryon Grigsby, music department faculty and student Michael McAndrew ’15 traveled to Jacobs Music Co. in Philadelphia to select the pianos. Three weeks later, on Aug. 21, the College celebrated the delivery of the final Steinway piano to the Brethren’s House in fitting style. The College’s marching band, in matching black All-Steinway celebration T-shirts, trumpeted its arrival, filling Church Street with music and life. “The people from Jacobs told us they had never seen anything like it before,” says Flintom of the pomp and circumstance awaiting a moving truck and men with dollies. President Grigsby championed the achievement as an “investment in our students and in our faculty.” “Our students need to have the best equipment and the best preparation when they go out into their jobs, and that is what Steinway represents,” he explains. For Flintom, the culmination of the pianos’ arrival was very personal and emotional, pausing before he answered. “I think this whole experience has brought a new life to the Music Department,” he adds. “Our Steinway pianos are truly a piece of art. And they look so darn nice in our rooms. “Of course, it’s good to educate the students on what they have, and how fortunate we are. It’s particularly important that they know how to treat the pianos carefully.” W
LEFT: Michael McAndrew ’15, a composition major with an instrumental focus on piano, breaks in one of the College’s new Steinway pianos with President Bryon Grigsby looking on. RIGHT: Piano movers transport a new Steinway piano through Peter Hall in August.
FALL 2013
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MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE
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