Conservatory Concert Dedicates New Steinway Piano, a Gift of the Family of William J. Hannan, Jr.,'64 by Marci Janas '91
			Photo by Mike Wilkes Click for high-resolution version The Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College received a significant and stunning addition to its collection of 1,700 period and modern musical instruments in July: the Hannan Hamburg Steinway, a gift from the family of William J. Hannan, Jr.'64 (Bill), who died in September 2001. Hannan's parents, W. Jay and Yrsa E. Hannan, say their gift commemorates the love that Bill had for Oberlin throughout his life. They and other members of the Hannan family will be the guests of honor at a concert dedicating the Hannan Hamburg Steinway on Thursday, October 17, at 8 p.m. in Warner Concert Hall. Featuring seven members of the Conservatory's keyboard faculty, the concert is free and open to the public and will include works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, and Ravel. Steinway & Sons, which celebrates its sesquicentennial in 2003, manufactures its pianos in Long Island City, New York, and in Hamburg, Germany. The Hannan Hamburg Steinway is a Model "D" Hamburg. Nearly 9 feet long and weighing nearly 1,000 pounds, it is encased in ebonized walnut and birch with solid brass hardware. The rim of the instrument is made entirely from hard rock maple that underwent 18 laminations. Its soundboard, which is made of close-grained, quarter-sawn Sitka spruce -- a wood that exhibits unusual stability and vibrance under stress and vibration -- is created like the soundboard of a violin to give a free and even response throughout the entire scale. More information on the Hamburg Steinway's specifications can be found at http://www.steinway.com/html/tech/specs_d.html.
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