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Steinway Selection

Dr. Bill Swann and Dr. Robert Bonham feel the weight of the heavy wrench used to tighten the wooden grand piano rim on the rim bending machine, seen behind them.

Dr. Bill Swann and Dr. Robert Bonham feel the weight of the heavy wrench used to tighten the wooden grand piano rim on the rim bending machine, seen behind them.

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  • Dr. Robert Bonham, Bill Metcalfe, Brandon Herrenbruck and Dr. Bill Swann stop at the front entrance to Steinway & Sons in Queens, NY upon arrival for the selection on Dec. 10, 2009.
  • One of the first Steinway pianos, built in the kitchen of master cabinet maker Henry Engelhard Steinweg in Seesen, Germany in 1836. Mr. Steinway immigrated to America and founded Steinway & Sons in 1853 in a Manhattan loft. By that time he had built 482 pianos. The first piano produced by the company, number 483, was sold to a New York family for $500. It is now displayed at the New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • Available new Steinway Concert Grands (Model D’s) are lined up in the selection room, ready to be played and selected.
  • Wally Boot, the long-time Steinway voicing artisan who details the final selections for the artists and the new owners of the concert grands, explains his job to Dr. Bill Swan while on the Steinway tour.
  • Watching the process of bending the rim into the piano shape are, from left, Dr. Bill Swann, Anthony Gilroy, director of marketing and public relations for Steinway, Dr. Robert Bonham and Brandon Herrenbruck.
  • Dr. Bill Swann and Dr. Robert Bonham feel the weight of the heavy wrench used to tighten the wooden grand piano rim on the rim bending machine, seen behind them.
  • This master technician employee of Steinway & Sons hand chisels the bridge to prepare for the pins to be added to hold the strings.
  • Relaxing for a few minutes after the selection was made of the Clayton Arts Center’s two Steinway concert grands are, seated from left, Brandon Herrenbruck, Dr. Bill Swann, Dr. Robert Bonham; standing from left, Dirk Dickten, concert technician who tuned the pianos for selection, Jane Tolhurst, Dr. Fred Tolhurst, Bill Metcalfe and Ron Losby, president of Steinway & Sons.
  • Dr. Bill Swann, left, and Dr. Robert Bonham sitting at the concert grands with their blue “selected” ribbons.
  • After the selection, Dr. Bill Swann plays jazz on “The Alexander,” the concert grand named in honor of Sen. Lamar Alexander’s parents, Andrew and Flo Alexander, and donated by the Senator and his wife Honey.
  • Dr. Robert Bonham performs classical music on the piano donated by the Grand Players Society for the second piano to be used on the stages of the Clayton Arts Center.

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