Steinway piano takes center stage April 29 to honor retiring Elizabethtown College President Theodore E. Long

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ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (04/27/2011)(readMedia)-- As the curtains swing closed on the Elizabethtown College presidency of Dr. Theodore E. Long, brushing the stage and signaling a standing ovation for a 15-year performance, a spotlight will remain aglow over a solitary piano on center stage.

Delivered earlier this month to the College's Leffler Chapel and Performance Center, is a gleaming, glorious Steinway D grand piano, which will be officially unveiled at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 29, with performances by students and faculty members of the College.

The Elizabethtown College trustees, as a note of appreciation for a decade and a half of service – an unusually long presidential tenure -- presented the College with a gift of music. This gift reinforces the College's commitment to, and is a demonstration of, Ted and Betty Long's love of the arts.

"When the board thought of an appropriate way to honor the Longs for their 15 years of service, they wanted to go beyond the standard gift of a Caribbean cruise or a new car," noted E. Douglas Bomberger, the College's Fine and Performing Arts department chair. "They chose a gift that would not only benefit the College but also honor the unique strengths and interests of Ted and Betty, who have been lifelong music lovers." The two met while traveling on a choir tour through Europe when they were college students.

"Betty and I are thrilled with this magnificent gift to the College," said President Long. "It is a wonderful expression of our love of music that will highlight the arts at Elizabethtown and bring lovely music to audiences for decades to come. We are deeply honored that the Board has chosen this gift to recognize our service here."

Raising the money without seeking budgetary funding was a heroic challenge, said David Beidleman, vice president for Institutional Advancement and Community Relations, at the College. "Fortunately the college community, led by the board of trustees, had a special interest in honoring both Ted and Betty Long for their long standing commitment and service to the College," he said. "Knowing that the Longs share a deep and personal interest in music, it seemed that a musical instrument of this caliber would be a wonderful tribute."

Contributions came in from on and off campus – members of the College's Leadership Council, faculty and staff members, community members -- and at a Spanish-themed dinner at the winter board of trustees' banquet in January, the identity of the gift was revealed. Reifsnyder's Piano, in Lancaster, loaned a stand-in instrument for the surprise event, which featured a performance by Elizabethtown College piano faculty members Debra Ronning and Justin Badgerow.

Then, this spring, Reifsnyder's arranged for the Longs and a small group of donors and College personnel to tour the Steinway Factory in Long Island City, N.Y., to see, in part, the fabrication process of Steinway pianos. David Hosler '72, board of trustees chair was most impressed: "I was realizing, on the one hand, that the instrument took strong men, using all their might to fold and shape the rim of the piano, while, on the other hand, it took the careful, focused and delicate hands of others to build the intricate mechanism within."

While donors and friends toured the remainder of the factory, the Longs joined piano faculty members Bomberger, Ronning and Badgerow to select from five Steinways that were complete and ready for delivery. "The faculty members played the five pianos and selected the one they believed would best suit the acoustics of Leffler Chapel and Performance Center," Bomberger said.

Presently the College has a Steinway S, the smallest, in one of a practice rooms. There also are two Steinway B grand pianos – measuring 6 foot, 10 inches --on the stage of Zug Recital Hall.

The new Steinway D – 9-feet long -- is the largest concert instrument made by the company. It will be used, exclusively, on the Leffler stage, replacing a heavily used Baldwin, which will be donated to an organization in need of a piano. The new Steinway will be used for student and faculty recitals, concerts by choirs, bands and orchestra and concerts by guest artists.

"The Longs have always sought to take important steps toward bringing Elizabethtown College's programs to new and higher levels of quality," said Beidleman. "The Steinway Co. is known for producing quality, first-in-class instruments that are located in the finest concert halls in the country. This, combined with the interest and support of the Trustees, Provost Susan Traverso and the Fine and Performing Arts faculty members, is a perfect fit."

"The Steinway piano is the best American-made concert piano," said Bomberger. "Company literature claims that 98 percent of concert artists use their instruments." Even though the piano cost nearly $120,000, the generosity of donors was enough to establish an endowment to be used for the purpose of maintaining the Steinway in the future.

The piano will be presented for use on several occasions and future celebrations with the Steinway will take place throughout the coming year including a concert on the eve of President-elect Carl Strikwerda's inauguration.

With this gift, Elizabethtown College is on its way to becoming a "Steinway College" noted Beidleman. "While it may take some time to reach this goal," he said "the most difficult challenge was to obtain a new Concert Grand Piano." That first goal has been accomplished. "All of this was made possible due to the extraordinary respect and admiration for the Longs and all that they have meant to the College."

Elizabethtown College, in southeastern Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than four dozen liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education degrees. Through personal attention, creative inspiration and academic challenge, Elizabethtown College students are encouraged to expand their intellectual curiosity and are given the opportunity to become a bigger part of the world through experiential learning-research, internships and study abroad. Elizabethtown College's overall commitment to Educate for Service is fulfilled as students are taught intellectually, socially, aesthetically and ethically for lives of service and leadership.

Visit www.etown.edu for more information about Elizabethtown College.

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