CCM Joins Steinway & Sons in Historic Partnership

CCM, the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati (“UC”), received approval today from the UC Board of Trustees to enter an agreement with Steinway & Sons to purchase 165 new pianos, the largest unit purchase in Steinway’s 155-year history.

Upon delivery of the pianos, CCM will receive the designation of “All Steinway School,” a distinction shared by the top conservatories in the world. CCM will also become one of the largest repositories of Steinway pianos outside the company’s Long Island City, N.Y.-based factory. The handcrafted instruments will serve to renew and replace a majority of CCM’s current stock of 255 pianos and will be moved into concert halls, rehearsal rooms and teaching studios.

According to Steinway, fully 98% of all pianists performing with orchestras last year chose their pianos exclusively. With the “All Steinway School” designation, CCM students and faculty will have the opportunity to perform and practice on the instruments they will encounter most frequently on the concert stage.

“We are extraordinarily excited to become an All Steinway School,” says Douglas Knehans, dean of CCM. “This is both a mark of distinction, a high achievement and a profound signal of CCM’s commitment to quality, its students, faculty and community. With this purchase, CCM’s world class facilities will now be matched with the world’s finest pianos throughout its performance, teaching and study spaces.”

Sally Coveleskie, Steinway’s National Director of Institutional Sales, adds, “Steinway & Sons is deeply honored that CCM has joined our worldwide roster of All Steinway Schools. Pianos designed by Steinway & Sons will be available to CCM’s illustrious faculty and gifted students from practice rooms to the concert stages of this remarkable institution. With its founding in 1867, and that of Steinway in 1853, the union of two American cultural icons is now formalized and will share a partnership based on our mutual dedication to excellence well into the future.” 

The cost of the pianos is $4.1 million, which CCM will pay for via an aggregation of income from multiple endowment funds. Continues Knehans, “In order to be a leading institution, we must invest in the very best resources for our students and faculty. We are very proud that through the excellent and strategic management of our endowment resources, coupled with the university’s commitment to CCM’s continuing excellence, we are placed in a position to deliver this further improvement to our already standard-setting quality.”

CCM will receive the pianos in multiple shipments; the first delivery of approximately 80 pianos is scheduled for late December 2008, with final delivery to take place by June 2009. Premier Pianos, Greater Cincinnati’s only local authorized Steinway dealer, has facilitated the agreement and will work with CCM to remove used pianos and install the new instruments.

About CCM
The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is recognized internationally as one of the leading conservatories for the performing arts and electronic media. CCM also is the largest single source of performing arts events in Ohio with an annual calendar of nearly 1,000 performances and presentations, ranging from solo recitals to full-scale opera and musical theater performances. Visit www.ccm.uc.edu for more information.

About Steinway & Sons
Since 1853, Steinway pianos have set an uncompromising standard for sound, touch, beauty, and investment value.  Handcrafting each Steinway requires up to one full year, and the result is an instrument of rare quality and global renown.  Not surprisingly, Steinway remains the choice of 9 out of 10 concert artists, and it is the preferred piano of countless musicians, professional and amateur, throughout the world. More information is available at www.steinway.com.