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PERFECT PITCH: Famous names to help
Steinway Society get some young Atlanta pianists in:
tune
BYLINE: By Marc Fest STAFF WRITER
DATE:
09-16-1993
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and
Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION:
Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: N/06
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For
the first time in its 13 years, the Atlanta Steinway Society
in
its 1993-94 season will award scholarships in the name of
famous
musicians, such as Harry Connick Jr.
Since its
inception, the society has awarded $23,000 to help
students age 9
to 18 pursue piano careers.
An early recipient was Gary
Manzies.
"The members of the Steinway Society do so much more
than just
getting together for socializing," says Menzies, 31,
who later studied at
Clayton State College and Georgia State
University.
This summer, he performed twice with the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra.
"I would have never achieved that without the
help of the Steinway
Society," he says. "Besides conferring a lot
of prestige and recognition,
they have given me so much moral
support, intellectual guidance and
artistic advice."
Menzies
is particularly fond of Barbara Kirby of Marietta, founder
of the
Atlanta Steinway Society and owner of the Atlanta Piano Gallery
in
Buckhead's Brookwood Square.
With $100 and 16 members,
Kirby started the first Steinway Society
in the United States in
1980. Today, there are 180 members in Atlanta and
15 more
societies in the country.
The societies are loosely affiliated
with the New York-based
Steinway Co., a 140-year-old piano
manufacturer that lets the societies
use its prestigious
name.
Scholarships, which go to four to eight students, have
totaled $15,000
in the past three years.
The society also
contributed $2,000 to Scottish Rite Children's
Medical Center and
a satellite dish to Egleston Hospital for Children.
"They use it
so the children can watch the Disney Channel," says Kirby.
The
society's major contribution to the Atlanta music community
came
in 1987, when it donated a 9-foot $64,000 Steinway concert
grand piano to
the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
"This was our
most important effort so far and we're so proud of it.
Pianists
have always been complaining about the bad piano here
before,"
says Kirby, adding, with a pianissimo of disappointment
in her voice:
"The first time the orchestra used the piano they
didn't even acknowledge
that it was a donation, though."
This
year's season will bring several important changes for
the
Atlanta Steinway Society: Scholarships will be extended to
college level
and the size will be increased, says treasurer
Curtis Headrick.
In addition to Connick, Yoel Levi, conductor of
Atlanta Symphony
Orchestra, and William Ransom, Emory University
music department
chairman, are among the 24 celebrities lending
their names to
scholarships.
The society will start this
season's musical and social events
Friday, featuring an "Evening
with Steinway," co-sponsored by the society
and Pace Academy.
Pianist Macs Frampton will play popular film music,
ranging from
"Gone With The Wind" to "Amadeus" and "Camelot," at the
academy's
Performing Arts Center.
Chart: TAKING NOTE
Tickets for
Friday's concert can be obtained at Pace Academy (262-1345)
or
the Atlanta Piano Gallery (351-0550).
Color photo: (appeared on
N/01 with reference to N/06 story) pianist Mac
Frampton (right)
and Society founder Barbara Kirby / Erik S. Lesser
/
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