Campaign launches to supplement concert piano collection

Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall is looking for a “soul mate” for its prized Hamburg Steinway Model D-274 concert grand piano, and has launched a fund-raising campaign to find and acquire the perfect match for “Clara”.

Spivey Hall acquired Clara in 2012, adding her to “Walter” and “Emilie”, the hall’s pair of New York-built Steinway concert grands named after local real estate developer couple and Spivey Hall founders Walter and Emilie Spivey. The piano’s name was chosen both for the instrument’s clarity of sound and in honor of distinguished 19th-century pianist Clara Schumann. Clara made an immediate impression on Spivey’s piano artists.

“This is, and I’m honest now, this is one of the best Hamburg Steinways I’ve ever played,” said acclaimed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, in an interview with ArtsAtlanta’s reviewer Mark Gresham. “It’s just heaven to play — the action, the evenness, the color.” Andsnes was the first artist to play Clara in a scheduled performance, and immediately fell in love with the instrument. “With this piano in this hall, I almost cannot imagine a better situation for a pianist playing a recital.”

But Clara is all by herself, and no one piano can fully satisfy the varying needs and preferences of the world’s finest pianists. Every musician has a special connection with their instrument, but while most play their own on stage, with pianists this is rarely the case.  Since transporting their instruments from venue to venue is costly and just impractical, pianists must rely on the concert hall to provide an instrument of the highest quality that allows for a brilliant performance. And just as every artist is different, so are pianos, which is why superlative venues like Spivey Hall provide several choices of instruments to visiting artists.

“Spivey Hall is committed to attracting some of the finest musical talent from around the world,” stated Michael Koch, M.D., a Spivey Hall Friends Council Advisor, Piano Campaign chairman and avid piano lover. “For those world-class pianists in particular, it is essential that Spivey provide them with a choice of instruments to best suit both their technique and tonal aesthetic.”

Thus Clara is now seeking her soul-mate, “Robert” — a piano of equally outstanding quality with a contrasting personality and complementary character.

“A worthy partner for Clara will be a piano that (like herself) has a beautiful sound and is suited to Spivey Hall’s superb acoustics,” added Samuel C. Dixon, Spivey Hall’s executive and artistic director. “We’re calling this new piano ‘Robert’ because composer Robert Schumann and Clara Weick Schumann were husband and wife – a major 19th century European classical music ‘power couple’ – and their love inspired Robert to compose some of his most highly regarded works, including those for piano.”

He continued, “To a professional pianist, each concert grand piano is unique, in subtle but significant ways. The differences between Clara and Robert will be among those most valuable and appealing to the pianists who perform on them – in the touch of the keys and the fundamental character of tone. As always, we wish to create the conditions at Spivey Hall that will enable these extraordinary artists to give their most personal interpretations of the music they choose, and to perform at their best.”

The Piano Campaign’s goal of $225,000 will support a careful search for Robert and his successful acquisition. Major challenge-gift commitments of $65,000 have launched the campaign strongly. As an attractive pair, Clara and Robert will ensure that the future of beautiful piano music at Spivey Hall is a rosy one for pianists and audiences alike.

Details on the tax-free contributions for the campaign are available at spiveyhall.org/friends/spotlight/, or by calling Spivey Hall at (678) 466-4200. Checks may be made payable to the CSU Foundation.

About Spivey Hall
Now celebrating its 26th season, Spivey Hall is the South’s most acoustically superior recital hall, presenting the best in classical, jazz and world music. Located on the picturesque campus of Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, just fifteen miles southeast of Atlanta, the hall has been praised by artists, patrons and journalists alike.

This season, Spivey Hall celebrates the 25th anniversary of its magnificent 4,413-pipe Albert Schweitzer Memorial Organ, custom-built in Italy by Fratelli Ruffatti, with special events and concerts.

An intimate venue with just 392 seats, Spivey Hall promotes for the concert-goer a personal connection with the artist both during and after the performance.  Spivey’s extraordinary acoustics and reputation for distinguished programming attract outstanding international musicians who regularly perform at the nation’s major concert venues such as Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. For more information, visit spiveyhall.org.

Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall gratefully acknowledges the support of The Walter and Emilie Spivey Foundation and the Spivey Hall Friends.

Alan Morrison holds the McGehee Family Organist Residency at Spivey Hall.

Spivey Hall’s Season 26 is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency – the National Endowment for the Arts.

About Clayton State University
A unit of the University System of Georgia, Clayton State University is an outstanding comprehensive metropolitan university located 15 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta. For more information, visit clayton.edu.