Foundation selects Steinways for Warwick Valley schools

Warwick — “If it sounds good,” Duke Ellington, the pianist and band leader who was perhaps the greatest of America’s jazz composers, once remarked, “it IS good.” And in the Warwick Valley School District, where music already sounds pretty good, it just got better. The Hudson Valley Performing Arts Foundation has taken the first step toward creating a “conservatory environment” in the Warwick Valley School District with its gift of six Steinway-designed pianos. On Wednesday, three Steinways - two model “M” 5’7” and one model “B” 7’ grand pianos - were delivered to the high school. Kings, Park and Sanfordville elementary schools also will receive Steinway-designed Boston upright pianos, thanks to the efforts of the foundation, which paid more than $133,000 for instruments. Pianist and composer Richard Kimball, a resident of New Milford, whose two sons attended Warwick public schools, helped the district and the foundation make the selections. And the people from the Steinway factory in Long Island City also took three of the district’s pianos in trade. Music is an important part of the district’s culture. State and national groups have recognized the talents of its students and teachers. For instance, two students will perform later this month in Hartford with other musicians and singers from across the Northeast. Late last month, the district’s annual pop concert featured the school’s 24-member jazz band, the singing ensemble Meistersingers, the string orchestra, the symphony orchestra, the concert band and wind ensemble. But the average age of the pianos in the Warwick School District is more than 30 years; one is more than 80 years old. Enter the Hudson Valley Performing Arts Foundation, a private, non-profit charitable organization established in 2006 to support and enhance performing arts opportunities and programs for young people in the Hudson Valley, said Dan Chester, its president. In all, the foundation intends to acquire 22 Steinway and Steinway-designed pianos for Warwick. Funds are raised through corporate and private donations to the Foundation’s Steinway Living Legacy Program, a foundation partnership with Steinway & Sons. Steinway is the choice of 97 percent of all concert pianists. And with the foundation’s help in eventually acquiring 22 instruments, Warwick will join an elite list of all-Steinway schools that includes Juilliard School and Yale School of Music. “For the musicians in Warwick, this endeavor will allow us to take the step from good to great and sets the stage for a very enriched musical environment for which we are very thankful,” said Schools Superintendent Dr. Frank Greenhall. Information about the Hudson Valley Performing Arts Foundation can be found at its Web site at www.hvpaf.org.