Pianists celebrate debut of new Steinway concert piano at Brandon University
Piano is a high note for university's School of Music, pianist and music professor
Brandon U's new top-of-the-line concert piano is centre stage this weekend at the university's school of music.
Megumi Masaki, a school of music professor and pianist, helped key up the music program's latest piano fleet member: a brand-new nine-foot Steinway Model D Concert Grand Piano lovingly named Jack.
Masaki said the instrument marks a high note for Brandon University and the community.
"We're looking to showcase Jack in its absolute full glory," she says.
"We're looking for pieces and music that will bring out the different colours, the excitement, the range of beauty and the range of grace that this instrument has, as well it's as its power."
The new piano was made possible by a donation from Mary Louise Perkins, and is named after her late husband, Harold J. (Jack) Perkins, who was president of Brandon University from 1977 to 1983.
Jack debuted on the Lorne Watson Recital Hall Saturday, featuring Masaki, Dianna Neufeld, Alexander Tselyakov of Brandon University and alumnus Daniel Tselyakov performing a concert called Sonic Brilliance: Unveiling our New Steinway Concert D Piano.
Family legacy
Dave Perkins said if his dad was alive, he'd excited for the piano to have a legacy of learning for generations to come at the school of music. Perkins says the school of music was deeply valued by his father and he wanted to see it thrive.
This made it important for the family to help bring the new Steinway to the university.
He added the university already has another Steinway grand piano purchased in 2021, but they needed a second to provide better opportunities for the students, faculty and visiting performers.
"It was really important to us that that we could help out in that ... recognition of dad's efforts and then mom and dad's appreciation for music and the school of music," Perkins said.
The school of music purchased Jack in April 2023, Masaki said.
They wanted to ensure it hit the right notes with students.
Masaki says when they learned the school could have a second grand piano, they chose an instrument that could complement the first Steinway by creating an even bigger range of colours, power, sound and tone.
"It's young and it's just in the infant stages of becoming mature and we know that this is going to mature into a beautiful, resonant, gorgeous, colourful, powerful instrument," Masaki said.
The piano needed time to settle in Brandon before making its musical debut in the community.
The hope is the two instruments will inspire and train Brandon University musicians to be ready for concert halls around the world, she says. They can also invite the world's best pianists, artists and chamber musicians to come and celebrate their music in their vision on the instruments.
"They can choose the instrument where they realize their musical dreams. They can realize their musical visions. That's a gift that is unbelievable and something that the students will remember for the rest of their lives," Masaki said.
Hitting the right notes
Securing the Steinway for Brandon University is essential because music programs in Canada are in crisis, Masaki said. This means they have to strive to be relevant with their music.
"We're nurturing this gem of an instrument that is only going to grow and flourish, and the tone and the beauty are just going to deepen the more that they play," she says. "We are expecting the musicians that come in here to be able to express their own vision and their own personalities through this beautiful instrument."
Masaki appreciates the excellence of the school of music program at Brandon University, and said it has a reputation around Canada and internationally for celebrating everything from early music to contemporary jazz music.
"This guarantees excellence in our piano programs, in our chamber music programs and our contemporary jazz programs. This puts us not only on the map, but this puts us on sound-wise and in the music programs," Masaki said. "It secures us really at the top."
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