Headline: Theatre keyed up over new arrival

ROGER MORONEY

roger_moroney@hbtoday.CO.nz

It had black keys and white keys, a set of pedals and a lift-up lid...but what the
delivery crew dropped off at the Napier Municipal Theatre yesterday afternoon
was no ordinary piano.

It was the cream of the ivory tickling crop - a gleaming new $250,000
Steinway and Sons concert grand piano,which had been eagerly awaited since a
major fundraising campaign to purchase it was launched 10 months ago.

On hand for the arrival were the delighted chairman of the Hawke's Bay
Arts and Napier Municipal Theatre Trust, Ian Dick, and trust committee
member and renowned music teacher, June Clifford.

Building on the success of the initial fundraising for the theatre redevelop-
ment, Mr Dick said it was decided the trust be kept in place should other
things "need doing" in the future.

And the piano definitely needed doing.

"We had a 27-year-oldone based at the Century Theatre, which had to be trans-
ported from one venue to the other ," he said. "Every time it was moved it needed
to be retuned."

With the support of businesses and individuals, after akick-off donation of $10,000 from
Pan Pac, the trust was able to order the piano from the Hamburg-based factory in July.

Mr Dick was full of praise for the way the fundraising appeal was embraced by
the community to provide what he said was a superb asset for the theatre as well
as for the arts in the region as a whole. Along with generous individual donations,
the fund was also boosted by $75,000 from the Eastern and Central Trust and $38,000
from Louis Eady.

A New Zealand music lecturer based in Hamburg assisted in choosing the
appropriate model and ensured all was in plage for the voyage to New Zealand.

Steinway Concert Academy technician David Jenkin, of Auckland, arrived this morning
and will spend two days setting the piano up.

He said a day would be spent giving it a complete check over in the wake of it
being transported halfway around the world and the next day would be spent
"voicing" it so that its tonal qualities suited the acoustics of the room.

But the first thing he would do (after quick run over the keys which sounded
beautiful to the layman) was tune it.

"Oh dear," he smiled as he went to work on a device with 12,000 individual
parts, which he said demanded as much work as a Formula 1 racing car to stay in
pnme tuned condition.

Picture: - HBTODAYPICTURE:LYNDA FORREST



Caption: JUNE CLIFFORD and Ian Dick with the pedals of the new Steinway which is being
uncrated behind them.