News Release
May 2006
Bethlehem, Pa., May 3, 2006—Richard Groman ’78 will open his Bethlehem home
on Friday, June 2, for the second installment of Moravian College’s At-Home Steinway
Series. The program, titled “The Age of Mechanical Music,” will showcase
Groman’s antique 1910 Technola Player Piano and 1929 Knabe Ampico Reproducing Piano.
Sharing the spotlight will be a 2006 Steinway & Sons Opus piano, provided by Jacobs
Music Company of Philadelphia and its local store in Whitehall, which has worked closely
with the College in pursuit of Moravian’s all-Steinway campus project.
Approximately 120 people will share in this rare opportunity to
experience the music produced by these exquisite player pianos in Groman’s home—the Laros Mansion,
located in the Sunset Acres section of Bethlehem, Pa. A cocktail and hors d’oeuvres
reception will precede the main event at 6 p.m. The concert program at 7 p.m. will include
a vocal performance by Moravian College student Chelsea Dehner ’08, president of
Moravian’s Gamma Pi chapter of Delta Omicron, international music honors fraternity.
Moravian alumnae Shirley Hart McBride ’63, will accompany Dehner on violin.
McBride ’63 received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from
Moravian College and a Master of Theological Studies degree from Drew Theological Seminary.
After a career of teaching English, history, and music in Easton, Pa. and Parsippany,
N.J., and later living in Texas, she and her husband returned to Bethlehem in 2000.
As a violinist, she has performed with the Moravian College Community Orchestra, the
Hunderton (N.J.) Symphony Orchestra, and sings with the Musical Arts Chorus in Easton.
She is currently completing her second term as president of the Bethlehem Branch American
Association of University Women.
Dehner ’08 of Hatboro, Pa., is a sophomore at Moravian College,
majoring in music education, with concentration in voice. She is a member of the Moravian
College Choir, Women's Chorus, and Jazz Vocal Ensemble and recently traveled with the
Choir to sing at the Czech Embassy in Washington, D.C, and Home Church in Winston-Salem,
N.C. During her freshman year, she played clarinet in the marching band. Dehner is
the newly elected president of Gamma Pi chapter of Delta Omicron, the international
music honors fraternity.
The At-Home Steinway Series was established by the Moravian College
Music Alliance, a support group for the College’s music programs, to raise funds for the music
department to purchase new pianos and further Moravian’s effort to become an all-Steinway
campus. The series, which features historic and concert instruments in some of the Lehigh
Valley’s most beautiful homes, has been organized by the At-Home Steinway Committee
which is comprised of co-chairs Richard Groman ’78 and Jane Schultz; Beth Williams
Boyer ’78 and Robert P. Valente ’07.
The reason for the all-Steinway campus project is explained by Paula
Ring Zerkle, chair of Moravian’s Music Department. “Piano proficiency is required of music majors,
and the pianos in our studios and practice rooms are in constant heavy use. For more
than 150 years, Steinway & Sons pianos have been appreciated by musicians for their
tone and evenness of action, while their workmanship and longevity have been valued by
owners and caretakers.”
“Through the generosity of individuals, foundations, corporations, and the Moravian
College Music Alliance, eleven new Steinway pianos grace the stages of Foy Hall and Peter
Hall, faculty studios, and practice rooms. Proceeds from the At-Home Steinway Series
will be used for matching funds, allowing Moravian College to provide first-class instruments
for practice and performance. It also opens some of the Lehigh Valley’s finest
homes to showcase their heirloom pianos and concert instruments.”
Jane Schultz hosted the first At-Home Steinway Series last year, a performance by Moravian
music alumni, and a garden reception at her home in Center Valley. Her piano is a 1901
Steinway grand with an apple-green French rococo case designed by J.B. Tiffany. The finish
is enhanced by gilt scrollwork and faux-18th-century scenes of nymphs and shepherds in
the manner of French painters Watteau and Fragonard.
In October 2004, Moravian College hosted another art case Steinway
instrument: the “Peace
Piano,” designed for the 1939 New York World’s Fair by Walter Dorwin Teague
and rebuilt for an international tour to raise money for UNICEF. The piano spent a day
on campus and was played by Moravian music students and faculty as well as professional
and amateur musicians from the Lehigh Valley community.
In addition to Jacobs Music Company, the At-Home Steinway Series is sponsored by Rob-Win
Press Inc. of Allentown and Nazareth Music Center.
Tickets for the event are $150 each or $250 per couple. Invitations to
Music Alliance members went out in April, with a response deadline of May 22. Others
interested in attending should request an invitation from 610 861-1336, and they should
observe the May 22 response date.
