Town Hall pianos

Press, 26 July 1989, Page 16

Town Hall pianos

Sir, —The music critic of “The Press,” in his review of the Michael Houstoun-Deidre Irons concert, stated that it “seemed mingy” that the Town Hall could not provide two Steinways. For the record, the Town Hall administers the use of two Steinway pianos owned by the Christchurch Civic Music Council. One piano is kept in each of the major venues — auditorium and James Hay Theatre. The policy put in place stipulates that the pianos are not to be moved. On this occasion the Town Hall spoke to the Civic Music Council asking whether it would like to change its policy for this particular concert. I am informed that the advice from the company which maintains and tunes the pianos is that the movement of the instruments has already damaged the pianos on previous occasions. On this advice, the Civic Music Council was not willing to change the policy. As a new Steinway is approximately $llO,OOO and the existing pianos are 17 and 12 years old, I respect the decision of the Civic Music Council.—Yours, etc., W. R. SLEEMAN, general manager, Christchurch Town Hall. July 21,1989.