Music Institute of Chicago to Showcase Horowitz Steinway, 4/22

The Music Institute of Chicago, transforming lives through music education for 85 years, hosts a free, one-night-only concert showcasing the exclusive tour piano the legendary Vladimir Horowitz used during the last four years of his life. The concert, presented by Steinway & Sons in conjunction with the Music Institute, takes place Wednesday, April 22, at 7 p.m. at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue in Evanston.

Early in 1934, as a wedding present, Steinway presented Vladimir and Wanda Horowitz with a Steinway Model D, Serial #279,503. In the early 1940s, this piano was replaced with #314,503-CD 503, for short. This is the piano Horowitz kept in his New York townhouse and used in many recitals and recordings in the 1970s and '80s. Because Horowitz loved the sound and touch of this piano so much, it became his exclusive tour piano for the last four years of his life, including his triumphant return to Russia in 1986 after a more than 60-year absence.

This is the only opportunity to hear the renowned and historic CD 503 in concert during the piano's visit to the Chicago area.

Respected and acclaimed Music Institute piano faculty and Andrew Guo, a student in the Music Institute's prestigious Academy for gifted pre-college musicians, will recreate the 1986 Moscow recital. Guo performs Scriabin's Etude in D-sharp Minor, Op. 8, No. 12. Faculty performances include Scarlatti's Sonata in E Major, L.23 (performed by Reiko Yamada); Mozart's Sonata in C Major, K330 (Sung Hoon Mo); Rachmaninov's Prelude in G-sharp Minor, Op. 32, No. 12 (Alexander Djordjevic); Rachmaninov's Prelude in G Major, Op. 32, No. 5 and Scriabin's Etude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 2, No. 1 (Matthew Hagle); Liszt's Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Ralph Neiweem); Chopin's Mazurka in F Minor, Op. 7, No. 3 (Elaine Felder); and Schumann's Traumerei (Grace Juang).

This performance is one of 100 concerts taking place during the Music Institute's 16-day Community Music Festival, showcasing some of the more than 1,600 students from 86 communities in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, all volunteering their time. For information, visit musicinst.org/cms-festival or follow the Music Institute on Twitter @MICcommunity.

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