Wouldn't it be cool if someone like pianist Andras Schiff played "Happy Birthday" to you in your own home? Well, that actually happened to someone in West Richland! Here's the story. If you have any memories and/or photos of this event please send them to me at rilette@wsu.edu or Robin Rilette, Northwest Public Radio, P.O. Box 642530, Pullman, WA 99164-2530. Thanks very much to Tom for sharing his memory with us!
Dear Robin –
This communication has a dual purpose. First, let me express appreciation for your recent programming on your morning music show on NWPR of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas performed by Andras Schiff. The sequence has truly been something to look forward to each day during the past couple months. It allowed me to make specific identification of some of the sonatas I had heard previously, but did not know the correct reference for the composition. I also appreciate the background sources you have provided on your
blog. It is kind of like a mini-music appreciation course.
Secondly, I thought you might be interested in a story of a personal encounter with Andras Schiff sometime around the late 1970s or early 80s. This experience occurred in Richland, WA and was shared by a number of friends and fellow workers involved in the Richland Community Concert Association (RCCA) organization*.
During that era, Schiff was an up and coming European pianist, who was making a US tour. He was scheduled to perform a concert in the Richland Community Concert series. He did, indeed, deliver a memorable performance on the
"Kay Kyser" Steinway** at the Richland Chief Joseph school auditorium. The real highlight occurred after the concert.
It was the custom for the members of the RCCA board of directors to host the artists after each concert with a buffet dinner (usually with wine) served at the home of one of the directors. The post-concert reception for Andras Schiff was held at the spacious home of Esther and Bill Johnson near the
Yakima River in West Richland. (The Johnsons were very prominent in the post-war history of Richland. He was the general manager for the Hanford project for years under General Electric and later a member of the
US Atomic Energy Commission. Esther was an active patron of the arts.)
Turns out, the date of this concert was also Esther Johnson’s birthday. That fact came out during dinner conversations with Mr. Schiff. He promptly stood up and walked over to the grand piano in the Johnson’s entertainment space, and played an elegant version of happy birthday, to which we all quickly gave voice. He then proceeded to give an impromptu concert of encores, to the immense pleasure of all present. Imagine standing there next to the piano, while Andras Schiff played with obvious enjoyment and smiled back at his new acquaintances. Talk about a high class piano bar!! He continued, in my recollection, for close to 30 minutes. Another RCCA board member remembers him playing for closer to an hour. Her impression was that he was more comfortable playing for his hosts than talking with them as his English at that time was somewhat halting.
Is it any wonder that your discussions of Mr. Schiff’s Beethoven sonata recordings, professional biography and the videos of his lectures on the individual sonatas brings back this vivid memory? Unfortunately, I did not save a copy of the program from the concert in my old file of community concert stuff. But I did receive confirmation of the event from several of the other Richland Community Concert Association board members who were present. Many of those who served on that board are still quite involved in music and other arts promotion groups in the Tri-Cities.
Thanks again for your initiative in programming the complete Beethoven sonatas and calling attention of your audience to one of our greatest living pianists, who just happens to have a connection with the Tri-Cities. Your work certainly contributes to making NWPR worthy of our support, in all forms.
Sincerely,
Tom Weber
Kennewick
*Note: The Richland Community Concert Association, as structured at that time, no longer exists as such. Historically, there was a Kennewick-Pasco Community Concert Association as well as the Richland organization, each of which sponsored a separate, membership-only series of concerts each year. In the recent past, the two groups were merged into one Tri-Cities organization
Community Concerts of the Tri-Cities which still sponsors a community concert series each year.
**Note: If you have not heard the story of this piano, which has been used in many concerts and performances over the past 4 or 5 decades in Richland, you might be interested in knowing it. The Steinway piano used for many years for Richland Community Concerts was originally brought to Richland by Kay Kyser and his big band for a performance in the 1940s. Moving the piano out of Richland became an issue for Kay Kyser and he left it there as a donation to the Richland Schools. The piano stayed in one or another school auditorium over the years, but was maintained and refurbished by the Richland Community Concert Association. Several professional pianists have pronounced it an excellent instrument
