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May 25, 2007
AnnaMaria Mottola (see pic) was a student of mine in the ASU Jazz Studies program. She auditioned for the President's Own Marine Band in Washington, D.C. 4 years ago and won the job, which is a very prestigious position and highly coveted. Part of her duties includes playing at the White House for various functions. AnnaMaria was able to arrange a private tour of the White House for me.
In these photos I am playing some serious Blues in Bb. After
I finished, the White House staff came out and applauded.
It was a great honor.
This was sent to me from Michael Spreeman, owner of Spreeman Piano Innovations where he is building the magnificent custom Ravenscroft Pianos:
How cool! Congrats man, what an honor, whew.
I've had the fortunate opportunity to see detailed technical
articles about the famous Steinway 300000. It was a gift
from the Steinway family to the White House in 1939 and
was totally custom designed and built specifically for
that purpose. It was done during an era when Tiffany, the
famous glass people, worked with Steinway to design and
hand carve custom cases. The eagle design was the only
one ever produced to insure that is would always be "special" and
have significant value and meaning to the American public.
The vast majority
of the concerts performed at the White House are played
on Steinway D's which are moved in and out just for the
concerts, and reside at the Steinway dealership in DC.
Thanks for sharing the pics man.... all I can say is,
WOW!
Great to hear from you.
All the best,
Michael
Keep swingin’ and God’s Blessings to all –
Chuck
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