Some occasions are just too noteworthy to pass up.
It's a celebration of the birth of our favorite instrument and of its three hundred years of influence. The project will explore the piano as a complex machine, as a work of decorative art, and as the vehicle for an infinite variety of human expression. Among its plans are an exhibition at the National Museum of American History, performances, broadcasts, publications, recordings and educational programs. The centerpiece of the event will be the exhibition, featuring a selection from the Smithsonian's collection of some 180 pianos dating from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Concerts will present chamber music, jazz, and historical works from early American composers to contemporary ones.