A New Steinway Takes the Stage at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre
Selected by Steinway Artist Vijay Iyer and Harvard’s piano specialists, a new Steinway & Sons Model D Concert Grand begins a musical chapter at the historic venue.
When Harmony Zhu ’28 played the opening notes of Chopin’s Prelude in E-flat Major, Op. 28, No. 19, a new voice filled Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre.
The performance marked the official debut of the venue’s new Steinway & Sons Model D Concert Grand — and the beginning of its role in the next era of music-making at Sanders. The unveiling formed part of the celebration of the theater’s 150th anniversary.
Purchased with funding from Harvard College, the Model D was selected to meet the wide-ranging demands of the nearly 1,000–seat hall, from student ensembles and orchestral performances to solo recitals by celebrated artists.
Steinway Artist Vijay Iyer joined Mariana Quinn, Manager of Harvard Piano Technical Services, and Senior Concert Technician Paul Rattigan in the Selection Room at the Steinway & Sons factory in New York. Together, they considered a number of instruments before discovering one with an exceptional breadth of musical possibility.
“This is a pretty special instrument—that ‘unicorn’ that can do everything.”
— Steinway Artist Vijay Iyer
For Iyer and the Harvard team, versatility was essential. The piano needed the power and presence to rise above an orchestra, along with the tonal depth, balance, and nuance required for the most intimate solo repertoire. In the chosen Model D, they found an instrument capable of commanding the hall, singing with warmth, or supporting an ensemble with sensitivity.
Following its arrival at Harvard’s Piano Shop, Rattigan devoted months to preparing the instrument for the stage. The work included tuning, voicing, regulation, and the careful refinement of countless mechanical details across all eighty-eight keys — part of the ongoing collaboration between a concert instrument, its technicians, and the artists who bring it to life.
In August, the nearly nine-foot concert grand made its carefully choreographed journey to Sanders Theatre. Its first public performance followed on September 10, 2026, placing a new Steinway voice within one of Harvard’s most storied gathering places.
Created for the concert stage, the Steinway Model D has long served artists and audiences in the world’s distinguished performance spaces. At Sanders Theatre, this new instrument will support generations of students, faculty, visiting performers, and listeners — carrying a 150–year tradition of artistic exchange into the future.
Discover the Full Story
Learn more about the piano’s selection, preparation, and unveiling in the full story from Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
