ok, maybe this time i'll be giving enough notice. not sure which forum this belongs in, but i bet this location will have the highest profile, so here goes:

i'm going to be in new york on business the last two weeks of october. i won't be available the weekend of the 25th-26th, as i'll be at my folks in new jersey--my dad is performing that weekend with his chamber music society (his health permitting).

other than that, i'll be around and available and very interested in meeting anyone from piano world who would like to get together. if enough people are interested, maybe we could meet at a concert and/or have dinner and announce the plans here. (?)

I'm in Manhattan every couple of weeks.
Keep me posted.

- Frank B.
Piano World

you're definitely on the list, frank.

do you think you could post a notice at the main piano forum directing people to look here? i don't think many people are regularly checking out this location. thanks.

pique,
I'm sorry I'll miss you. I'll be in NYC in September. Darn.....
Now I'm not too far from Philadelphia (about 1 1/2hours) if anyone wants to meet up there.

Hmmmm... how about we all meet at Altenburgs and play our own renditions of "Autumn in New York?" Keep me posted.

concertkey,
Where is Altenburgs, and how receptive do you think they would be to us invading their place?

I will likely be in NY (Manhattan) next week, if anyone will be around.

- Frank B.
Piano World

altenburgs is in elizabeth, nj, a 20 minute train ride from penn station. if someone on the forums who has bought a piano from them were to approach them, they might be receptive, who knows?

we also have forum members who have bought from faust-harrison, beethoven's, steinway hall, and piano piano.

faust-harrison and steinway hall already host piano events. possibly one of their events might coincide with when we all might be free to get together?

Keep us posted. Meeting for a concert is a great idea.

maybe some of our new yorkers are able to get event listings for the major halls, dealers, and conservatories for the latter half of october as early as now?

i can attend an event any night from october 15th through october 29th, if i have enough notice. (with the exception of the 25-26th, as aforementioned).

where are bernard and lucy-in-the-sky? i hope not blacked out still. bernard has been good about posting concerts to meet at in the past.

pianoloverus might have the concert schedule for mannes...?

I go to school in PA, but grew up right outside of NYC, so I would be happy to go! (We should have one in Philly, too). Meeting at a concert would be cool- and then maybe going out afterwards or something? that would be neat.

I will be playing 1/31/04 at Cami Hall NYC 2:30 p.m. and also 10/18/03 at 7:30 p.m. in Mount Vernon, NY. The directions can be found at my website. I think they are going to have refreshments in Mount Vernon afterwards. It would be nice to meet someone in the forum!

Stephen.

pianomuse,
where do you go to school? If you want you can privately email the answer. I come up to Philly around once a month for different selling events and would love to get together. I love the historical section of the city, we could all meet down there.

If anyone wants to have a meeting in Baltimore...Let's do it before things get too busy in the fall!

Hi, pique. Just found this thread. I was blacked out from 4:11pm Thursday to 2:00pm Friday.

I'd be happy to host a party at my place again, only this time I'd prefer a weekend evening, maybe the 18th or 19th? Perhaps some other New Yorker would also like to host; I don't want to hog all the fun. If I do it, I may think about asking everyone to bring something.

Let me know what you all think.

Hi JM. I would love to meet in Baltimore sometime. I'm only 50 minutes away. Let me know.

Great! We'll see who else we can get to meet. I wonder if Steve Cohen is game. Hey, Steve, you're not too far away. Anyone else? It doesn't have to be Baltimore.
Gettysburg might be fun?

For those discussing a Baltimore meeting/party (justme, johnmoonlight): let's start another topic to discuss Baltimore/DC/Annapolis options.

bernard,

thanks for generously offering your place again. that was a really special party last year, and you are an exceptional host. we were lucky to have your gracious apartment and excellent piano to play.

it's good to know your place is available in a pinch. maybe on that weekend during the daytime would work well, if we are to convene in the further reaches of brooklyn? though possibly that would exclude some, like frank, who are only in the area during the week.

will people please post what is workable for them, so we can try to be as inclusive as possible? weekend or weekday? night or day? manhattan or outer borough?

at the very least i hope you and i get to see each other again, bernard. we should definitely plan on that.

maybe you'd be interested in touring the musical instrument collection at the met museum of art? what do you think?

i'm going to try to find out more about concerts in manhattan we might all convene at. for those traveling from a distance (westchester, new jersey, philadelphia?) a manhattan location might make the difference in whether they can attend or not.

all ideas and suggestions welcome here. don't be shy.

Hi, Pique,

I just discovered this board and your thread. I think that a NYC gathering would be a blast. I don't care about location, but the only nights I'm ever free are weekend nights. However, rumor has it that I'm getting pulled off sabbatical to teach a post-doc class on Sunday, probably in the early evening. Even if this is true, I can most likely switch the time of a single class for something of great cultural importance like a piano forum party "

P.S. to pique,

I hope that your dad is feeling ok!

Oh, yes!!

I'll do the same, and you make a very good point. We can be creative... the only thing is: we can't have a PianoWorld get together (party) without a piano. Now I was just thinking that I don't think I'd have too much trouble getting the conference room at work as a space to hold a get together (no promises yet, of course) but the problem is it has no piano. How can that be!? I'd be in heaven if the conference room had a piano--I could take my breaks in there!

well, bernard, perhaps a manhattan forum member will come to our rescue in the piano department. or possibly we could meet at a showroom like steinway or faust-harrison (even altenburg's is still exceedingly convenient from midtown). has anyone here bought from them and would you feel comfortable approaching them about hosting us?

it's crossed my mind to ask carl at beethoven's, but their showroom is very cramped, and carl is a bit absent-minded....

for myself, i would be very happy with the concert-and-dinner scenario. maybe it's because i haven't built up a huge repertoire since we last met! but also, for some people, meeting strangers for the first time in new york, it is more comfortable to meet in a public space. it also removes the pressure/burden for someone to do all the work of hosting.

what do others have to say about this?

perhaps, soon, we should post announcements in the other forums that people should come here to participate in the planning.... i'm not sure all our new york members are aware of this thread.

I'm up for anything.
Christian Zimerman is playing Beethoven 4 on Fri. Oct.31st at 8:00pm, at Lincoln Center. That's the best listing I've seen for the last two weeks of Oct.

oh, rats! i fly home the morning of october 30th.

phlebas, how do you find out what concerts are scheduled this far in advance? is there a website we could look at?

Pique,

I figured you had these sites:
www.lincolncenter.org
www.carnegiehall.org

I'll check others.

Maybe we can have it all! Or in the words of a recent Coffee forum thread "We can have our cake and eat it too!"

How about a PianoWorld NY evening on the town?

We could start by meeting in a central location for a wine and cheese reception; move on to visiting one or two wonderful piano stores, followed by dinner at some fantastic restaurant followed by a concert if possible, followed by dessert and coffee (or wine) at some trattoria.

Ooh la la.
I'll get to work right away on the concert schedules.

bernard,
that sounds perfect and quintessentially new york. why not take advantage of all the opportunities of the city? now we need others to chime in with restaurant and concert ideas. what if we started with a tour of piano row? maybe we could even call the proprietors and arrange for them to stay open a bit late for us, if need be?

wouldn't it be cool to compare the various pianos and discuss what we mean by "bright" "creamy" "mellow" and all the other fuzzy terms we've bandied about here for the past two years?

Here's a partial list of concerts between 10/15 and 10/25:

I probably don't need to say it, but time is of the essence, some of these events sell out quickly.

New York Philharmonic
Expensive, but it doesn't get much better than this.
Th 10/15, F 10/17, S 10/18 Alicia de Larrocha (Haydn, Falla, Nielsen)
T 10/21, Th 10/22 Buchbinder (Beethoven)
F 10/24 Zacharias (Beethoven)

New York City Opera
Always a charming experience.
Th 10/16 La Finta Giardiniere (Mozart)
F 10/17 The Magic Flute (ditto)
S 10/18 The Mikado (G&S)

Metropolitan Opera
T 10/14 Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)
F 10/17 La Traviata (One of my favorites) (Verdi)
S 10/18 Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)

Amato Opera
A must-do if you've never done it before. Very small--tiny theatre, very intimate. Unpredictable voices but usually good lead singers.
10/18 HMS Pinafore (G&S)

92nd St. Y
10/15 Mozart, Haydn, Rorem, Schubert
(Robinson, cello; Martin, flute; Rusinek, clarinet; Goeres, bassoon; Williams, horn; Uchida, piano; Phelps, violin)

Metropolitan Museum of Art
10/18 Beaux Arts Trio, Rachmaninoff (Op.9), Schubert (Op. 99)
10/20 Ivo Pogorelich "Celebrating a Birthday and an Anniversary" (It's his birthday the day of the performance)
Beethoven, Schriabin, Rachmaninoff
10/25 Guarneri String Quartet, Beethoven (Op.127, Op.18,#2, Op.59,#3)

Bargemusic
Enjoy it on an old barge by the Brooklyn Bridge.
F 10/17, S 10/19 Trio Mosaique; Bach, Martinu, Villa-Lobos, Crumb

lots of good choices, especially for friday the 17th and saturday the 18th. lucy says she can only do weekend nights. i wonder if frank is able to come in for a friday or saturday night out? frank?

does anyone have budget restrictions that make some of these options more favored than the others?

do people care if we go for opera over a piano recital? (i personally love opera and go every time i'm in nyc anyway). where's tomk? maybe his buddy placido can get us orchestra seats at the met?

Here's my 3 top picks:

1) Friday 10/17, La Traviata, Met Opera
2) Sat. 10/18, Alicia De Larrocia, NY Phil.
3) Sat. 10/18, Beaux Arts Trio, MMA

Hi, Pique,

Thank you for persisting with this thread ! I like all of the ideas presented so far, and October 17th and 18th are free for me. New York City is a musical treasure trove: maybe we could start out at a museum, have dinner, attend a concert and conclude (if there HAS to be a conclusion), with coffee and drinks. Then, perhaps, the bravest of the brave could convene at someone's home for an impromtu concert .

So many wonderful possibilities