THE HAPPENING...Allegro Pianos Grand Opening Celebrations...

Ori and Rebecca just experienced one...

All those attending the special events on this past Sat and Sun just had one...

And I do believe that Udo Steingraeber, BosieEric, Indrek Laul, Christian Bluthner, Larry Fine, PW Frank Baxter, and all the pianists/artists who performed all had one...

Just a teaser post and set of pics as I am barely home and working on cropping pics and, I haven't begun to listen to the zoom recordings!

Suffice it to say for the time being...

I also enjoyed THE HAPPENING!











More pics, audios and thoughts coming!

Congratulations Ori and Rebecca!

Sounds like a mighty fine time was to be had by all!

Norbert

It was great meeting you on Saturday, Roberta - I look forward to seeing all the photos. In the meantime, since my message to Ori got buried so quickly, I'll repeat what I said here: I cannot imagine a piano shopping trip in the tri-state area being complete without a visit to Ori's stunning new Allegro Pianos showroom with all those magnificent top-tier pianos. Congratulations, Ori, and all my best wishes!

I shall describe sections of the weekend with pics. How'd I become the official photograher? LOL! But I took about 130.

THE STORE

I remember visiting before it 'was'. If I recall what was there before was an old rundown service station but the Bukai's had a dream. And a dream pianostore - music school it has become. On the right are two floors of Allegro Pianos and the left is devoted to Longridge Music School and Recital Hall. They overlook a small pond complete with ducks, geese, herons, making for a wonderful view from all the large windows.

From the parking lot -





The reception area





There are 4 rows of pianos on the first floor - the views in pic two are overlooking the pond. Gotta love those windows!





UPSTAIRS SHOWROOM overlooks the downstairs and has 2 rows of pianos. Acoustic panels, thick glass, angled ceilings and accoustic blinds help.





There is also a large room dedicated to some wonderful uprights - why oh why did I not have that when I was dedicated to purchasing the best of the best of uprights? LOL!

LONGRIDGE MUSIC SCHOOL

Having been a musical director for many years and sitting in a teeny weeny studio teaching for hours at a time, I really was interested in the LMS. Several good size studios with a mix of grands and high end uprights. A large room for preschool and up classes, another large room for play, and the exceptional recital hall with 3 concert grands had me drooling.

Lessons are offered in piano, voice, guitar, classrooms and you will see photos of the musical director as she plays a duet with one of her students in a bit.







Ori doing final prep for the concerts in the recital hall.





You'll see more of this recital hall in other pics below.

THE CELEBRITIES (or more formal pics) - WHO'S WHO

Indrek Laul and his talented wife, Triin Laul next to their Estonia



Christian Bleuthner at a gorgeous Julius Bluthner. Sorry the pic is not great CB but wanted to include this piano. Better pics of you later!



Larry Fine on left and Christian Bleuthner on right. Darn I didn't get a pic of you Larry with your new book displayed at the PW party. (yes they came complete with autograph)

Larry is not just a great author, BTW, he plays beautifully!



BoseEric with Rebecca and Ori at, what else? ... a Bosendorfer



Bose Eric and his ladyfriend Marry-Pierre -the best dressed Bohemian there (inside joke!)




Udo Steingraeber at his new C212



Concert pianist, Elena Bezprozvannykh and Rebecca Bukai



Bluthner artist Elena Bezprozvannykh and owner Christian Bluthner with Ori




PW Frank with Allegro's tech, Bob Purcell, and receptionist, Dana who is always so helpful to those calling.



PW Kathy on the right




More coming!

THE SAT GRAND OPENING AND RECITAL PARTY

Greetings





Champagne bar





Elegantely offered hors d'heuvres displayed on fruit with flowers on each tray





Triian Laul on the Steingraeber 212. Fun to enjoy owners playing on 'other than their own pianos'! Several did this during the weekend. Pics usually taken before/aft the performance since a flash was used.



Udo, Eric and friend



Frank, JerryS88, and Andrew



Indrek playing Estonia composer on his Estonia piano



Not only beautiful, this is Miffi's daughter playing beautifully! She posed for this pic. More talented youngster played on Sun.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/m...G90941augus.jpg[/img]

Taking a bow

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/m...ENING90947b.jpg[/img]

End of the evening when most had left, Ori played and sang for us. 'Let It Be'. Happy new owner of custom Estonia looks on.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/m...PENING90959.jpg[/img]

WOW! WOW! WOW! What a beautiful place. Ori,your place has it all. From exqusite pianos to beautiful views and a recital hall. It puts me in the piano buying mood again. It makes me want to hop on a plane and purchase another German piano! LOL! I am very envious that i was not able to attend. A great time must have been had by all.

lilylady,Thanks for being the "Official Photographer". You did a great job and you would make a great journalist as well. Great "play by play" report. KUDOS TO YOU !

Maybe there is a limit to pics?

Cut and pasted what did not show up above. Oops, didn't work... I'll redo the pics

Not only beautiful, this is Miffi's daughter playing beautifully! She posed for this pic. More talented youngster played on Sun. Oh to be young and have a whole life of playing!



Elena Bezprozvannykh taking a bow



End of the evening when most had left, Ori played and sang for us. Appropriately, 'Let It Be'!
Happy new owner of custom Estonia looks on.

Thanks, Lily, for all the pictures! The Bluthner Pianist is Netherlands-based Russian pianist Elena Bezprozvannykh.
Congratulations to Ori, again for the successful event! We had a great time. I decided to move here my buried thread posted under Ori’s invite. Just for fun, I have my 8 yr old’s writing homework here…Why? Actually, her assignment due this week was to write about an exciting experience of her own. Meeting with all the celebrities at the two day event, she excitedly wrote a piece about it Sunday night. It talks about her playing on Sat. at the grand opening. Interestingly, she only saw three (not four) rows of pianos in the room. Limited kid’s vision:-)

“I was nervous and excited. Will the next person be me? (Yes, she was actually the first who was called up in the middle of busy eating ) I was called by a man who was the owner of this building that was called the “ALLEGRO PIANOS.” The man’s name was Ori.
(Attention Ori!!!) Ori is a piano dealer. He’s a kind person who L-O-V-E-S pianos. He has a low, round voice. He has brown hair which is always combed PERFECTLY . He always wears a business suit.
My hands sweating, I took my sweater off. My hands were shaking. In fact, my whole body was shaking. I was so nervous that I forgot to bow! I scrambled onto the bench, closed my eyes, and began to play. Suddenly, I almost hit a wrong note. But luckily I did not do it. A strike of relief went to my heart. I played until I finally reached the end. I ran into the arms of my mom as the applause rang like an alarm. I squeezed my eyes shut. When they opened, I realized how beautiful the room was.
The room contained 3 rows of beautiful grand pianos. One part of the room was low, but the other side was about 2 times taller. It was HUGE with dim lights.
Suddenly I looked at the piano I was playing on and realized how nice it was. It was an August Forster! It had a beautiful, round and perfect sound. The piano was black, shinny and smooth. I have a 7 ft August Forster at home and both of them made me feel like I was playing the piano of my dream.
I really loved the concert and it made me feel released for finally finishing this piece called Variations on a Paganini Theme by Berkovich. All summer I had to play it in concerts, a competition, and other performances. Though I love this piece, I am still glad I finished it. I feel proud of not giving up it earlier because it was so ME!

Will you share your daughter's name Miffi, or would you rather not?
What a nice piece she composed on her participation!

This is one of the best looking piano showrooms I have ever seen. Congratulations Ori!

THE PIANO WORLD PARTY - SUNDAY

Most of this took place in the recital hall although there were tours of the piano display rooms as well.

Several artists performed including some very talented youngsters.

Folks:















Maybe someone can attempt a list of PW members that attended. I would probably miss half of names. ;-)

lilylady,
Thank you for posting the pictures from "The Happening"...indeed it was!

Congratulations to Ori, your showroom is beautiful and what a setting!

I must find a way there someday.

THE PERFORMERS ON SUNDAY

I think I missed some including PW Frank, but I did enjoy all those I heard.

Again Elena played two Liszt pieces on the concert Bluthner. Wonderful interpretations. Inspired me to go back to the famous Elegy with more passion. I haven't started listening to my zoom recordings but it they are good, I'll try to share. Both days she was amazing. Her CD's did not get there in time for her to sign them for us, but I have been assured that we will get a link to her website where I think we can purchase some...and wasn't there some talk about downloading pieces from itunes?

Probably out of order but who cares? ;-)

Student, Seth, and teacher, Svitlana (head of the educational dept at Longridge) on the Bose Imperial and Bluthner.



Ori then asked Indrek to perform on the Bose Imperial. I know that Indrek is concert artist, but both he and the Imperial blew us away! He thought for a while, while adjusting the bench. It was a spur of the moment performance. He choose Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. The perfect piece for the Imperial and for a piano party. I don't think I have ever seen him without a smile on his face, and yes, all the while he plays, he also smiles!

Throughout his playing, it was like he was presenting the themes as inspirational characters coming out of a story. Bravo to Indrek and the Bose!

Ajusting the bench



Students played so well that it was a little intimidating to follow them. But what inspiration.



Dad records



Keeping his hands warm



Playing



Proud Mom



And another piano hunt is ongoing. Currently considering the Steingraeber he performed on.

THE ARTWORK

Elegant pianos - Interesting artwork!











AND...

even two for the LILYLADY!!!

THE END!

Congratulations Ori and Rebecca. May you have great success in your beautiful new location.





Posted with many thanks for sharing your Grand Opening with us,
THE LILYLADY!

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them, LL. I wish I could have been there.

Amazing pictures at amazing events. Great job LL! I also really wish I could have been there. The piano world appears as vibrant as it's ever been.

Congrats to Ori and family.

Based on the title, I have to assume everyone committed suicide in creatively morbid ways at the end, right?

What a strange post. ???

Maybe I should just ignore it.

Strange Indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Zooplibob,Please call you're pharmacy. Maybe they gave you the wrong perscription as the side effects are obviously dangerous! LOL!

I think "The Happening" was also the title of some horror flick a couple of years ago.

I have a few short clips of our pianist I'd like to share.

A couple of people had real video cameras recording, I'm hoping they will post later.

I'll try to attach names and info to them later.

This first one is the young lady (member Miffi's daughter) who entertained us on both Saturday & Sunday. I wish I had her repetoire and skill :-)



Another young pianist wows us...


Dr. Indrek Laul / Pres. of Estonia Piano ...
Playing Gershwin (on a Bosendorfer)



Concert Pianist Elena Bezprozvannykh plays

LL... thank you for your excellent coverage of this event.

The only picture missing is one of YOU!!!

Best wishes to Ori and his wife on the grand opening of a beautiful piano store!

Thanks for a wonderful time Ori. Congratulations and continued success to you. Your new digs are outa sight!

You guys never saw The Happening?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0949731/

Horrible movie btw.

All,

Thank you so much for coming.
It was indeed a wonderful weekend.

So many guests were planning to attend, that we had to divide the party to two separate nights, lest the showroom be overrun by hundreds of piano lovers (and who knew there were so many of us left!).

Both events were wonderful, yet very different in character from one another…not unlike the different sounds of wonderful pianos.

It was overwhelming, in a wonderful way, to see customers and PW members coming not just from CT and NY, but also from Boston, New Hampshire, NJ, PA, MD and as far as California...and piano industry people making their way from Europe, Florida and as far away as Stony Point , NY and Wilton, CT… (private joke! )


My only regret was that I could not spend more time with each and every one of you…but you’re always welcome to come back.



FatherToPianist – it was great meeting with you, finally.

CC2/Dan, - it’s always great seeing you…and I’m sorry we had so little time to converse. I feel I almost missed you.

LJC – guess what…the Steingraeber concert grand just landed and cleared customs today! I know how much you wanted to lay your hands on one, so you can go ahead and plan another trip!

Jerry88 – Great to have you on Sat, missed you on Sun.
Miffy – Chelsea is so wonderfully talented…we’ll see how she progresses for NEXT YEAR’S party!

James Maxwell…you have one skilled player at home! It looks like he wanted to spend some more time with the ‘toys’ in our showroom…so feel free to bring him back and warm up the keys.

Doogs/Linda – I don’t know how you manage to work out such a tan, and look so wonderfully relaxed!
Wish I could have had some R & R myself. I don’t know what you’re having, but I need a bit of this myself.


Jeff BC – I saw you take some videos, so hopefully we’ll get to see these. I was so happy to see you and Elana, she is absolutely wonderful! Something tells me that I’ll be seeing you again rather soon, and I more than look forward to it, lobster or not!

Galahad – seeing you is always a pleasure. I can definitely understand the priority of piano first wife second (hopefully Rebecca is not reading this), but perhaps we can get the piano room sealed and you can keep both AND play for as long as you wish!

Rick Shapiro – Don’t dream too much about the Steingraeber! You may wake up one day to find out that you traded your piano for one…


Frank, Mr. piano world – it always fun seeing you and Kathy! I guess that all the parties made you one polished public speaker!!! I was duly impressed by the ease and grace you conducted the PW (AA) meeting…


Oh and did I forget someone…

Lilylady/Roberta…what can I say? It is YOU who make the paaaty come alive!!! YOU who wanna make me sing!!! YOU whom no one can foget…and YOU, moe than anyone else, bwing people together…

Roberta, Roberta, Roberta – Thank YOU for all the wonderful pictures, the warmth and the joy you spread around wherever you go, and throughout our community of Piano World members.
All, please note…no party is complete without Roberta on board!

For all those I did not mention, thanks for coming and sharing our joy of pianos…and for those who wanted to attend and couldn’t make it, I’m sure there will be a next time…

And also, I would like to give special thanks to one non PW member who helped and arranged much more than just this party, but pretty much my life…my wife, Rebecca! Thanks for everything , Boss! (so can I have a day off now?).

Looks like a fantastic place to view some of the finest pianos.
Wishing you the best in your business.
If I ever make it your way, I will definitely stop in.

Ori,
Nice response! You have such class,not only meaning your establishment and pianos,but in your personality and the way in which you conduct yourself.
Best wishes for you, your family and your new venture.



Terry

Ori,
It was no surprise to any of us that know you and Rebecca that your new place of business is nothing less than MAJESTIC!! The pianos, the ambiance and the location are all befitting of the type of business you run. May you have many years of success and happiness there, bringing the joy of piano music to all that walk through your doors. I enjoyed myself very much at the "Event" on Sunday.....you've come a long way from the evening three years ago when I walked into your living room to meet, for the first time, the Estonia of my dreams. To this day I continue to be amazed at the the incredible beauty of that instrument. I had the pleasure of speaking at length with Dr. Indrek Laul and his wife at the party. What wonderful people they are.....and his rendition of Gershwin on that Bosie Imperial was spectacular!!! I thanked them for what they've done to "recreate" the Estonia, and make it a pianist's piano, while keeping it a tremendous value. Anyway, thanks again to you and Rebecca for a really nice day. I, too, look forward to speaking with you more.
Dan

Interesting tidbits that I learned last weekend while talking with the owners/representatives there:

The first one I'll share was rather embarassing, but I guess it is funny in the end. And it needs to be shared...

I often hear it called, and call it, a Steingraeber piano, rather than Steingraeber and Sohne. So I asked Udo who might this Sohne person be. Oh, he is not old enough to be in the business yet, he answers.
'????'
Oh, says I, thinking there was a language difference in understanding what I was asking. I didn't mean your 'son' I meant the Sohne in the logo. Smiling (I don't know how he could keep a straight face) he correctly pronounces Sohne as Son-he, or something similar, and says that Sohne is German for Son.
I wonder how red I got?
Who knew that? Did you? So it is Steingraeber and Son!

Indrek met his wife, who also is a concert pianist, when she came in to check out the Estonia line. They now have two angelic light blond sons. Indrek travels giving concerts and Triian will be playing for the Queen of Estonia soon!

Christian Bluthner stands out in a crowd. He is 6'6"! He has some rather colorful descriptions of pianos. Ask him sometime how a piano can be described as a 'juicy' orange.

You know those extra low keys that are on a Bose Imperial? During a discussion, I mentioned to Bose Eric that I thought that they would throw me off balance while playing. Apparently they are more for resonance than for playing (correct me Eric if I am saying this incorrectly). At one time they used a cover for them similar to an extended cheek block. It went up and down but some owners tried to close the fallboard cover without first closing the low key cover - so they did away with it. The fallboard name appears where it should be - centering over middle C

Larry Fine plays a beautiful Brahms 118-2.

PW Frank hates Florida weather. I wonder how soon it will take for him to come back to live in NE!

Ori doesn't know how to pronounce Party. Apparently neither do I!!!

Thank you Ori and Rebecca for inviting us to your new place. Sam (the blond playing the Bluthner - Khachaturian's Toccata) thanks you for letting him play. He was excited to meet Christian Bluthner. I remember when we first came to visit (3 years ago?) and others told us to be prepared to play for hours. I didn't know what that meant. We left after 4 hours. You even offered to feed us. This didn't happen just once. In fact, on one trip, when we were trying to make a final decision on a Bluthner, you saw that we were hesitant and told us to go away and think about it. This is a little different than the time at another piano store when the hovering salesman asked if we were going to buy anything that day. I also remember Sam playing a Bluthner in your living room while we spent a long time talking about boats. Are you going to put a little boat in the pond in back?

Bluthner - Model 4 - rosewood

smh,

I had no idea that you were a PW member!!!
Thank you and your family for coming!

Sam had become a fantastic player.
It's very rewarding to see a student that has one of our pianos reaching such a level a few years later.
Yes, of course, his talent is more important than the piano, and the teacher has much to do with it as well...but I'd like to think that playing for the past few years on your gorgeous Bluthner also played a role in his musical development and the high level he achieved.


The pond in the back of our building, by the way, was created by damning a stream in 1905. The family who owned the property at that time, and who owned it until the time I purchased it, was in the ice business...and used it to harvest ice.
At winter time it’s all frozen, and I’m told there was a time when ice skaters were welcome to use it 9not anymore, unfortunately).

Now, it's like a forgotten piece of nature preserve right outside of our windows.

The pond and its surroundings has nice size fish, snapping turtles, geese, ducks, Blue Herons, Egrets, and other wild life. there is a whole family of woodchucks as well, and looking at these, wondering calmly on the grass, through the windows just a few feet away, provides for a very peaceful setting.


The problem with getting a little boat on the pond, is that our customers would probably be too busy fishing rather than looking at pianos. So no boat in the plans!

NO FISHING !!!!

that is one party I would have loved to have attended. What an event! and congratulations Ori.

What a beautiful piano showroom!! The party looks like a grand soriee!! Thanks for the info on the pond. My only concern is that the pond doesn't flood or rise. Congrats on the store, Ori!!

The showroom is about 10' above sea (pond) level, should be safe :-)

You're right though, it was a great time.

ORI---GREAT!!!! Let me know when I can try it out!!!

Remember "The Sixth Sense" with Bruce Willis? The same director made a movie called 'The Happening', I didn't see it but here's a quick synosis from IMDB:

"A woman walks her dog and a breeze begins to blow. A traffic cop (Don Castro) walking through a traffic jam stops and comments to a taxi driver about the chilly weather. Suddenly everyone stops in their tracks, and the dog runs across the road after his leash drops to the ground, leading us back to the cop who is now standing still in front of the cab. A gunshot rings out and he drops to the ground. As blood spurts from a bullet wound on his forehead, the taxi driver gets out, walks over to the dead cop, picks up the gun from beside the body and shoots himself in the forehead as well. A woman in high heels steps off the sidewalk, picks up the gun again and we hear another gunshot."

Ori,
All the best to you and Rebecca. Your new showroom is too spectacular for words. I recently completed my graduate studies and haven't had a chance to check out PW since this past spring. What a surprise to see all the great new things going on since then. It's wonderful to see how many people showed up. I'm sure everyone had a blast. I wish I could have been there.
Best regards,
Roger

I've posted 3 10-minutes videos on YouTube:

Part1:


Part2:


Part3:


Enjoy!

Wow...The who's who of the Piano World!

ORI- Congratulations on the new store and good selling!
Great looking store, next time curb the drinking for some of those celebrities.

Thanks Jeff!

Great camera work!
I only wish I had a darker color shirt with the Imperial in the background (no, I didn't gain 30 pounds that night, really!).

Stupidly, I didn't set up microphones to record it all, but oh well, I guess we'll do it next time!

Thank you all for your comments and congratulations.

Ori

Wow.

I see that this thread is no longer a sticky, and will disappear soon...
So I just wanted to thank all of you again for the wonderful comments, pictures, videos and company!

See you next time!

Ori

Ori, there was no doubt in my mind that your new facility would be a class act. All of the pictures and videos have not only proved my assumptions to be correct, but have exceeded my imagination!

Best of luck and much success.

Ken