Soundtracks Talk

The Piano We Know and the Mysteries of Mozart's "Pianos"

Like no other instrument, a piano melds the magic of music with the magic of engineering—and the modern piano is bigger and more powerful than the instruments of Mozart’s time. In anticipation of the All Mozart concert that opens the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-2020 season, James Barron will look into the mysteries of Mozart’s “pianos” and at how a modern concert grand comes into being at the Steinway & Sons factory in Astoria, Queens.

James Barron is a New York Times reporter and the author of Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand, following the creation of one piano from start to finish. He joined The New York Times as a copy writer in June 1977, one week after graduating cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in history.

PSO Soundtracks is presented in partnership with Princeton Public Library. The series is sponsored in the 2019-20 season by VelocIT.