Five years ago, piano broker Robert Friedman, known as “the Steinway Hunter,” stumbled upon Thomas Edison’s piano while browsing a Long Island estate sale website.
Today, the instrument sits in Rondavid Gold’s Woodstock home, where musicians gathered Sunday, Oct. 4, for a concert benefiting the Jewish Federation of Ulster County.
About 40 people attended Gold’s fourth annual piano concert, hearing performances that ranged from classical music to jazz on a Steinway Edison bought in 1890 for $725.
The piano bears indentations in the wood above its keys that Friedman has attributed to Edison’s teeth. The inventor, who had severe hearing loss, was known to bite into pianos and phonographs to experience sound through vibrations.
Friedman has stored the instrument at Gold’s house since 2024, after struggling to find space for it. Gold’s annual concerts give musicians a chance to play historic pianos. Past fundraisers have featured an instrument that belonged to Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. This year, Edison’s Steinway took its turn.
“We have some amazing musicians here. Woodstock is lucky that way,” Gold said.
This year’s concert featured Woodstock-based pianist Katya Grineva, a frequent Carnegie Hall performer. For her, the connection to the piano’s former owner was part of the experience.
“It has this deep energy,” Grineva said. “It has depth. I felt his soul.”
The Steinway Model B has 85 keys, compared with the 88 usually found on modern pianos. Its age did little to diminish its appeal for Grineva.
“Even though it’s old, the sound is so beautiful,” she said. “It’s one of the rare good pianos I’ve played. It has the qualities of something extraordinary. That’s what I felt. Extraordinary.”
Grineva opened with “Oh Glittering Starlight,” by Hildegard von Bingen, and closed with Frédéric Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2.
“She has power and delicacy, and she knows how to use them both,” Gold said. “She’s one of the best there is.”
Grineva is scheduled to perform a matinee concert at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 27.
During a break, attendees helped themselves to bagels, sushi, and other refreshments and browsed Edison memorabilia collected by Gold and his wife, Carol Super. The display included a photograph of Edison with the piano and a letter he wrote to Steinway thanking the company for the instrument. A Dictaphone, phonograph, and Victrola were also on display.
The concert resumed with a jazz set led by Charles Bromer. At the piano was Michael Schirmer, a restorer and tuner who had prepared the Steinway for the concert.
Three local pianists followed with solo performances, including Pierce Leonardi, a self-taught pianist and doctoral student from Selkirk. He played Franz Liszt’s “Dreams of Love” and “June: Barcarolle,” from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “The Seasons.”
The concert carried a suggested donation of $180 per person to benefit the federation, which organizes programs, events, and advocacy in Ulster County. Gold is a board member and former president.
For Leonardi, the piano’s appeal was in its sound.
“There’s a lot of soft tones to it. It’s very warm,” he said. “Despite its age, it holds up, even today.”
Kyle Bredberg is a contributing reporter. You can reach him at reporting@theoverlooknews.com.
