Robert Rinaldi, senior vice president of Jacobs Music Company, personally knows the feeling of a parent visiting The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) with a seriously ill child, and he is thrilled that the campaign his company launched in October of last year has achieved its goal of the donation of a Steinway & Sons Grand Piano to fill...
Robert Rinaldi, senior vice president of Jacobs Music Company, personally knows the feeling of a parent visiting The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) with a seriously ill child, and he is thrilled that the campaign his company launched in October of last year has achieved its goal of the donation of a Steinway & Sons Grand Piano to fill the hospital with music.
On Nov. 20 at 10 a.m., Jacobs Music Company presented the new Steinway for dedication ceremonies. Joining the Rinaldi family, the owners of Jacobs Music, were Madeline Bell, president and CEO of CHOP; Patrick Lipawen, music therapist at CHOP, along with patients and doctors. The Steinway is placed in the hospital lobby in the Colket Atrium in front of the Seacrest Studio. At the musical ceremony, there was a performance by CHOP Trustee Anne Shoemaker, and Patrick Lipawen performed with Sarah Lucey, 16, a patient who joined him in an improvised duet.
The patients, visitors, doctors and staff will be able to sit down and play. "It is a long proven fact," Rinaldi explained, "that music heals, and we want the piano to be a source of comfort and escape for anyone who would like to play it."
To further that longtime dream, Jacobs Music Company sponsored "Children-Helping-Children Performathons" at venues throughout the tri-state region in which hundreds of students raised money that was contributed to the fund to make the dream into a reality of having a Steinway Model B Concert Grand piano in CHOP's lobby.
Jacobs Music Company, the area's exclusive representative for new and authentically restored Steinway & Sons pianos, has been involved with a variety of Performathons over the years and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities.
The first CHOP Performathon took place at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts in Philadelphia in October 2014 and subsequent events were held in multiple venues across Southeastern Pennsylvania including Cairn University and Kutztown University, and in New Jersey from Westminster Choir College in Princeton to the north and as far south as the Cape May Convention Center, in which the week-long Performathon culminated with a concert showcase of professional classical and jazz performers.
Jacobs Music Company is the area's exclusive representative for new and authentically restored Steinway & Sons, Steinway's Boston and Steinway's Essex pianos. Jacobs Music Company has six showrooms, including its flagship location at 1718 Chestnut Street in center city Philadelphia. Other regional piano showrooms are located in Willow Grove and Whitehall, Pa., Lawrenceville and Cherry Hill and Wilmington, Delaware. Further information is available on their website Jacobsmusic.com or by calling 215-568-7800.
