On Saturday, May 6, at 3:00 p.m., University of Vermont music professor David Feurzeig will perform the first public concert on the new Steinway piano in the Cornwall Congregational Church.
The church recently acquired the fully reconditioned Steinway, originally built in 1942, from The Piano Gallery of North Ferrisburgh, whose proprietors, Justin and Emily Rose, have painstakingly brought it back to concert condition.
Feurzeig will appear as part of his Play Every Town Vermont project. Famous for playing pieces that feature a range of genres and interspersing them with light, informative commentary, Feurzeig makes sure to include a sonata by the Italian baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti in every program he performs.
To avoid creating the carbon footprint of the globetrotting artist, and to help keep Vermont's downtowns lively, Feurzeig is in the midst of a tour in which he will perform for free in every municipality in the state by the end of 2026. He drives to his concerts in a solar-powered EV and accepts donations to 350 Vermont, the nonprofit founded at Middlebury College in support of climate justice.
The concert will cap a busy day in Cornwall village. The Daughters of the American Revolution building in the village center will hold an open house from 1 to 2:30 that afternoon. And Anglophiles have their own reason to mark their calendars. "You can watch the coronation [of King Charles III] on TV in the morning and come to the concert in the afternoon," said Charles Callahan, the Cornwall Church organist, whose ongoing efforts led to the identification and purchase of the piano.