Select inventory at Schmitt Music stores must be liquidated by May 31, and that means SUPER SAVINGS FOR YOU! You’ll find huge clearance deals including closeout pricing on select guitars, amps, pianos, keyboards and more, and GET 75% OFF on clearance print music & accessories!
The selection is limited, and varies by location. Hurry in to your Schmitt Music store to find huge deals on Steinway pianos, Kawai pianos, Lyrica pianos, and Roland digital pianos. Find demo and scratch & dent savings on select band & orchestra instruments, and get up to 40% OFF on clearance guitars and amps from Fender, Line6, Vox, Ibanez, ESP-LTD, Bedell and more! Plus, all in-stock Breedlove acoustics are 25% OFF our already low prices, and you can get any non-method guitar music for 15% OFF! You can even save on introductory music lessons – just $9.99 for a trial lesson!
Congratulations to Risé Handley of Overland Park, Kansas!!
Risé’s name was chosen at random out of hundreds of entries, and she is the lucky winner of a brand new Roland HPi-6F digital piano in satin black. Watch Tom Schmitt, President & CEO of Schmitt Music, draw the winning entry:
Schmitt Music piano stores carry a great selection of Roland digital pianos, and more great digital and acoustic pianos. Contact one of our friendly, knowledgeable Schmitt Music Piano Specialists to learn more about our piano selection, or schedule an personal Roland piano showing today!
Join us for a FREE concert at Schmitt Music Fargo by the Red River Trio. They will be playing the music of Haydn, Debussy, Lalo, Rachmaninoff, and Piazzolla.
Saturday, May 4th at 5:15pm
For more info and to RSVP, please call 701-281-1828 or click here.
Biography: The Red River Trio consists of three select music students from the University of North Dakota Music Department. They began performing together in August of 2012 under the direction of Dr. Nariaki Sugiura. Their upcoming US engagements include concerts in cities in Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota and North Dakota, as well a tour in China and Japan. The trio is also premiering Michael Wittgraf’s new composition written for the trio and electronics.
Purchase a qualifying new Kawai acoustic or digital piano from NOW – April 30, 2013 and you’ll receive up to $1000 in Instant Rebates! Contact your Schmitt Music Piano Specialist today and set up a personal showing. You’ll see and hear why Kawai pianos and the choice of those who know! Click here to find your Piano Specialist now. Rebates not valid with other offers.
We’re proud to be Kawai’s “Dealer of the Year”!
Schmitt Music was recently honored by Kawai Pianos with the 2012 “Dealer of the Year” award at the Winter NAMM Show in California. The award represents an extraordinary achievement by Schmitt Music’s Piano Specialists, who sold more Kawai pianos than any other company in the U.S. last year! Click here to learn more about our recent industry awards.
Join us for a romping, stomping evening of Classic Blues, Boogie Woogie, Ragtime, and Traditional Jazz!
$10 admission at the door. Please RSVP to 612-238-9941.
Wednesday, April 3rd from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM at Schmitt Music Edina
Minnesota Steinway Artist, Butch Thompson, and two highly qualified friends pay tribute to the pioneering boogie woogie pianist Albert Ammons, and other boogie woogie innovators.
Joining Mr. Thompson are Ammons’ granddaughter, vocalist Lila Ammons, and German pianist Axel Zwingenberger, a top interpreter of the boogie woogie style. Hear solo piano, four hands and two pianos duets, sassy classic blues, boogie woogie tunes and more!
Ammons and Zwingenberger will be touring the U.S. in April and have added this
Twin Cities event to their calendar! Don’t miss their kickoff performance at Schmitt Music Edina!
Please RSVP to Schmitt Music Edina and reserve your seats today! Call 612-238-9941 or email us at edkb@schmittmusic.com.
Steinway Artist Butch Thompson is one of the most prominent musicians in traditional jazz. Born in Marine-on-St. Croix, Minnesota, he was playing Christmas carols on his mother’s upright piano by age three, and began lessons at six. He picked up the clarinet in high school and led his first jazz group, “Shirt Thompson and His Sleeves,” as a senior. He began his professional career at age 16 in Minnesota, and two years later was visiting New Orleans frequently to learn from veteran musicians like clarinetist George Lewis. He played American and European festivals during the 1960s and ‘70s and began his solo recording career in 1966. In 1974, he joined the staff as the house pianist of public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, an association that continues to the present.
In addition to extensive touring (he has traveled the world from Cairo to Tokyo) as a soloist and with his trio and 8-piece Jazz Originals Band, he finds time to write and teach. His writing has appeared in various magazines including Down Beat and The Mississippi Rag, and among his teaching credits are residencies at the American University in Cairo and the New England Conservatory of Music. His recordings include the Grammy-winning Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton on the Verve label and a long-running solo series on Daring Records of Boston. Learn more about Butch from his website: butchthompson.com.
Lila Ammons, vocals
Born in Chicago, Lila Ammons is a Minnesota-based vocalist with a wide-range of experience. Ammons started singing publically at age five, studied piano and violin for several years, and performed in school and all-city orchestras and choirs, theater plays, and musical theater, before deciding to attend college and major in music. A New York City based classical singer for several years, Ammons’s strong desire to return to her roots led her back to jazz, blues, and most recently, boogie woogie. Ammons’s musical “roots” are legendary. She is the granddaughter of the great boogie woogie pianist, Albert Ammons, and niece of tenor sax titan Gene (Jug) Ammons.
As a jazz vocalist, Ammons has appeared in several Twin Cities venues, such as Rossi’s Blue Room, The Times Cafe, Sofia’s, The Dakota Jazz Club, and The Dakota County Jazz Club. She has also sung in several festivals, including the Twin Cities Jazz (summer and winter) festivals, Arts and All That Jazz and Freedom Jazz Festivals. In addition, she has performed in the Chicago Blues and Cincinnati Blues and Boogie Woogie Festivals.
In 2008, she began touring Europe with German pianist, Axel Zwingenberger, world renowned for his performances and compositions of boogie woogie and classic blues piano. They are performing to sold out theaters and receiving glowing reviews. With Zwingenberger, she has performed in the Ascona Jazz Festival (Switzerland), The Stars of Boogie Woogie Festival (Vienna, Austria), Duc de Lombard Boogie and Blues Festival (Paris, France), Bansko International Jazz Festival (Bulgaria, Salzburg Jazzherbst, and the Stars of Boogie Woogie Festival (Vienna, Austria). As a solo vocalist, she has sung at the Laroquebrou Boogie and Blues Festival (France), Holland International Boogie Woogie Festival (Netherlands) and festivals in Brussels, Belgium.
Most recently, she has been featured vocalist with the ABC&D of Boogie Woogie Quartet with Zwingenberger and British musicians Charlie Watts, Ben Waters and Dave Green. She was also featured on the BBC 2 Radio program hosted by British musician and radio/Television host Jools Holland, pianist and founding member of “Squeeze,”a popular band during the late 1970s, ’80′s and ’90′s. Holland is host of the very popular British television show, “Later…With Jools Holland”.
Ammons and Zwingenberger recorded a CD early in their partnership (2008) entitled, “Lady Sings The Boogie Woogie,” a collection of lost gems of the boogie woogie and classic blues eras . Ammons is currently in the midst of recording her own debut jazz CD.
Ammons earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) and a Masters in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music (NYC). She has taught voice on the college level (McNally-Smith College of Music) and teaches privately.
Axel Zwingenberger, piano
Axel Zwingenberger, one of the most renowned of boogie woogie and blues pianists today, and Lila Ammons, the great interpreter of classic blues and jazz, have won wide acclaim from both critics and audiences for their outstanding renditions of the brilliant but nowadays hardly ever heard masterpieces of the vaudeville blues tradition. Teaming up in 2007, the pair has travelled a dozen countries, performing their artistry to enthralled listeners.
Zwingenberger has more than 30 albums to his credit, many with legends of the genre, such as Lionel Hampton, Big Joe Turner, Jay McShann, Sippie Wallace, Champion Jack Dupree, Charlie Watts and many others. Not the least by these co‐operations, he has shaped his own, individual style, based on the music of the greatest of the blues and boogie woogie pianists, such as Albert Ammons, Meade “Lux” Lewis, Pete Johnson and others. In the more than three decades of his boogie woogie mission, he has gained a large international following of young boogie woogie piano entrepreneurs, particularly through his untiring touring activities, with over 4000 concerts in more than 50 countries on 4 continents performed since the early 1970s.
Join us for a FREE concert at Schmitt Music Edina by the Red River Trio. They will be playing the music of Haydn, Debussy, Lalo, Rachmaninoff, and Piazzolla.
Monday, March 25th at 7:00pm
For more info and to RSVP, please call 612-238-9941 or click here.
Biography:
The Red River Trio consists of three select music students from the University of North Dakota Music Department. They began performing together in August of 2012 under the direction of Dr. Nariaki Sugiura. Their upcoming US engagements include concerts in cities in Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota and North Dakota, as well a tour in China and Japan. The trio is also premiering Michael Wittgraf’s new composition written for the trio and electronics.
Purchase a qualifying new Kawai acoustic or digital piano from NOW – March 31, 2013 and you’ll receive up to $1000 in Instant Rebates! Contact your Schmitt Music Piano Specialist today and set up a personal showing. You’ll see and hear why Kawai pianos and the choice of those who know! Click here to find your Piano Specialist now. Rebates not valid with other offers.
We’re proud to be Kawai’s “Dealer of the Year”!
Schmitt Music was recently honored by Kawai Pianos with the 2012 “Dealer of the Year” award at the Winter NAMM Show in California. The award represents an extraordinary achievement by Schmitt Music’s Piano Specialists, who sold more Kawai pianos than any other company in the U.S. last year! Click here to learn more about our recent industry awards.
Thanks for 160 Years of Craftsmanship and Innovation!
Steinway & Sons, founded by Henry Engelhard Steinway in 1853, developed the modern piano with revolutionary designs and 127 patented inventions. Steinway is dedicated to the ideal of making the finest pianos in the world, and continues to represent superior quality and craftsmanship.
Schmitt Music is the exclusive dealer for Steinway & Sons, and Steinway-designed Boston and Essex pianos in every market where we do business. We have proudly represented Steinway & Sons since 1961 – over 50 years!
Contact a Schmitt Music Piano Specialist today, and set up an audition or learn more about our great selection of new, used, rebuilt and consignment Steinway & Sons pianos.
Watch this amazing video, “The Making of a Steinway,” narrated by John H. Steinway (great-grandson of Henry E. Steinway, who officially founded the company on March 5, 1853). You’ll learn everything about the innovative designs, attention to detail, and craftsmanship, which have established Steinway pianos as the world’s finest.
Click here to view the selection of new Steinway & Sons, and Steinway-designed Boston and Essex grand piano models available exclusively at your Schmitt Music stores.
Our piano showroom locations always have a great selection of rebuilt, restored and consignment pianos, too. Click here to view our current used piano inventory.
Click the thumbnails below to view 160 years of Steinway & Sons factories:
ROLAND DAYS at Schmitt Music — NOW through MARCH 31st!
Visit your Schmitt Music stores during ROLAND DAYS and get to know the great features and SuperNATURAL sounds that make Roland digital pianos so amazing.
GET SPECIAL PRICING ON ROLAND PIANOS!
SAVE UP TO 40% OFF! SuperNATURAL Sound – SuperNATURAL Savings – Built-in Educational Software – iPad Connectivity – Roland digital pianos have it all!
Save on closeouts, discontinued models, floor demos and more – EVERY ROLAND DIGITAL PIANO IS ON SALE!
Join us for a free in-store concert with pianist/composer James Day, and discover why Roland pianos are the top choice for professionals everywhere, or attend one of our special clinics just for music educators! Click below to view Roland Days events near you:
Now through March 31, you can enter to win a brand new Roland HPi-6F digital piano at your participating Schmitt Music stores! One entry per customer; must be 18 years or older to enter. Click here for contest details.
During Roland Days, you’ll find great deals on Roland digital pianos at all Schmitt Music stores, and you can attend some great free events at select Schmitt Music stores. Contact one of our friendly, knowledgeable Schmitt Music Piano Specialists to learn more about special events, or to schedule an personal Roland piano showing today!
Harvey Lavan “Van” Cliburn Jr. passed away Wednesday, February 27, at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, after a battle with cancer. He was 78. Our condolences to his family, friends and fans.
Van Cliburn posed with a Steinway concert grand piano on Sunday morning, March 28, 1977, in front of “the music wall” mural on Schmitt Music’s downtown Minneapolis building. He was in town for an engagement with the Minnesota Orchestra, and the photo attracted the attention of national newspapers. An englarged version of the photo is prominently displayed at the new Schmitt Music Edina store.
At the height of the Cold War, at 23 years-old, Van Cliburn traveled to Moscow and won the first International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. Winning that event helped him achieve worldwide recognition. Upon his return from Russia, Van Cliburn was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City (the only classical musician to receive such an honor), and TIME Magazine proclaimed him “The Texan Who Conquered Russia.”
Van Cliburn was a Steinway Artist, and he was the first classical recording artist to have an album. His recording of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 sold more than 1 million copies.
Watch an amazing video of Van Cliburn playing Rachmaninov’s 3rd Concerto in Moscow, 1958. This is one of the performances that helped him win the Tchaikovsky Competition!
Click here to read an NPR article “Remembering Van Cliburn.”
