The Townsend School of Music begins the year on an exciting note with the delivery of 37 brand new Steinway & Sons pianos.  The addition of these pianos, and the refurbishment of 7 existing Steinways, makes Mercer’s Townsend School  of music one of 164 All-Steinway Schools in the nation, joining the ranks with schools such as Yale School of Music and Oberlin Conservatory of Music.  This distinction sets the school apart from others by ensuring its students the finest pianos to further their musical education.

Thanks to Mercer’s chancellor, Dr. R. Kirby Godsey, and his gift of $1.5 million these Steinways represent the beginning of the new Joan Stockstill Godsey Center for Keyboard Studies, established and named for his wife.  Godsey hopes to honor his wife’s many contributions to the school and her lasting love of music.  The Joan Stockstill Godsey Center for Keyboard Studies joins the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and the Townsend-McAfee Institute for Graduate Church Music Studies as a specialized program within the Townsend School of Music.

The Godsey Center also plans to host an annual Joan Stockstill Godsey Concert Series featuring some of the world’s leading keyboard musicians.  The series will begin with an inaugural concert on September 5th of this year at 7:30 p.m. featuring Orion Weiss, a sought after pianist.  “We are very excited to have Orion Weiss present the inaugural recital in this new series of concerts,” said Dr. C. David Keith, dean of the Townsend School of Music. “In addition, representatives from Steinway & Sons in New York will be in attendance to make a presentation to the Townsend School of Music. This promises to be one of the most important events of the year, and I hope that Fickling Hall will be filled to capacity to hear this outstanding performer and to be a part of the festivities.”  The concert will take place in Neva Fickling Hall in the Townsend School of Music.