TEHRAN -- The new Austrian Bosendorfer Imperial 290 piano, which was recently purchased by Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, was unveiled at a ceremony held on Tuesday night.

Several Iranian and Austrian musicians attended the ceremony and the managing director of Vahdat Hall gave a short speech.
Gilsha Ziapur said that Vahdat Hall is the only hall in the Middle East which owns two Bosendorfer Imperial 290 pianos, adding that the first one was purchased in 1974.
Ziapur noted that Vahdat Hall has also purchased a German Blutner piano, which will be unveiled on November 18 at Vahdat Hall.
One of the Austrian participants later gave some details about the piano, saying, “The Imperial 290 Piano weighs 480 kilos and is made of the wood of pine trees from the forests of Austria. The Bosendorfer factory is one of the oldest, established 180 years ago, and many of the world’s great pianists have performed on stage with Bosendorfer pianos.”
Afterwards, Roland Batik of the Vienna Conservatory played on both the old and the new pianos. He later gave a performance with one of his students, Ulrich Hoffmeier.
The Bosendorfer Imperial 290 piano was purchased at a cost of 3 billion rials (about $300,000) and the Blutner piano was purchased for 2.5 billion rials (about $250,000). The old piano at Vahdat Hall was repaired at a cost of 600 million rials (about $60,000).
RM/HG END MN