Please enjoy this video of
Noemi Otto playing the Emma Adams piano

The piano is a lovely carved Brazilian rosewood Weber nine-foot concert grand piano built in the 1870's and once owned by noted Lynchburg impresaria and music teacher Emma Adams. It was donated to the Academy in 2009 by Mr. Mel Harris of Forest, VA in memory of his late wife Carol Riggs who was a music and dance teacher in Lynchburg. She had acquired the piano from the heirs of Ms. Adams

Ms. Adams was active in the early years of the Academy of Music Theatre. She organized a distinguished recital series at the Academy for a number of years and brought such well-known artists to Lynchburg as Rosa Ponselle, Efrem Zimbalist, Sr., and Ignace Paderewski. She also taught music and used the piano with her students well into the 1930's.

The piano has been lovingly and meticulously restored over the last 18 months by Mark Perry of Perry Pianos in Concord, VA. Several years ago, Mr. Perry also restored the Academy's Cile Turner Steinway grand piano.

In this video, Noemi Otto plays Schumann's Carnaval.

Thank you for visiting - we hope you enjoyed the video.

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Video courtesy Zack Webb/PB Productions