Ruth Ostrow is a pianist who has had a passion for the instrument for more than 80 years and who devoted her career to teaching hundreds of students in the New York City area. Now, her beautiful 1923 Steinway grand piano has been presented to the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts so that her passion for playing the piano will continue to be passed along to future generations.

The gift of Ruth and Philip Ostrow of Morgantown, the piano is also helping the WVU School of Music in its efforts to become an All-Steinway school.

Ruth Ostrow was raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and spent her career as an educator in that state. Her son, Andrew Ostrow, is professor emeritus of sport and exercise psychology in the WVU College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, where he is also a founder and former director of the International Center for Performance Excellence.

“My mother owned that piano for at least 50 years,” Dr. Ostrow said. “She began playing at the age of 8 and continued for 80 years.

“She was self-taught, but she studied with several teachers in Manhattan who were quite good. Mildred Dassett, who also taught at the Manhattan School of Music, was a teacher she adored and who she took lessons from. I believe Mrs. Dassett was the one who helped her acquire this piano.

“She was always taking lessons and giving lessons at the same time. Her great passion in life was playing the piano. Every day she would practice rigorously for two or three hours. She didn’t perform in public, as I recall, but she was quite competent as a pianist. I listened to her play all those years when I was growing up.

“Vladimir Horowitz was her idol and she and my Dad often went to Carnegie Hall in New York to listen to Horowitz play.”

WVU School of Music Piano Technician Tim Richards is currently refurbishing the Ruth Ostrow Steinway piano before it is used by WVU music students.

“It is a beautiful piano,” Richards said. “It’s in immaculate condition, considering its age. All I had to do was replace the keyboard action parts with new equipment.

“It’s a Louis XV Art Case Steinway and the company still builds them, but they are fairly rare and they are much more expensive because they have beautifully carved traditional French curves and intricate floral designs in the mahogany case, along with delicately carved scallops and carved legs.”

“We weren’t allowed to touch the piano when I was growing up – it was her love,” Andrew Ostrow said.

“My father was a principal in the New York City public schools and after he retired my parents moved to Sarasota, Fla., and lived there for 25 years before moving to Morgantown to The Village at Heritage Point.

“The piano traveled with them, for 50 years, from Manhattan, to Brooklyn, to New Jersey, to Florida, and finally to Morgantown. I can remember as a young boy when the piano was brought to our apartment building in Brooklyn and they had to cut a hole in the ceiling to get it in. My grandfather owned the building and he was quite upset.

“Then we moved to a two-family house in Brooklyn and again they had to cut a hole to enlarge the doorway to get it through.

“Now I’m glad the piano has found a home at WVU where students will be able to play it with the same passion that my mother had.”

The gift of the Ruth Ostrow Steinway piano was made in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University. The $750 million comprehensive campaign being conducted by the WVU Foundation on behalf of the University runs through December 2015.

In aspiring to become an All-Steinway School, the WVU School of Music will ultimately join approximately 150 other music schools at major universities across the country and throughout the world that use Steinway pianos exclusively. All-Steinway Schools include Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Yale School of Music, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and many others.

For more information about how to make a gift in support of the Campaign or to the All-Steinway program, please contact Glenn Rosswurm, Director of Development for the College of Creative Arts, at (304) 293-4331 or Glenn.Rosswurm@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

cl/09/24/13

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.