Olga Radović, a first-year Master of Music candidate in piano performance, had mixed feelings when she learned that she would be the first musician to perform with the new Steinway & Sons grand concert piano that arrived in November for use at J. Louis von der Mehden Recital Hall.

“I had both excitement and concern,” says Radović, who performed on the piano in December as a soloist with the UConn Symphony Orchestra after winning the 2017 Aria/Concerto Competition last fall. “A brand-new piano can be very challenging to play and to control.”

A native of Belgrade, Serbia, Radović has performed with orchestras since she was 12 but did not often play on pianos comparable to a Steinway – considered the best of its kind in the world. However, after talking with Angelina Gadeliya, assistant professor-in-residence and director of keyboard studies, about her own experiences performing with the handcrafted instrument, Radović understood the opportunity before her. “All I could feel was excitement and joy,” she says.

To read the rest of the story, hear Radović’s performance piece, and go behind the scenes at the Steinway & Sons Brooklyn factory, go to magazine.uconn.edu.