Barbara Nissman performs ‘A Steinway Celebration’ to dedicate West Virginia’s new concert piano

By Matthew Young, RealWV

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Member of the inaugural class of Steinway Legends and 2023 inductee to the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame Barbara Nissman, on Wednesday, broke the proverbial champagne bottle across the keys of the state’s new Steinway Concert Piano. 

In a performance duly named “A Steinway Celebration,” the internationally acclaimed Nissman performed timeless classics from Chopin, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and her personal favorite, Franz Liszt. 

In addition to the packed house of concert goers, on hand for the celebration was Cabinet Secretary Randall Reid-Smith of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, Senators Eric Nelson and Jack David Woodrum, and Delegate and State Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin. 

A resident of Greenbrier County, Nissman is a 2020 recipient of the Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Earlier this month, Nissman was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music from West Virginia University.