HORINE'S SELLS STEINWAYS TO MILLIKIN UNIV.

HORINE'S PIANOS PLUS, an exclusive Steinway dealer based in Bloomington, Illinois, recently sold 41 Steinway and Boston pianos to the Millikin University School of Music for its 55,000-square-foot Perkinson Music Building, set to open early in 2000. Milliken University is located in Decatur, Illinois. Millikin purchased eight Steinway grands (seven Model Bs and one Model L), ten Boston grands (all Model UP178), and 23 Boston uprights (all Model UP118).

The Steinway grand pianos will be placed in Perkinson's fully equipped recording studio and its 167-seat recital hall. Classrooms and rehearsal halls at the center will be equipped with Boston upright and grand pianos.

The decision to purchase these pianos came about after a piano inventory taken at Millikin discovered that the average age of its music school's pianos was 68 years, according to Dr. Mary Ellen Poole, director of the School of Music.

After consulting with the school's faculty, Dr. Poole decided that Steinway and Boston pianos would be the instruments of choice because of Steinway's reputation for quality and durability.

"The timing for this move seemed to be perfect," Dr. Poole commented. "Our new music building represents a new beginning for our music and fine-arts programs, and we feel that Steinway and Boston pianos will enhance our ability to attract quality students and accomplished faculty."

Dr. Poole added that she has a particular affinity for Boston upright pianos, which she considers the "workhorses" of the school's music education.

Millikin University is a liberal arts college where a third of its 2,200 students are fine-arts majors. Of that number, 320 students are music majors.

Horine's Pianos Plus opened its Bloomington showroom in 1990, and its Peoria showroom two years later. Horine's became an authorized Steinway dealer in 1994 and works closely with universities, symphonies and music teachers in central Illinois.