Maryland officials on Wednesday approved the purchase of 32 high-end pianos for Bowie State University, costing taxpayers more than a half million dollars amid a looming $1 billion shortfall.
With a 2-1 vote, the Maryland Board of Public Works signed off on a $553,000 contract to buy four concert grand pianos and 28 Steinway-designed pianos, a move that Bowie State administrators said would attract top talent to the music program on the Prince George’s County campus.
However, the state’s tax collector, Comptroller Peter Franchot, dismissed the deal as a “luxury the taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for” amid fiscally strenuous times for state universities and departments.
“We’re talking almost $20,000 a piano,” he said, objecting to the large purchase. “Couldn’t we have bought a couple of Steinways? And the rest could have been Chevrolets rather than Rolls-Royces?”
Gov. Martin O’Malley and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, who voted for the contract, said they were looking forward to hearing the musical instruments at Bowie State’s concert hall.
“If you took 100 blindfolded people in the concert hall, would they know the difference between a Steinway and something else?” the comptroller asked.
Soloist and Bowie State music professor Marymal Holmes, replied, “It’s unmistakable. The clarity, the overtone — there’s nothing to compare to it.”
Bowie State officials said, that by purchasing the pianos in bulk, they received a 25 percent discount off the normal price. Even with the savings, the pianos cost taxpayers $17,289 each.
This isn’t the first time Maryland officials have lavished big dollars on a state university for the pricey pianos.
In 2003, the University of Maryland achieved “all-Steinway school” status when it received 103 such pianos. More than 100 students audition each year for entrance into the piano program, said U.Md. officials.
According to Steinway, George Mason University and George Washington University also exclusively use their pianos.
“The students on campus know the difference between Steinway and others,” Holmes said. “If I knew as a student they had all Steinway, that would mean something to me — that the school is about excellence.”
