The PianoForte Foundation (PFF) is a non-profit organization that presents classical and jazz piano concerts in Chicago, Illinois. Established in 2005 by piano dealer Thomas Zoells, the PianoForte Foundation presents over 60 concerts each year in downtown Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

History

Thomas Zoells established the PianoForte Foundation in April 2005, one year after he opened PianoForte Chicago, a piano sales business. As an extension of his business, Mr. Zoells began organizing a concert series which led to the PianoForte Foundation, an independent, Non-profit, separately incorporated entity.

The PianoForte Foundation's concerts are held in three venues:

• The Fine Arts Building
  Fine Arts Building (Chicago)
  The ten-story Fine Arts Building, also known as the Studebaker Building, is located on Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in Chicago in the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. It was built for the Studebaker company in 1884–5 by Solon Spencer Beman, and extensively remodeled...
  
   (a.k.a. the Studebaker Building) was the PianoForte Foundation’s first venue. It was the original Studebaker
  Studebaker
  Studebaker Corporation was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the...
  
   carriage manufacturing building, and between 1897-1898 it was converted into a building of artists’ studios.
• Sherwood Community Music School at Columbia College Chicago is an urban center for collective community music education in Chicago for people of all ages. Weekly PianoForte concerts occur at Sherwood's recital hall.
• The Mayslake Peabody Estate
  Mayslake Peabody Estate
  The Mayslake Peabody Estate is an estate constructed by Francis Stuyvesant Peabody during the American Gilded Age. The estate is located in the western Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, and is part of the Mayslake Forest Preserve administered by the Forest Preserve District of...
  
   is a part of the Mayslake Forest Reserve, and was designed by renowned Chicago architect Benjamin H. Marshall. It is being restored and is open to the public for tours and events. Monthly PianoForte Foundation concerts occur in Mayslake's Mansion.

Series

Concerts are organized into several series that run from September to June:

• Schubertiade Chicago, the trademark series of the PianoForte Foundation and the only such event in the greater Chicago area, it is a free all-day marathon festival celebrating the music of Franz Schubert
  Franz Schubert
  Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
  
  .
• PianoForte Salon Series at Columbia College Chicago, a free weekly concert broadcast on WFMT 98.7 and sponsored by Columbia College Chicago
  Columbia College Chicago
  Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...
  
  .
• Jazz Salon, jazz piano concerts presented at PianoForte’s studio in the Fine Arts Building
  Fine Arts Building (Chicago)
  The ten-story Fine Arts Building, also known as the Studebaker Building, is located on Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in Chicago in the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. It was built for the Studebaker company in 1884–5 by Solon Spencer Beman, and extensively remodeled...
  
  .
• WDCB Jazz Salon at Mayslake, a broadcast of solo and ensemble jazz artists on WDCB 90.9 from the Mayslake Peabody Estate
  Mayslake Peabody Estate
  The Mayslake Peabody Estate is an estate constructed by Francis Stuyvesant Peabody during the American Gilded Age. The estate is located in the western Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, and is part of the Mayslake Forest Preserve administered by the Forest Preserve District of...
  
   in Oak Brook, IL.
• Pure Piano, a monthly series of classical soloists presented at PianoForte’s studio in the Fine Arts Building.
• Piano Plus, a monthly series of chamber ensembles at PianoForte’s studio in the Fine Arts Building.
• Television Series on the city of Chicago’s Cable 25.
• The Experimental Piano Series, consists of concerts by innovators in today’s world of experimental piano, and includes music that is influenced and informed by jazz
  Jazz
  Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
  
  , new music
  Contemporary classical music
  Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
  
  , classical music
  Classical music
  Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
  
  , world music
  World music
  World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
  
  , and other genres.

Community/Educational Involvement

• Gift of Pianos Program is a joint effort by the PianoForte Foundation and the Chicago Chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild
  Piano Technicians Guild
  The Piano Technicians Guild , based in Kansas City, Kansas, is the official organization of the Registered Piano Technician . The PTG was formed in 1957 when the American Society of Piano Technicians and the National Association of Piano Tuners merged to form a single organization.- Membership...
  
   (PTG) to refurbish donated pianos and place them in schools, churches, and community institutions that lack resources but need a quality instrument.
• Jazz Masterclass Series, started in September 2007, gives young jazz artists opportunities to interact with professional jazz pianists.

Chicago Amateur Piano Competition

Chicago Amateur Piano Competition, is the first contest in the Midwest honoring the fundamental role amateur pianists have in promoting the piano and its repertoire. Held at Sherwood Community Music School at Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...

, it consists of competition rounds, guest lectures, masterclasses, and social events

Collaborations and Awards

The PianoForte Foundation has collaborated with such Chicago arts organizations as CUBE, Chicago Opera Theater

Chicago Opera Theater

The Chicago Opera Theater is an opera company that was founded as the Chicago Opera Studio in 1974 by Alan Stone to give vocal students performance experience, although it has grown into a professional opera company...

, the Chicago Composers Forum, and many more. In 2008 and 2009, PFF collaborated with the International Beethoven Project to present the world premiere of a rediscovered Beethoven piano trio

Piano trio

A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...

 performed by the Beethoven Project Trio

Beethoven Project Trio

The Beethoven Project Trio is a piano trio that was formed in Chicago in 2008. Its founding members are pianist George Lepauw, violinist Sang Mee Lee and cellist Wendy Warner...

. The PianoForte Foundation was honored with the 2009 William Hall Sherwood Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts, for its role in bringing awareness and appreciation of piano repertoire and performance in Chicago.