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Orchestra Iowa’s ‘key’ fundraiser: a new celesta
New bell-like keyboard needed for upcoming concerts
CEDAR RAPIDS — The Sugar Plum Fairy is going to fall flat on her face, and “Hedwig’s Theme” from “Harry Potter” will lose its magic unless Orchestra Iowa raises enough money to buy a new celesta.
“Every tradesperson knows you’re only as good as your tools,” Maestro Timothy Hankewich told The Gazette. “And even though this instrument is a bit of an obscure orchestral instrument, it is surprisingly crucial to any orchestra’s inventory, and so we literally can’t operate without one.”
Pronounced chuh-LESS-tuh, a celesta sounds like a classy toy piano. It is handmade primarily in Germany, and lasts about six decades.
“As you’re scanning the stage, you can easily overlook it,” Hankewich, also an accomplished pianist, said. “It is a small keyboard instrument about the size of a dresser drawer. It has anywhere from 50 to 66 keys, and instead of sounding like a piano, the hammers hit tuned metal bars, so it actually sounds like bells. Often it can be confused for orchestral bells, also known as glockenspiels, but a celesta should have a smoother sound, not as metallic of a sound.”
Alas, the orchestra’s current celesta has rung its last bells.
A new one costs upward of $60,000. So far, the orchestra has raised $44,000 in a “key” fundraising effort, with each $1,000 donation buying a key, a dedication of the donor’s choosing, and a note of thanks.
All donations are welcome, regardless of the amount, Hankewich said, noting that the purchase price includes a road case to protect the precious pricey cargo while it’s being moved between venues.
October deadline
The instrument will be instrumental in nearly a dozen of Orchestra Iowa’s 2024-25 Masterworks, Pops and Partner Productions. First up is “Hedwig’s Theme,” when the ensemble performs the music of “Harry Potter” on Oct. 26 at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Cedar Rapids. Nipping at Hedwig’s heels is “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” in “The Nutcracker” holiday ballet.
“The instrument that we are raising money for was written exactly for those solos,” Hankewich said.
To help
What: Orchestra Iowa’s celesta fundraiser
Needed: The goal is over $60,000. So far, 44 of 66 keys have been “purchased” through donations to date
Levels: Any amount; “key” donation of $1,000 includes donor’s choice dedication, and note of thanks
Details: artsiowa.com/orchestra-iowa
A new celesta is on order from Schiedmayer in Germany, the world’s primary maker of the instrument, “but we’re not going to use it until it’s paid for,” Hankewich said.
“We’ve got until October, so I hope people will help us pitch in, because when I first heard how much it was going to cost to replace it, I coughed. It was quite an eye-opener.
“I knew these things weren’t cheap, but this particular brand, if you follow the New York Philharmonic, or the Cleveland Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic — the world's leading orchestras use this instrument as part of their instrumental collection.”
You can bet their celesta cabinets aren’t being held together with surgical tape like Orchestra Iowa’s.
“The case that conceals the guts of the instrument, for lack of a better phrase, was falling apart, too,” Hankewich noted. “The only alternative was to hammer it shut or tape it shut, and I was thinking using surgical tape seems much more appropriate.”
It’s also more durable than duct tape, quipped Ed Karr, the orchestra’s chief operations officer, who was helping wheel the instrument from Hankewich’s third-floor Orchestra Iowa office to the Paramount Theatre stage for a recent Gazette photo shoot.
The instrument gave up the ghost after its last performance in the 2023-24 season. Several of the keys no longer “play,” with their hammers not hitting the tune bars to produce anything other than a very sad, wooden thud. Referred to as the “action,” that part of the inner workings includes heavy cardboard, now disintegrating.
It’s lasted 60 years, which is the instrument’s typical life span. That makes it older than Hankewich.
Even though Hankewich was hoping to get another five years out of this celesta, it was no spring chicken when he arrived in Cedar Rapids.
“I’ve known for a long time the celesta was on its last legs,” he said. “We knew it was aging out when I got here 18 years ago, but it literally broke in March of the end of our last season.”
Repairing it wasn’t feasible, since this model was made by the now-defunct Jenco Musical Products in Decatur, Ill.
Upping the ante
Hankewich is eagerly awaiting the new celesta’s addition to Orchestra Iowa’s collection.
“I'm hugely excited for this reason,” he said. “I’ve been here a while, and one of the first weaknesses of our organization that I recognized when I got here was that our equipment was substandard. Our percussion was sub-high school level, and we have since turned that around, starting last year. Our harp was coming to the end of its life span. Thanks to a very kind donation, we’ll be getting a new harp for next season, and then the celesta.
“The celesta was always a problematic instrument, because we knew we were going to have to replace it, and we knew it was going to be expensive. We were just hoping to delay that capital expense for a while. The fact that it’s sooner than later is fine by me, because you’ll hear the quality on the stage.”
Principal keyboardist Miko Kominami will have the honor of playing the new instrument.
“Miko has been complaining about our celesta since the day I got here,” Hankewich said. “She will be absolutely overjoyed when she gets to play the Cadillac, if not the Ferrari, of celestas.”
And the Sugar Plum Fairy won’t miss a beat.
Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com
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