Here’s a way to support local musicians: host a concert in your home.
This is exactly what an Oak Park couple did recently to celebrate the 100th birthday of their home. They had the space and an heirloom Steinway.
When Alison Welch and her family moved to the 900 north block of Elmwood in 2021, they weren’t moving far – their previous home was only a couple of blocks away. They moved to gain more guest space for visiting grandparents, but Welch says they gained a lot more than a spare bedroom.
The home at 939 N. Elmwood Ave. came with the perfect space to house the family’s Steinway piano, and that piano fostered deep family connections while also becoming a bridge to new friends and neighbors.
The home, which was built in 1925, has a living room that spans the front of the house. The Steinway sits in a place of honor at the front of the room. Arched windows wrap around the room, affording views of both Taylor Park and the city of Chicago skyline.
Much like the house, the piano also recently celebrated a birthday. Not ones to let a reason to celebrate pass them by, the Welch family marked the piano’s birthday with a party in 2023, with Heather Peterson on the piano. About 50 people attended.
On Nov. 8, Welch’s father, Richard Steinkamp, came to town, and the Welch family hosted a 100th birthday party for their home. Once again, Peterson performed on the piano. Heather and her husband, Nathan, are performers and founders of The Music Building (www.themusicbuilding.org).
Beyond the music, this kind of event helps artists find paid work, Welch said, describing it as perfect for a place like Oak Park and River Forest. “As a community, we are really good at nurturing artists. It’s part of the fabric of our community, especially as we’re raising kids here. This is about providing this to people later in life, completing the continuum of a culture that we already have here.”
It’s not necessary for hosts to have a grand living room or even a piano, said Welch. “Any kind of house can do this. You can have a front porch or a den, or any cozy space.”
The story of the piano is the story of Welch’s family, and with their piano and their Elmwood Avenue home they are sharing their family’s connection with friends and neighbors, while also supporting The Music Building.
In 1923, Welch’s great grandmother, Sophie Riegler, was living in Little Rock, Arkansas when she purchased a Steinway piano for her family. Welch’s father, Richard Steinkamp, learned to play on the piano and recalls music being a large part of family life when he was growing up.
“There was no television, so children learned instruments and performed,” he said. “My father and his siblings had Sunday afternoon performances at home, and neighbors would come.”
The piano came with Steinkamp when he moved to Washington D.C. in 1993. In 2015, he gifted the piano to Welch’s daughter Sophie, named for the piano purchaser, and the piano was shipped to Oak Park.
Welch noted that her daughter Sophie is the fourth generation to learn to play on the piano, which is a meaningful connection to the past.
In 2023, Steinkamp suggested that the family should host a 100th birthday party for the piano. Welch reached out to her daughter’s choir director at Oak Park and River Forest High School to see if she had any suggestions for someone who could perform in their house on the piano. She recommended Heather Peterson.
Welch said of the event: “Everyone here was blown away by the experience of putting their phones away and enjoying music for one hour. At the gathering afterwards, there was a different kind of depth to the party. People were at ease.”
Welch was struck by the power of music to forge connection, and she found like-minded people in the Petersons. The couple founded The Music Building in 2019, and it became a 501(c)3 not-for-profit this summer.
Their inspiration came from trying to recreate the support that allowed for creativity when musicians are in school.
“There are so many support systems in place in college for musicians, and most colleges have ‘the music building’ where all of those supports exist. But after college, that support falls off. Our intent in forming the organization was to create ongoing support for artists and to create opportunities for togetherness,” Nathan Peterson said.
It can be challenging for musicians to follow their creative drives after school, and Peterson says The Music Building connects artists looking to work creatively with hosts who want to enjoy music and build a sense of community.
Businesses or individuals can sponsor home- or business-based concerts so that the artists get paid a living wage and the community gains more opportunities for engagement with the arts.
Peterson says the hope is that more and more local homeowners will open their doors to home-based concerts. He notes that just 1% of local homes hosting a concert every few years would provide a lot of work for musicians along with many meaningful connections. “To me, it would be like resetting the heart of the community,” he says.
Welch’s father has gifted her family a concert yearly for Christmas. “My dad has always been a supporter of this,” she says.
Steinkamp, who said that the concerts inspired him to take up piano lessons again, said of Peterson’s efforts, “You’re really creating a market for these artists. People can hire artists on a tax-free basis.”
