- Steinway & Sons piano number #500,000 is presented during the gala concert at Carnegie Hall, held in celebration of Steinway & Sons’ 135th anniversary.
- Prominent furniture designer Wendell Castle has designed the futuristic case of the 500,000th Steinway & Sons instrument.
- Signatures of the hundreds of living Steinway Artists, made in exotic wood veneers, decorate the #500,000th Steinway & Sons piano case.
- Vladimir Horowitz does not attend the concert, but similarly reclusive Van Cliburn makes a non-performing appearance, and receives a Steinway Foundation award. Accepting the award, Van Cliburn says: “The Steinway piano is probably, without question, the universal piano.”