OFFICE landlord Keppel Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) will buy the biggest of three Steinway grand pianos that will take centre stage at next month's ChildAid charity concert.
It said yesterday that it will buy the Steinway Model D, valued at about $300,000.
The three grand pianos are on loan to ChildAid for three years, until 2014. This is part of a deal inked by the concert's organisers - The Business Times and The Straits Times - with Steinway Gallery, the retailer of Steinway pianos, in October.
The Steinway Model D will make its debut at the ChildAid concert on Dec 7 and Dec 8 at Marina Bay Sands. After that, it will be moved to the lobby of the Ocean Financial Centre - Keppel Reit's newest property - where lunchtime performances are being planned.
The grand piano will also be loaned to ChildAid organisers for subsequent concerts till 2014, before it is donated to the School of the Arts.
ChildAid, a showcase of young talents, is into its eighth year. The 21/2-hour event will feature more than 200 performers, including three contestants who participated in the recent South-east Asia Steinway regional finals. They are grand-prize winner Hsieh Wei Ting, 16, from Taiwan; Nguyen Le Binh Anh from Vietnam; and Gun Chaikittiwatana from Thailand, both 15.
Proceeds from ChildAid go to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund, which helps children from low-income families with school-related expenses, and The Business Times Budding Artists Fund, a programme under The Old Parliament House which gives an arts education to underprivileged but artistically gifted kids.
Last year's concert raised $1.88 million.
