To help celebrate the recent inauguration of Dr. Ron Matthews as the new president of Eastern University, Cunningham Piano was honored to loan a Yamaha S7X 7’6” grand piano through Yamaha’s Premium Piano Tour. The Yamaha S7X is a brand new design that features a remarkable new feature, the patented Acoustic Resonance Enhancement treatment. Just as fine violins sound better with age, the A.R.E. treatment ages the soundboard in a fraction of the time without the use of chemical agents. The result is a piano that has a remarkable depth bloom to the sound, and in Dr. Matthews’ own words, is the best Yamaha piano he has ever played.

Dr. Matthews was formerly the chair of the arts department at Eastern University, and now oversees a university that is the midst of some remarkable developments. In a time when the arts can be extremely competitive, Eastern strives to provide a wonderful sense of community and faith-based mutual support among faculty and students. In this episode, Dr. Matthews plays some of his own hymn arrangements on the Yamaha S7X at an open air impromptu concert at McInnis Hall, and shares his vision for the future of Eastern University.