Lonnie Young Presented with Themis Award at Symphony Finale

Fri, 04/22/2022 - 01:43pm | By: Mike Lopinto

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Symphony opened its season finale concert on Thursday, April 21 by presenting the 2022 Themis Award to School of Music piano technician Lonnie Young.

A fixture of both USM and the community, Young started at USM in 1996 and will be retiring at the end of the current school year. An introduction by Dr. Ellen Elder, associate professor of piano at USM, included words of praise from past and present piano faculty prior to the presentation by Symphony music Director Dr. Michael Miles.

The award is presented annually to an outstanding USM administrator, professor, staff member, or other individual who has contributed to the success of this orchestra and its members. Since last year’s presentation was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional award was presented this year to Young this year.

Responsible for the care and repair of the hefty stock of keyboards within the School of Music, Young also finds his talents at use across the campus and around the state. His expertise is an art for unto itself, having prepared pianos for students and celebrities from practice rooms to concert halls. He is magically anywhere and everywhere there is a need, and that often extends beyond pianos.

“My years at The University of Southern Mississippi have been filled with many fond memories of visiting artists to wonderful performances by students and faculty alike,” Young noted.

The award is named after Themis the Greek goddess of divine law and order; she was the Titan who assured that things were done in an honorable way. She presided over the most ancient oracles, and first instructed mankind in the laws of justice, morality, and good governance. She was the first counselor to Zeus, sat enthroned beside him, and advised him on the precepts of divine law and the rules of fate. She is the personification of the order of things established by divine law, custom, oracle, equity, and divine decree.

A native of Stephens, Ark., Young lived in the same home from birth until marriage to Celia Costner Young in 1978. From an early age, he was gifted with a curiosity for all things mechanical.  His father was a musician and was instrumental to his musical heritage. He began piano lessons at 6 years of age, possessing a natural ability to hear chord progressions.

The two piano teachers in my small town were insistent on regular piano tuning and I could hear the difference in the sound of a fresh tuning and appreciated it. One of the first times he observed the tuning of a piano, he was interested but had no idea how to pursue training, so he attended a technical college in the field of automotive mechanics.

He eventually discovered a classified ad for the Empire School of Piano Tuning in Miami, Florida and I wrote for information as the add requested, then soon enrolled in their correspondence course, and completed it by our first anniversary.

During this period, he was mentored by a couple of men. Roy Roberson, who owned and operated a music store as a second-generation piano technician, and Conley Cook, who was the piano tuner his father knew and used. Robertson introduced him to the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) and drove him to his first regional convention in Fort Worth, Texas where he experienced classes taught by many of the leading manufactures representatives of the day. He credits most of his skills to that event and the many other PTG events he would attend in the future and eventually, instruct as well.

In 1990, he moved to Greenwood, Mississippi to begin work as technical service manager for the Wurlitzer Company, a subsidiary of Baldwin Piano and Organ. There, he was able to see the entire production of all parts of a piano in one factory. In 1991, he moved to Hattiesburg to work for Roseberry Piano House and in 1996, joined the staff at The University of Southern Mississippi.