Piano in the Dark
Ruthmere has always been a place of resilience. From the Crash of 1929 to the COVID pandemic, Ruthmere and its legacy have always persisted, even flourished. Sometimes the examples are more hard-to-believe than others.
Pianist Tyler Reed
On June 18, 2025, Ruthmere was preparing to host the final installment of the Spring Concert Series, featuring sixteen-year-old pianist Tyler Reed, an award-winning talent from New Jersey. Largely self-taught during the lockdown of 2020, he probably was not quite prepared for what fate had in store for him that evening.
Stormy skies had been threatening Elkhart all day, making long-range plans dicey. But, in true Beardsley family tradition, Ruthmere decided to press on. Until…. About 4:30 in the afternoon, an enormous thunderclap resounded over the city, bringing with it a darkness unanticipated. Much of central Elkhart was bathed in darkness as the power went out, including Ruthmere.
Undaunted, Executive Director Bill Firstenberger made the decision to proceed with the evening’s events, including the outdoor sponsor reception beneath the mansion’s open-air loggia. About thirty people gathered in the covered passageway to drink a champagne toast to our young guest. By this time, the storm had largely abated, but the city was still dressed in its black cloak. The early-evening sun was struggling to break through the thick clouds, providing adequate light to see outside.
Tyler before his performance
But what about the concert itself? With Ruthmere completely swallowed by the darkness, how would we ever get people safely down the stairs to the basement Game Room where the concert was to be held? Further, how would young Tyler be able to see the piano keys in order to deliver his performance?
Fortunately, Collections Manager Joy Olsen rose to the challenge. Dotting the Game Room with a small array of battery-powered candles, she transformed the otherwise gloomy room into a romantic, nostalgic, salon reminiscent of the days before electricity. Breaking clouds allowed the filtered light to seep through the beautiful painted-glass windows in the Game Room’s southeast corner. Together, windows and candles provided just enough light to push the shadows away from the Steinway’s keyboard.
Once everyone had made their cautious way down to the Game Room, Tyler settled in at the keyboard and began to play a Bach prelude by the fading light.
To say the least, the setting was magical! Exquisite music combined with the wistful sunset peeking in through the Italian-landscaped windows was awe-inspiring. As Bill pointed out before the music began, those windows had never looked more lovely. It made me wonder if this is something Albert and Elizabeth Beardsley ever had the pleasure of experiencing for themselves.
As Tyler played on for the next eighty minutes or so, the sun slowly descended in the western sky just beyond the windows. He concluded his concert with an unexpected, and very apropos, arrangement of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust.” As the sun set over the glass-encased Italian countryside, the music provided a bittersweet note to what proved to me to be one of the most profound events in my decade-long tenure at Ruthmere, an evening I—and probably everyone else in the room—will not soon forget.
