Utah's Brinton Family Pianists count down to Carnegie Hall

SALT LAKE CITY — In a retirement home near the mouth of Provo Canyon, a baby grand piano is about to be played most marvelously.

It was a Thursday in March, Juilliard Concert Piano graduate and grandmother to 38 grandchildren, Sally Peterson Brinton, 74, brought the retirement home to life, breathing hope and joy through performance.

"I think it's so amazing how devoted she has been to piano," grandson Michael Brinton said. "When I first heard her perform 'Rhapsody in Blue,' I was 9 years old. That was the moment when I was like, 'Wow! Piano is so cool!' And it was my ultimate dream to learn that piece. My grandmother has inspired me."

Michael Brinton's first piano teacher was his aunt Stephanie, when he was 8 years old. Stephanie Brinton Parker is an active recitalist who has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and various venues throughout Europe and eastern Russia.

Family and music have always gone hand in hand in the Brinton household.

Michael, 18, and several of his cousins gathered at the Courtyard at Jamestown Senior Care Center to share musical talents with the residents.

The performance was a practice during the countdown to Carnegie Hall, where the Brinton Family Pianists will play on March 23.

"We need to be concert-ready," Sally Peterson Brinton said. "Some of my littlest grandchildren don't even touch the floor when they play the piano, but they play with all of their heart."

The Brinton Family Pianists will present a concert featuring pianists Sally Peterson Brinton, her daughters Stephanie Brinton Parker and Lindsey Brinton Harris and son, also a cellist, Jonathan Brinton.

Twelve of Brinton's grandchildren, ages 7 to 18, will also travel to New York City for the grand concert.

"I've performed before for over 1,000 people in St. Louis," third-grader Caleb Harris said. "And I got through my piece really well. So I think I can do that at Carnegie."

The 8-year-old said his favorite composer was Johann Sebastian Bach, noting he had learned about Bach in school and enjoyed playing the musical notation.

Caleb's older brother, Nelson Harris, played an excerpt from Aaron Copland's "Rodeo" in the program.

"It's about the American West and cowboys and stuff," 10-year-old Nelson Harris said. "I am kind of used to performing. I just feel like I am practicing at home, but with a bunch of people watching. I have learned that I can do hard things."

The 74-year-old grandmother from American Fork hoped her grandchildren would learn discipline, commitment and service through music.

Sally Peterson Brinton has led a life of dedication to music. She showed tremendous musical promise as a young child and was crowned Miss Utah in 1972.

She went on to play Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 1" at the Miss America Pageant.

She later completed her master's degree at The Juilliard School, studying on scholarship with Adele Marcus.

She and her husband, Greg, have seven children.

"Our oldest son, John, plays the cello, Jason is trumpet, Eric is clarinet, Jessica is harp, Stephanie and Lindsey were the two who took to piano, and Sam is a cellist," Sally Peterson Brinton said.

Sally Peterson Brinton and two of her daughters played on the grand stage at Carnegie Hall in 2006. She said she is excited to return to the famous New York City recital hall with many of her grandchildren.

The Brinton Family Pianists have performed in Germany and St. Louis with the grandchildren. The Brintons said Carnegie Hall is the next stop on a musical traveling tour.

"Family is what it is all about," Sally Peterson Brinton said. "If we have strong families, then we have strong communities, and I know it's cliché, but it's true: Strong families create a strong nation."

Brinton now relishes watching her grandchildren — two of whom fly to New York from St. Louis every weekend to study at the Manhattan School of Music — enjoy piano as much as she does.

"When you share your heart through music, when you give part of yourself, there is so much joy! And I felt that today. I feel it every time I play the piano," Sally Peterson Brinton said.

As one of the youngest Brinton pianists said, "I feel happy and peaceful."

Ella Parker, a second grader, noted her mother, Stephanie, has been there every step of the way.

"I am excited because I get to play with my mom," Ella Parker said. "My mom and my nana taught me how to look at the notes. I know how to play loud and soft. And sometimes I look out into the audience, and I can tell our music makes them happy."

Tickets to the concert can be purchased here.

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