Exclusive | Keys to success: 16 members of same family perform piano concert at Carnegie Hall
They are hitting all the right notes.
Sixteen members of one extraordinarily talented family will be playing in their first joint concert in NYC — and they’ve already made it to Carnegie Hall.
The Brinton Family Pianists will be at the famed concert hall on March 23, and their matriarch has been busy prepping her grandchildren for the musical milestone.
“I tell them they’re playing in the most famous concert hall in the world,” Sally Brinton told The Post.
“They literally are counting the days.”
Brinton, 74, a graduate of Juilliard, will play with her three kids, Stephanie Brinton Parker, Lindsey Brinton Harris and Jonathan Brinton, and 12 of her grandkids, who range in age from 7 to 17.
They play classical music from composers like Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, performing in pairs at different times on stage.
“I had one person ask how all 16 of us performed at one time … we do not, the most that we will ever have on stage performing is two,” Brinton explained.
There’s so many of them, they can’t even stay in one NYC hotel.
“We’re actually staying in two different hotels. And they [hotel employees] already know our family’s coming,” she said.
The idea for the three-generational show first came in 2023, when Brinton was on tour with her daughters in Germany and they decided to bring the little ones on stage.
“They brought the house down … The people just could not believe that they could play at that level,” said Brinton, who in all has seven kids and 38 grandchildren.
They have since performed everywhere from Oakland, Calif. to Honolulu, Hawaii, she said.
“And they just love performing with their cousins … Family is what it’s all about in the Brinton family.”
A native of Utah, Brinton began playing the piano on the Baldwin baby grand her mother — a self-taught church organist who grew up on a farm — learned on.
“She would sell milk for 5 cents a quart as part of her chores. And they used that money … to buy a piano for the family,” she said.
When she was 7, her mom noticed her fascination with tickling the ivories, and started giving her lessons. When the mom saw how quickly Brinton progressed, she enrolled her daughter in formal lessons.
“She told me, ‘Sally, you come home from school, get a snack and practice for a half hour every day, and after that, you can go outside and play,’” recalled Brinton, who was invited to play with the Utah Symphony at age 11.
“The big picture window where our piano was looked out on where my friends were playing, and I had a few tears to begin with. But what I didn’t realize is that my mother was teaching me discipline and consistency.
“And I think those are the two traits that you need to put into a child’s heart and mind if they are going to succeed with music.”
When Brinton had her own family, she also required her children — five of whom are Harvard grads — to practice 30 minutes each day.
All of them can play the piano, although some chose a different instrument to pursue.
“Jonathan, the oldest, plays the cello. Jason plays trumpet, Eric plays clarinet, Jessica is harp. And then there’s Stephanie and Lindsey, who both ended up big time with the piano,” she explained.
“And then our youngest one, Sam, chose cello, and we had all the cellos left over from the oldest son, so it just worked out great.”
Brinton now relishes in 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.
“It means everything for me to watch one of my little grandchildren go out, bow, get up on the bench, can’t even touch the floor. And then just give it everything they’ve got,” she said.
The family is eventually looking forward to four generations on stage.
“We’re expecting our first great-grandchild a week after our concert,” Brinton said with a smile.
“But I think it just really depends on me. I’m the one that would age out.”
