Back to School

Piano Shop owners all over the country breathed a huge sigh of relief last week when most of the nations kids went back to school leaving their parents with enough time to think about buying a piano. Let the games begin !!

Summer Sales Slump

It's the time of year again when many piano shops complain of dwindling sales figures. Maybe it's the hot weather, maybe it's the fact that families are going on holiday instead of buying luxury items or maybe it's just coincidence.



So if you go to a piano shop in the summer months, be warned that you might face some heavy pressure to buy. Choose your shop wisely, make sure you trust the dealer and don't let yourself be pressured into buying something that you are not 100% happy with.

Lang Lang Goodwill Ambassador

Celebrating Lang Lang's appointment as a Goodwill Ambassador, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy presented the Steinway Peace Piano, created by Steinway & Sons to benefit UNICEF through concerts and advocacy events.



Full Story Here:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10815&Cr=goodwill&Cr1=ambass

Concert Steinway Production

Here is an interesting article from the New York times showing how new pianos are selected to be used as their own concert instruments and that they are still stored in the same basement where Rachmaninov met Horowitz.



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Steinway's Birthday is Over

Steinway's 150th anniversary party is now over. Here's an article offering an overview of the Steinway company today

An American cultural institution, the Steinway piano, is ending a year-long celebration on its 150th anniversary. Experts consider Steinway the world's finest piano. The sleek, carefully handcrafted instrument has been, literally, fine-tuned for generations. The company's owners have changed but its headquarters have remained in New York City.

They say making a Steinway Piano is like having a baby. Each takes nine months to make and no two are exactly the same.

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BBC TV Mozart Docu-Drama

Here's a quick preview of the upcoming Docu-Dramas appearing on BBC2 and BBC4 TV featuring a period presentation of some of Mozart's revolutionary works







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Interview with Steinway Bigwigs

Here is an interesting interview conducted by www.faz.net with Henry Steinway (obviously not the Henry Steinway) where they talk about various aspects of the company including the following interesting Q&A:

Do you face serious competition in the upmarket segment?

Thomas Kurrer: We have two major competitors in the high-quality segment: Austria's Bösendorfer and Italy's Fazioli. But both are quite a bit smaller. We sell worldwide about 3,000 grand pianos a year, Bösendorfer sells about 250 to 300 and Fazioli about 100.

I find it interesting that they don't mention Bechstein as an upmarket competitor :)



Here's a photo taken outside the Steinway factory in Hamburg (sorry, it's the best I could find:





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Internet Video Piano Lessons

Here's an interesting story about how a teacher and a pupil enjoy lessons in real time even though they are 700 miles apart. And it's all thanks to high-speed internet technology. They play duets together too.







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Note: You may need to register with the NY Times website to read the article

Profoundly Deaf Young Pianist

Profoundly deaf since birth, Michael's parents don't really understand why he enjoys playing the piano so much. Nice story



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Interesting Steinway Auction Story

This is a nice little story about a guy winning an auction at a bargain price because his rival bidder thought she was currently winning when really, she wasn't. But there's more to it than that :)



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Baghdad Steinway Concert

The Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra performed its first concert today at the Baghdad Convention Center since its new grand piano arrived last month. The piano was donated by Steinway & Sons.







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