When you find a piano that looks as amazing as a Boganyi Grand, you can’t help wondering about its origins, its creator and its significance in the piano world. To take in the swooping curves and sleek cantilevered body and pedestal is to recognize a new level of design in an instrument that has had […]
When it comes to pianos, there is a world of fascinating stories, history and inventions that are hard to ignore. The Bluthner – Haessler story is just such a complex and inspiring tale. This is a Haessler acrylic upright piano. The inner action of the instrument can be seen through the acrylic, making it one […]
Five generations of the Petrof family owned and managed the piano factory founded in 1864 by Antonin Petrof in Hradec Králové, an historic town near Prague, in the present Czech Republic. Their fine reputation came from keeping up with technology and they did well at international exhibitions. The Czechs have longstanding respect for their vibrant […]
Two German piano builders who had both relocated to Italy, Albert Schulze and Paul Pollmann, met and merged in 1928. Pollmann managed the combined firms until 1942, and was followed by his son Hans, who had earlier in his career managed the Schimmel company. The Schulze Pollmann factory is currently located near San Marino, a […]
Friedrich August Försterfounded his factory in 1859 in Löbau, Germany. The family owned business became whole again after the privatization and reunification of East Germany, and is now managed by a fifth generation family member, Annekatrin Förster Förster makes about 120 grand pianos each year in four sizes, and 150 verticals in three sizes, […]
A young German piano maker, Carl Bechstein, whose visions of pianos surpassed the traditional piano-making shops in Berlin founded his own company in 1853, about the same time that the Steinway pianocompany was starting. With his extraordinary talents, he exploded the world of piano technology of his day,. Through fine workmanship and the endorsement of […]
In 1828 in Vienna, Austria, Ignaz Bösendorfer founded his piano company and rose to fame when Franz Liszt endorsed his concert grand. Liszt had destroyed every other piano set before him and was unable to destroy this one no matter how hard he played it. Ignaz died in 1858 and under his son, Ludwig’s direction, […]
Steingraeber & Söhne is one of the world’s best piano brands that nobody has heard of (except, of course, by the people who know). The company was founded in 1852 by Eduard Steingraeber, the son and nephew of organ and square piano builders in Neustadt, Germany. An innovative designer, Eduard’s full-size cast-iron piano frame was […]
Koichi Kawai, the father of Shigeru Kawai, was known as Koichi the Inventor, an innovative genius who was revered as the first person in Japan to design and build a complete piano action. In later life, Koichi would receive the coveted “Blue Ribbon Medal” from the Emperor of Japan for his accomplishments. Shigeru Kawai succeeded […]
Since 2000, Hailun factory has been doing full-scale piano manufacturing in a facility employing 800 on 400,000 square feet. Another 200,000 square foot was opened for distribution to the US market. A cabinet factory began production in 2008. Hailun took the company public on the Shenzen Stock Exchange. Currently, the Hailun line consists of four […]