All-Steinway School accreditation
The University of Sheffield partnered with Steinway and Sons in March 2021. The prestigious accreditation has brought an outstanding level of music education for pianists and performers across the student cohort.
Alongside the new fleet of world-class pianos available on campus, the partnership has attracted highly-regarded musicians to perform in Sheffield.
The All-Steinway School accreditation was celebrated in November 2021 with a performance from Dame Imogen Cooper, Peter Hill and Benjamin Frith. It was here that the University of Sheffield's Firth Hall Model D was recognised as one of the best grand piano's outside London.
The launch weekend provided an opportunity for the local community to enjoy the new accreditation, with musicians from across Sheffield experiencing a University style performance masterclass.
Steinway & Sons showroom experience
As an All-Steinway school, University of Sheffield students have the opportunity to experience a world-class level of training. One unique experience that can be enjoyed is a visit to the Steinway Showroom in London. The showroom is the UK headquarters for the company and is the location where the painos are built and crafted with high precision.
In February, a group of undergraduate and postgraduate performance students travelled to the showroom to experience a masterclass, a tour of the facilities and a concert in Steinway Hall.
Students received a masterclass from piano professor, Caterina Grewe, who is a critically acclaimed concerto soloist known for orchestral performances around Europe.
The most rewarding aspect of today was seeing the students grow in confidence following the masterclass. The training from Caterina will enable our pianists to extract the best sound out of our pianos when they return to Sheffield. This will help them to develop high-level performance techniques for future recitals.
Victoria Berry
Partnership Liaison, Department of Music.
During a tour of the facilities, students walked through the 'Hall of fame' which includes accolades from Steinway artists well-known around the world. Steinway & Sons cultivate special relationships with pianists from every genre which have included Lang Lang to Cole Porter.
Steinway artists acts as ambassadors for the brand and share the passion for a Steinway piano, ensuring their practice and performances are only on the highest quality of instrument.
Viewing the range of Steinway pianos available in the showroom demonstrated the unique sound of each piano. Over 160 years of dedication to craftsmanship has fostered this high level of musical expression which students can now discover in our dedicated practice room building, The Soundhouse.
Find out what makes a Steinway piano different by exploring the history of Steinway & Sons on their website.
The day culminated in a stunning recital at Steinway Hall. Students had the opportunity to experiment with new techniques learnt during the masterclass and performed an advanced selection of solo repertoire.
We look forward to further collaborations with Steinway and Sons in the coming years!
