Let’s start at the peak of the price list. In October last year, Steinway & Sons released the Ultra Black and Ultra White Limited Editions. Produced at the Steinway factory in Hamburg, just 52 instrum

On entering a room containing a piano, what pianist doesn’t turn white at the command, ‘You can play – let’s hear you!’ You thought you were visiting friends, not giving a performance, so of course yo

It’s so fitting, so pleasingly right, that if it weren’t true, you’d just have to make it up. The word ‘laul’ means ‘song’ in Estonian; and since Dr Indrek Laul is the maker of a brand of instrument a

Why we need orchestras

Picture the scene: you’re about to get up on stage to give a presentation or performance. Something feels off – you look down, and realise your shirt is missing; in fact, you have no clothes on at all

Just over four years ago I founded Piano by the Sea, a piano meet-up group for adults in Margate. My then teacher, Graham Fitch, felt it would help me deal with my excruciating nerves. Living in the p