31-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish school joins elite group to become 'All-Steinway'
It includes three Steinway Grand pianos which were hand-picked by the Head of Music and two students on a resent trip to the company's factory in Hamburg.
Gordonstoun now becomes the first independent All-Steinway School in Scotland and it will being master classes by Steinway artists to Gordonstoun, performance opportunities at the Steinway Halls around the world and access to the finest equipment for the study of music.
Gordonstoun will also be able to get the local community more involved in musical events and some of the pianos being replaces have been given to other schools in the area.
The German-American company has been making the pianos for more than 160 years with each one taking around a year to make, and are still handmade in their New York and Hamburg factories.
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Gordonstoun joins a handful of education establishments in Scotland to be awarded the All-Steinway statements.
There are around 50 pianists across the school who will benefit from the new pianos.
Gordonstoun delivers 400 music lessons every week, led by Gordonstoun Head of Music Phoebe Csenki, who said: 'The partnership with Steinway matches our commitment to providing musical excellence and is a real badge of honour for Gordonstoun.
'We have now upgraded all our pianos, substantially raising the standard of provision for all our students across the Prep and Senior schools.
'The new instruments will provide the students with the best possible instruments to improve their playing, allowing them to be more responsive to the music and to express the music more confidently.
'This will not only benefit our pianists when playing solo, but for all musicians accompanying or being accompanied on these wonderful instruments.
'The pianos take about a year to make, and the level of detail involved gives each one their own personality.
'We were fortunate enough to visit the Steinway factory in Hamburg to see how the pianos are made and were offered the honour of selecting the instruments for our school, which meant playing them in the world-famous factory and choosing the right ones for our setting and students.'
The 17 pianos being replaced have been redistributed for use in the boarding houses at Gordonstoun, as well as local schools.
Gordonstoun student Luis Gibney Shand, 18, who visited the Hamburg factory, added: 'Having the opportunity to play so many Steinway and Sons pianos was an experience I will never forget. It was like a Willie Wonka experience. I felt like I had won a golden ticket.
'The level of precision and detail in the pianos is unparalleled and still somehow each piano is unique. These pianos will be here for generations, so everyone who comes into the music department over the next hundred years will be able to play these truly great pianos, long after we have stopped playing and that's exciting too. It's investing in future generations and it's priceless.'
Gordonstoun Head Simon Cane-Hardy said: 'Becoming a Steinway school will take our music to the next level, not just for our pianists, but all musicians.
'Gordonstoun has a great history of service. And one of the key elements of our school is that we play a role in serving the community. So, what we would love now is for musicians across Moray and our local area to come into Gordonstoun, to work with our students, our teachers and have access to these wonderful pianos.
'The whole process from the first meeting we had to the pianos arriving at Gordonstoun has been a fantastic experience for our school, particularly for our students who came out to the Steinway Hamburg Factory and selected the pianos.'
Keith Glazebrook, Manager with Steinway & Sons UK, said: 'We take great pride in announcing Gordonstoun as an 'All-Steinway School'. Through the All-Steinway School programme, we will be offering students factory tours, performance opportunities and Masterclasses with the world's leading music makers and educators, adding to an all already rich program of music making at the school.
'Through Steinway & Sons community engagement programmes, Gordonstoun will become a music hub, not only for its students, but for students across the region.'
