Video: Music to relax to (played on 40 pianos at once)

Leeds College of Music has become the only conservatoire in the country to hold All-Steinway School status after accepting a delivery of 54 new instruments from the world famous company.

College bosses said yesterday the move would not only benefit the city’s students but would also help to cement the city’s worldwide reputation as a venue for piano music.

A performance on 40 Steinway pianos in front of a selected audience also helped to mark the completion of a £2m refurbishment at the college which has seen the creation of five recording studios, two mixing studios, a song writing studio and a surround-sound post-production theatre.

Five grand pianos from Steinway were chosen by a party from the college who travelled to Hamburg last month.

Leeds College of Music principal Professor Philip Meaden and the director of curriculum and research, Dr Randall Whittaker were joined by a team of experts and world renowned musicians including Dame Fanny Waterman the founder, chairman and artistic director of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.

Prof Meaden said: “We travelled out to choose the five grand pianos from Steinway in Hamburg.

“They also arranged for us to have a factory tour so that we could see the entire process from selecting the timber to the voicing and finishing of the pianos.

“Our visiting professor Wolfgang Manz remarkably played the same piece time and time again so that we could compare the key and tone.”

Dame Fanny added: “It was a unique experience for me, I felt very fortunate and privileged to be sent to Hamburg to help choose the grand pianos.

“Each has got its own voice and each will appeal to different pianists.”

She told the Yorkshire Post that it would be a dream come true for students to be able to learn on these instruments and said the move would help to make Leeds “the international piano city of the world.”

By earning All Steinway Status Leeds College of Music joins prestigious company such as Yale University’s School of Music and the Juilliard School in New York.

Prof Meaden added: “We have been anticipating the arrival of our new fleet of Steinway pianos for a number of months now, it is spectacular to see them all in the same room and being played together.

“The performance is an appropriate way to mark the day and I am confident that the partnership with Steinway & Sons and the significant improvements we have made to the college will help students to achieve musical excellence using world class facilities and equipment.

“Our major strength is in the depth and breadth of our offering, from jazz to classical and popular to production, as it empowers students by giving them skills to enjoy a successful career in the real world.”

A selected audience of students, staff and alumni were invited to a rendition of In C by Terry Riley yesterday. The piece was written in 1964 to be played by an infinite number of people and had never been performed by such a large number of Steinway instruments before.

The fleet of grand pianos includes a majestic Model D Concert Grand for the highest possible level of musical expression and Model B Music Room Grand, often referred to as “the perfect piano”.

Leeds College of Music’s upgrade to an All Steinway School has been made supported by a £75,000 donation from the Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation.

Steinway & Sons has been producing high-quality hand-made pianos for more than 150 years. The company was set up in Manhattan, New York in 1853 by German immigrant Henry Steinway.