That was the opening of Bach's Partita No. 1
in B flat and it was played by Sir Andras Schiff.
I'm Erica Worth and welcome to this Pianist Podcast.
Today I am speaking with piano tuner to the stars
Ulrich Gerhards about his role as Director of
Concert and Artist Services at Steinway & Sons.
Ulrich, it's great to have you on the Pianist
Podcast today. Thank you. You're welcome. You
and I have known each other for a very long time
and it's always a pleasure to see you out and
about at concerts and at Steinway events. Now,
first of all, I can't really call you a piano
tuner, right? It sounds so undermining. Well,
I wouldn't say undermining. It's a small part
of the job that we do and there's a lot of colleagues
that are piano tuners that mostly tune pianos
and that's a very, very, very, very sought after
skill. I always amuse when I fly about and it
says profession. And what do you put in there?
You know, if I put what I do for pianos in there,
there's not enough room to do it. So I end up
putting either piano tuner because everybody
understands that or piano technician. My training,
if you ask me, what is your profession? It's
I'm a trained piano maker. That was my training
in Hamburg in the factory. And then I specialized
as a trained piano maker into. concert preparation
of our concert instruments on concert platform
for artists so that and what I do in London which
is being linked into venues artists communities
agents is really working on the infrastructure
of performance pianos not just in the UK and
Ireland but globally. I didn't know actually
that you started as as a piano maker so you entered
Steinway Hamburg as a young How many years ago,
may I ask? 40 years ago this year. And one of
my trademarks surely is my apron. And very many
people, when they see me without apron, they
don't recognise me. And the apron really was
the first bit of gear I was given starting my
apprenticeship, was a blue apron. And that blue
apron is, in German arts and crafts, is the apron
for cabinetmakers. And our founder, Heinrich
Engelhard Steinweg, was a cabinetmaker. And the
famous picture of him building the kitchen piano,
he was wearing a blue apron. So that's where
that apron comes from. So what I put down for
profession is very, very hard to say, but I would
probably say for people to understand, I would
be a concert technician. Concert technician.
OK, so you started, you went through the whole
thing at Steinway. You knew all the parts, how
to make the pianos. Yeah, you were an apprentice,
obviously, at the start. No, it was three and
a half years where you really start with going
to the timber yard, collecting some or selecting
some timbers. And then you had a workbench with
all the block planes and chisels and saws. And
you made that plank of wood, which still had
bark on it, into something that can then be used
to do all the different joints. Dovetailing,
hitting dovetailing, name it, we did it. The
first part of the apprenticeship was showing
us apprentices, first of all, the standard of
excellence that was expected of us, a feel for
the material. And of course, the initial material
that is used to make pianos is timbers, different
timbers. And after cabinet making for about eight
weeks, we went through all the departments in
the factory to learn. all aspects of piano manufacturing.
And then at the end of three and a half years,
we did a practical exam where we had to build
an octave piano. And we did a theoretic exams
with technical drawings, maths, all sorts of
things. So it was a classic German apprenticeship
in a craft. And I'm very grateful for it. And
that three and a half years sort of... linked
me forever to Steinway & Sons and the rest is
history. I've been there 40 years, I've never
looked back. That's amazing, amazing. And now,
you know, and you have been for many years, they
call you the tuner to the stars. I mean, you
know, you obviously, you're there tuning these
pianos for the top artists, top pianists of the
world. I mean, what does that entail? What is
an average day for you? Well, it's... I've got
an A -list of pianists that want me there and
this A -list of pianists very much is also the
quality control of pianos I have in venues or
indeed the pianos that we now concentrate. I
need an inventory that allows me to supply the
greatest pianists of today with pianos that inspire
them. And then I have a great team of people.
We have seven concert technicians in London that
do most of the tuning for concerts. Whereas my
job is mostly to make sure that pianos we have
in venues are maintained to the highest level.
And then when there's André Schiff or in the
past Murray Pariah or Mitsuko play in these venues,
I'm there to look after them because they would
want me there. OK, that I understand. OK. I mean,
I do believe with some of these pianists, you
actually travel with them if they do. Yes. Yeah.
Yes. So that is it's again. Over three decades
of being closely linked with pianists and pianos,
one forms very, very close relationships and
they are very much private and they are treasured.
Yes. The work with great pianists over the years
really informs how I set up pianos and select
pianos as well. If I select them in Hamburg,
I would select the piano that I would be happy
to take on, to prepare, to put in front of a
great artist, whether of the younger generation
or older generation. A lot of the get -to -know
the younger generation happens over piano competitions,
where, of course, in one competition you meet
a great number of talented pianists. And very
often right at the beginning with the piano tryout,
you already form a bond with some pianists. And
they are very often pianists that have an affinity
to the piano and therefore want to actually connect
with a piano technician. And in the past competitions,
pianists that are now established like Paul Lewis
or Kirill Gerstein and many others, I met first
in piano competitions. That is amazing, Uli.
I mean, but you also have such a name. You know,
we all know who you are. Well, that helps. But
it also is, you know, if I go anywhere to service
pianos, you know, there's no limit on the hours
I work because the result that I leave behind
needs to reflect this reputation. So the reputation
is only valid if you actually deliver continuously
at very high quality. represent the brand of
Steinway and Sons as the prime instruments for
performance. Absolutely, yes. I mean, obviously,
you know, each hall has a different acoustic,
and you obviously have to be aware of that, I
imagine. Yeah, very much so. And I get asked
often now to select for venues. And the reason
why the venues asked me because I'm not Yes,
I work for Steinway, but if I look up the Barbican
Centre, I'm as much part of the Barbican Centre
than of Steinway & Sons. And as the technician
responsible for venues like Barbican and Wickmore,
I would be foolish not to have the right piano
in the venues. So they asked me, rather than
a panel of artists, to go and find a piano. And
they are confident that what I will select is
something that suits into the venue. You know,
if you think of a hall like Wigmore Hall, if
you put the wrong piano in there, you know, because
you like bright pianos, you select the bright
piano, it would be totally the wrong choice for
Wigmore. So you have to be super aware of the
hall and the artists that play in the hall and
the repertoire that played in the hall. and then
go to Hamburg and find the right piano or go
into the inventory or go into the concert hall
and say I'm having 958 for the Albert Hall and
having 184 for Wickmore or for smaller venues
of music festivals. yeah i mean i remember being
with you all those years back i think it was
2013 i looked it was 2013 yes i will never forget
that either because we were so delayed that we
just about made it to the factory before they
closed there was some terrible flight path thing
going on at heathrow but we flew over to hamburg
to choose the model d for the barbican that's
right And you had this long lineup of Model Ds.
There must have been about 12. I don't know.
I can't remember. How did you know? I remember
it didn't take you very long to choose. How did
you know? I mean, it is instinct, really. You
look for a piano with the most potential for
the venue that you search for. But at the same
time, you know, if you look for like the Barbican,
you don't just want a bright piano. You want
a piano with character, a piano that is well
balanced. between bass, middle section and treble
and a sonority that projects. And the piano 216
that we selected, that was actually the piano
that we used for the Alfred Brand Memorial concert
on the 5th of January this year. So it's still
there. It's about to retire and hopefully eventually
we'll find a good home for it. Oh my goodness!
That's quite moving because I was at that...
I know. So that piano has always just was a new
name on it, obviously, because I remember waiting
in the lounge, going on that flight, will we
go, won't we go? And then arriving, I had to
sort of, because I'm part of the family in Hamburg,
they let us select, although they were already
closed. And that was, again, something very unusual.
That was a remarkable day. Absolutely. I mean,
preparing a concert grand for a performance is
quite a task. How long does it, how long does
it take? It depends. I mean, the normal situation
is like we had Joe playing at the Barbican yesterday
with the LSO. Who? Sorry, who? Son John Cho played
for the LSO yesterday. Of course. And he played
978, which is the youngest piano, which was selected
in Hamburg in 2020 or 2019, even just before
the pandemic. And I was at the Barbican for maintenance
on the 10th of February and prepared the piano.
And then yesterday on the concert day, a colleague
of mine tuned in the morning and a colleague
of mine tuned in the evening in the tent. So
that would be the normal situation with the benefit
that I had a maintenance session on the piano
a few days before. Usually it would have been
the piano is maintained. And then on the concert
day. we've allocated the piano for the pianist
and then there will be a pre -rehearsal tuning
and a pre -concert tuning and an attend. And
in the pre -concert tuning, there's always piano
technician meets pianist if there's any small
adjustments to be made just before the show.
But in reality, there's very little time. Now,
if you work with pianists like Mitsuko Uchida,
it's a much, much, much longer process to find
the right piano that she's happy to play. and
then she would want to try the piano before the
concert and then the piano goes into the venue
and you do another whole day with her in the
venue until the concert happens or if she plays
a resident piano like for example St George's
Bristol I would be organizing a day to service
the piano either on the day of the concert or
a few days before so that when Mitsuko comes
to the venue, the piano is as well prepared as
possible. And then the rest of the day is used
to do the final changes that she would like to
action and tone before she then plays the concert.
Wow. That's, you know, many hours there. You
obviously, I know it's a really silly question,
but you're, you know, you're crouching over the
piano, you're kind of, you know, bending over
the, you know, it's quite physical, isn't it,
as well? Yes, I mean, that's, thank God, because
if I, I mean, the difference between my work,
you know, talking about whether you're a piano
tuner or how you call yourself, yes, part of
my day will be piano tuning where you sit down
and tune. But most of the day is doing all sorts
of other things till you finally sit down and
tune when everything else is done. By that time,
you're actually very often quite ready to sit
down because you've been on your feet and under
the piano and taking bits apart and shaping hammers
and doing quite physical work for hours before.
Do you do anything? Do you do yoga? Have any
release of all this tension? I do half an hour
every day, usually between 5 and 5 .30, which
is a combination of running, weights, stretching
and pro exercise, which I've done forever. So
it's not something new. I've done it since I
was a teenager, really. That's in the morning?
Yeah. As a teenager, I did a lot of, you know,
Indiana skiing and ball games, football, handball,
volleyball. And since as a grown -up professional,
there's no time to do that sort of thing. So
my exercise has always been in the morning before
work starts because work ends so irregular. If
I go to the gym after work, well, that would
never happen. So I get it out of the way in the
morning. It's like brushing teeth. And it connects
you with nature as well because you're outdoors.
And then you can start your day. So it works
for me. I've never had a bad back or any pains.
I hardly ever get ill. It keeps the weight down,
which is also important. It keeps your back strong,
which is important. So you need to do that. And
it served me well, I have to say. And you travel
so much. The jet lag, does that bother you? No,
I'm very lucky. And again, I think having a routine
helps. For example, on my flights to Melbourne,
I fly direct and then I land in Melbourne. And
the first thing I do check in the hotel, get
my running shoes and run around your Yara river
and then get into my routine. And I think the
other thing that helps with jet lag when you
do my job is you go yet another concert hall.
You spend 10 hours with a piano and the work
is very structured. So you know exactly how far
you get through a day to finish the work that
helps your body clock as well to adjust. And
then you fly back and you crash out on the plane
and then you start again. I mean, it's it's again,
I'm lucky. So I don't feel woozy or drowsy or
sleepy. I just press on. That's fantastic. I
mean, 10 hours with a piano, that's quite lonely
one night thing. It is. I mean, if. If you need
company when you work, then that's not the job
for you. And sometimes you go a day without speaking
to anybody. You arrive in the venue, you get
past stage door, you might negotiate with the
cleaners, but then you are with the piano and
in silence. And that is actually, I like it because
you can get on with work and your mind can do
all sorts of things whilst working. It's also
a physical work. There's no computers involved.
It's all senses. It's ears. It's touch. It's
feel. It's material. It's sound. It's responding
to your environment. I find it very gratifying.
And I find it, I always say I don't get stressed.
I might get tired, but I don't get stressed.
And the end result is always very energizing.
If you, I did some pianos. that were really neglected
on my last trip to australia and i spent 10 hours
really grafting and at the end of the day the
pianos came alive and again the same thing i
would have been happy to put these pianos in
front of any great pianist that's that's the
ultimate goal of servicing pianos and venues
that you want to get them as good as these pianos
can be yes and that's Part of my reputation,
for example, travelling, touring with a pianist
to venues in South America, the pianos are not
like they are at Wickmore Hall. They are old
pianos that are very often neglected, but they
are all Steinway, so there's potential. So you
use all your skills to get as much out of the
piano as possible, and then you hand that piano
over to an artist who's aware that he will not
have a brand new Steinway, but with their touch
and the understanding this instrument is now
as good as it can be, they will do their magic.
And the result very often is superb. That's amazing.
Wow. And you were talking, did you bring up Alfred
Brandl? Of course, his concert. You worked, well,
his memorial concert. You worked closely with
Alfred, didn't you? I did, yes, from 1992 until
his last concert in Vienna in 2008. And then
between 2008 and literally the month he passed
away, we saw each other. I still looked after
his piano at home when he had artists play to
him and we met for lunch or tea or, you know,
it was a really close relationship. And, you
know, if I was a pianist, do you have a mentor
who taught you, you know, how to play and about
what is important? In my profession, certainly
one of the mentor pianists that I've worked with
that really showed me what he wanted from a piano
was Alfred Brendel. He seemed like a fascinating,
fascinating human being. I mean, I didn't know
him very well, but it's not just the beauty of
his playing. There was so much else. One felt
like so small with him because he was such a
giant intellect with all subjects, whether it's
music or art or literature or architecture. or
theater or cinema he he was he was just incredible
and you know he could have been the pianist that
makes you feel as a piano tuner just a tiny unimportant
person but he was just the opposite and for that
reason you work even harder because you want
to give him what he's looking for in order to
achieve what he wants to achieve music and to
be true to the composer without any So fantastic,
man. Wonderful. I mean, you told me that you,
you know, you would look after his piano at home
as well. Do you do that for a lot of your, let's
say, A -list, whatever artists, or do you not
really have the time or does it just. I do, but
it really is a very, very small A -list. And,
and I'll take both one and Marie Pariah is one
and, and Imogen Cooper and, and. André Schiff,
all their stymies in London I do look after.
But you have to be careful with the time and
you must stay focused on the instruments that
matter for my own team as well. I can't neglect
pianos in venues because the colleagues that
tune in the evening when there's very often very
little time need the pianos to be maintained
as well as possible. Yeah, yeah. And all these
wonderful artists. I mean, when it comes to the
piano, you have mentioned this before, but do
you think some of them are more focused on the
mechanics, the action, that is the feel, and
then some of them are more focused on the sound?
Yes, absolutely. That's important to know. I
mean, ultimately, my aim is to put a piano in
front of an artist or any artist. that is mechanically
as well regulated and as fluid as possible whilst
providing a sound that has the widest dynamic
range. Now there's a bracket of a small percentage
where the piano drifts in one or the other way
and pianos are born in a certain way. There are
some pianos that are born with a more fluid touch
and maybe less sonority. Other pianos that have
a touch that is slightly more, you have to work
harder to get to the sound, but it gets more
sonority. At the same time, you never want to
go into extremes that you have a very heavy piano
or a super light piano, because if the piano
is too light, then it's not controllable anymore.
And the mechanics are so joined at the hip with
sound that you can hardly separate them. It's,
yeah, fascinating. But that goes back, Erika,
into how you select pianos, you know. I was in
Hamburg recently to select, with Wikinga Olofsson,
a piano for a concert hall in Iceland. And we
had earmarked two pianos that we both liked.
And then the question was between one piano that
had a slightly more interesting sound for Wikinga,
but the action was not as fluid. and another
piano which had a fluid action and a good sound
and i said if you choose between one or the other
and the fluid action is important to you choose
the one with the fluid action and that's what
we did interesting because in the selection room
i did check the one that was slightly less free
And whether there was anything in the regulation
that could have improved it. And there would
have been, but not to that extent. So that was
an action. The more fluid action was an action
that just came out of the factory slightly more
fluid. And that's important to take into account
when you choose pianos. Yeah, I understand. Are
there any emergencies along the way? Do you keep
your phone on at all times? My phone has been
on seven days a week for the last. I don't know
how many years and it's not it's not because
one is a control freak it's just that one wants
to be there for the team if they've got any questions
and you know I've got the information of venue
pianos and higher pianos at the back of my head
so I can make a very quick decision of if there
comes a question can we do this that and the
other or here's a problem the other thing is
Quality control in venues, we are unique that
we work as a team. So again, using Wickmore Hall,
because we tune there almost every day as an
example, we've got people that tune Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, not the same person, but we all follow
each other up and our tuning is compatible. If
there is an issue with the piano, I will know
on the day and I will then link with Wickmore
and say, I need to go to Wickmore tomorrow to
have a quick look at the piano because this was
reported. We therefore can provide a really,
really good service to the venues and a service
to our instruments. And that's what people forget.
They think, well, stymies are everywhere. People
forget what it takes to actually maintain this
number of pianos and venues at a cost as well.
And we have somebody working seven days a week
to provide the backup for these pianos, which
is hugely important. Absolutely. And obviously,
if you're away on the other side of the world,
you've got a great team here. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. I mean, did you always want? No, you wanted
to do this looking back. Not at all. No, I I
the only reason why I ended in this diamond factory
as an apprentice was that I was looking to learn
a handcraft before doing architecture. And I
had lined up an apprenticeship with a cabinet
maker. in Essen, in central Germany, and then
wanted to do architecture afterwards. But I was
keen to learn a craft before going to university.
And a cousin of mine is playing or played the
violin in the NDR Symphony Orchestra, which is
now the Elbphilharmonie, NDR Elbphilharmonie
Symphony Orchestra. And she had organized a guided
tour or a tour through the standard factory for
a pianist friend of hers. And this pianist friend
couldn't go. So she rang me up and said, do you
want to see this diamond factory? So I said,
yes, of course. And I then walked into the factory
and my eyes opened wide when I saw how these
pianos were put together and the ingredients
that go into these pianos, the finest timbres
that you can't buy in a shop were there en masse.
And after the tour, I spoke to the tour guide,
Hartwig Kulp, who still works in the factory.
how about me doing work experience here? And
thinking I do work experience, then I do what
I wanted to do. And he said, no, we are completely
booked out for that, but we're interviewing for
apprentices. Write to us. So I wrote to Steinway
because I was then 18, 19 years old. I had all
my CVs ready to apply for all sorts of things.
I fired it off to Steinway and Sons and got a
letter back asking me for an interview for an
apprenticeship. So I did my interview with Jan
Löschenkohl, who was the master training all
the apprentices and the HR guy, and walked out
of the factory and thought, oh, this went rather
well. And then had an offer to do an apprenticeship
starting in September 86. And I, you know, I
still remember the letter arriving with Steinmeier
& Sons, the famous brand. on this paper typewritten.
And I said, you've got to do this. Whatever you
do afterwards, you've got to do this. So I cancelled
everything else. And I think on the 3rd of September,
86, I came into the Steinway factory, was given
my blue apron, started life with Steinway. Oh,
that's giving me goosebumps. That's amazing.
Had you told me after A -levels, I would tune
pianos, I would have roared with laughter. That's
the bizarre thing. And that's why. That's why
I still find it very weird when people call me
a piano tuner because I'm so not a piano tuner.
And the way I tune pianos comes with a lot of
self -criticism because I never thought I could
tune pianos. So you're even more self -critical.
And I remember doing the first recording sessions
with Leslie Howard. We did about... 90 or even
100 list CDs together. And I said to Leslie,
we might be friends, but if my tuning is not
good enough, you must tell me. And I eventually
realized that my tuning can't be that bad and
pass on the skills that I've learned to my colleagues
and never, ever think I'm so marvelous and I
can do everything because you can't. Everything
changes and you have to be at the top of your
game all the time. And what I love about what
I do with pianos is that I do all the infrastructure
work to make the piano be in the best possible
condition. That is mechanical work, tonal work,
hammer preparation, so that when it comes to
tuning it, you can actually tune it to the highest
possible level. So if I went out and... people
told me you can't work on stymies anymore, you
can only live in tuning pianos, I would immediately
quit. Ah, yes. And I would probably be not a
very good tuner of these pianos because it would
not excite me. What excites me is to get a piano
of the standard of a concert grand to a level
where it is as good as it can be. It's the most
fascinating thing in the world. So if all the
inner components are not really working at their
best, the tuning is much harder. Absolutely right.
For example, if you have a well -regulated concert
grand, but the voicing is all over the place,
the voicing is the tonal quality, it's uneven
in tone, then you can tune it as best as you
can. It will not sound in tune. So ultimately,
a piano will only sound really, truly well in
tune if the voicing is as balanced as the tuning.
That is really interesting. I think a lot of
listeners will be quite surprised by that. That's
interesting. Goodness, Uli, we've been chatting
away and I think we're nearly at the end of our
discussion. You say you've been working for Steinway
for 40 years this year. How many aprons have
you had? Oh, God, that's a good question. I think
I should think probably about 10 to 15, I should
think. Only? Yeah. So it's... They wear out mostly
sort of where when you take the action out, you
balance it on your waist and that's where they
wear through. But I had quite a supply from Hamburg
and then I found some more in craft shops in
Germany. And I remember when I was apprentice,
all the foremen of the different departments
had this wonderful round Steinway badge on their
coats. So I had some of those which I put on
my apron and I still have them. So they are 40
years old because they went from apron to apron.
Oh, isn't that fantastic? That's so sweet. I
mean, wow. I don't know what else to ask you
now. What are you up to this week? What are you
up to? Where are we? This week is nearly... Nearly
finished. Tonight I'm at the Schwarzman Center,
the Lewis Ullman Hall at Oxford University, where
we select the piano last year. And it is the
first concert that's not a public concert yet,
but a concert to try out the acoustics and the
piano. So that's very exciting. And then my next
week starts with the lovely Bormo Symphony Orchestra
in Poole, an annual service, and ends with two
days at the Wheelchair Music Club. So it's, and
in between is Wigmore Hall and Steinbeck Hall.
So it's a local week. And then at the end of
February, I'm in Lisbon with André Schiff at
the Gulbenkian, which should be good. Then we
have the beginning of the Hastings International
Piano Competition. So those pianos will be going
end of next week, a week today, they are going
to be collected. So it's non -stop really. And
it's great that it is non -stop because it's
good for business. It's good for everybody. It's
good for our exposure. And it's nice to have
these pianos wanted as well. It's nice at Hastings
how much difference it has made for Steinmeier
to provide pianos, which we didn't do at the
beginning of the Hastings Piano Competition,
the third piano competition we look after. And
it's nice for me to see actually, and that's
not made up or set just for the sake of how much
people appreciate a good piano to be on stage.
What it definitely makes the artists and the
competitors and the whole prestige of the competition
to have Steinway involved, which makes you work
even harder because you want them then, of course,
to have the best pianos. course well we can tell
that you are utterly dedicated to your profession
and you love it which of course is so important
um ollie ulrich it's been a wonderful half hour
45 minutes with you um i wish you all the best
a happy 2026 year ahead thank you very much yes
um and i'm sure i'll be seeing you very soon
at a concert all right ulrich thank you so much
my pleasure bye -bye That was Schubert's impromptu
Opus 90 No. 2 in E flat and it was played by
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