Stuart & Sons
 | |
| Type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Founder | Wayne Stuart |
| Headquarters | , Australia |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Grand pianos |
| Website | stuartandsons |
Stuart & Sons is an Australian manufacturer of handcrafted grand pianos. The company is based in Tumut in New South Wales.
History
[edit]Wayne Stuart founded the company in 1990.[1] From 2001 the company traded as Piano Australia Pty Limited, a partnership with Albert Music, under which more than 50 large grand pianos were built; in 2014 the partnership ended and the business became fully family owned.[2][3][1]
The company used to be based in Newcastle but in 2015, it relocated to Tumut at the base of the Snowy Mountains.[3]
Pianos
[edit]Stuart & Sons uses Australian timbers for construction, including Tasmanian huon pine for the 108-key piano built for Beleura House on the Mornington Peninsula.[4][1][5]
The Dutch-Australian pianist and teacher Gerard Willems used a Stuart & Sons piano when recording the complete piano sonata cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven during 1999 and 2000.[6]
Stuart & Sons created a grand piano with 14 more keys than are found on a standard piano, for a total of 102 keys (C0 to F8) or eight and one half octaves.[7][8] A model with 20 extra keys (108 keys in total, 9 octaves, C0 to B8, approximately 16.4 Hz to 7902.1 Hz) was built in 2018.[5][9] A model with 112 keys was built between 2022 and 2024 and delivered to Rockford, USA in October 2024.[10]
Piano locations
[edit] |
Stuart pianos are used at many locations throughout Australia, including:
- Sydney Conservatorium of Music
- Government House, Sydney
- Admiralty House, Sydney
- Powerhouse Museum Sydney
- Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music
- Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust
- Clancy Auditorium Central Queensland University
- Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Mackay, Queensland
- Beleura House and Gardens, Mornington, Victoria
- Hale School, Perth
See also
[edit]Other Australian piano manufacturers
Formerly:
- Beale Piano, now manufactured in China.
- Wertheim Piano
Other notable pianos of comparable size
- Imperial Bösendorfer (C0 to C8, 97 keys)
- opus 102 (102 keys) by Stephen Paulello[9][11]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "Stuart & Sons" (PDF). International Piano. No. Guide to Instruments & Accessories 2023. 2023. p. 60. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
- ↑ "Wayne Stuart, Stuart Pianos, Sydney (Design and Decoration S02 E12)". Ikon.tv. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
- 1 2 "About Stuart & Sons". STUART & SONS. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
- ↑ "Stuart & Sons Grand Pianos". STUART & SONS. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
- 1 2 King, Rosie (15 September 2018). "World's first 108-key concert grand piano built by Australia's only piano maker". ABC News. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
- ↑ "Ludwig van Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas Gerard Willems, Piano Stuart & Sons Piano". enjoythemusic.com. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ Grant, Neva. "Musical Innovation: A Grander Grand Piano". NPR Music. NPR. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
- ↑ Meacham, Steve (20 October 2010). "Notes from heaven: piano on a grand scale". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- 1 2 "WHY 108 Keys..." STUART & SONS. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ↑ "World's First 112 Key Acoustic Piano". STUART & SONS. October 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
- ↑ "Pianos | Pianos Stephen Paulello". www.stephenpaulello.com. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
External links
[edit]- Stuart and Sons Company Website
- Powerhouse Museum
- Silenced huon piano begins to shine
- Notes from heaven: piano on a grand scale
- Grand piano is key to innovation
- Why Does Wayne Stuart of Stuart and Sons Pianos Hate Me? (YouTube)
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