Sheffield students can access 'the best pianos in the world' with university's new music status

The University of Sheffield gained the All-Steinway accreditation earlier this year, meaning that music students at the university can access the highest quality pianos.

To celebrate this accreditation, the university held a concert on Saturday where world-renowned British pianist Dame Imogen Cooper performed, playing the university’s new Steinway Grand Model D piano.

Professor of Musicology, Dominic Broomfield-McHugh, said: “It was like being at major international classical music concert. I have never been to a concert locally where the audience has been so quite engaged, it transported us to another place.

"It brought something quite special to the university. Imogen has just been awarded the Queen’s Medal for music and you can really see why.”

Imogen was also made a Dame during the Queen’s birthday honours in June this year for services to music.

Dominic added: “Being awarded the All-Steinway accreditation means students know that they can access some of the best pianos in the world. The grand pianos that are part of the purchase are hand made and each piano is completely different. They brought three pianos to choose from and the university brought in three members of staff to try them out and choose the one that would work best for the university.

“The piano allows for big performances, you can hammer it alongside an orchestra and it will respond, but you can also play it really softly. Students can come here from all over the world and become concert pianists.

"It is a really exciting investment at a time when art is under a lot of strain and music funding is being attacked. It is a great time for the university to say that music really matters for people’s lives.”

Times Higher Education ranked University of Sheffield’s Arts and Humanities department 12th nationally and 67th in the world.

Dominic said: “Steinway won’t just work with anyone they want to work with the top universities. Sheffield is such a musical city and we have world class culture. It is just about shouting the message out and not apologising for the arts.”