Samsung Cultural Foundation Conducts Advanced Training Program for Domestic Piano Tuners

Practical Intensive Training on Tuning Grand Pianos for Performance Use

The Samsung Foundation of Culture and the Korea Piano Tuners Association announced on the 7th that they conducted the "Domestic Piano Tuner Advanced Training Course" from the 17th of last month to the 4th of this month to cultivate world-class piano tuners.

A live piano tuning demonstration by Roots Laibelholtz.
[Photo by Samsung Foundation of Culture]

Now in its second year, the advanced course is a program where top domestic and international instructors provide intensive education on advanced piano tuning know-how, managing and tuning concert hall pianos through theoretical lectures and practical training.

In 2022, Roland Gyniker, a concert hall piano specialist tuner active in Munich, Hamburg, and other locations in Germany, visited Korea as an overseas instructor to conduct lectures and practical sessions on the philosophy of sound for piano tuners.

This year, Lutz Reibeholz, author of "Adjusting and Repairing Steinway & Sons Piano Actions: A Workshop and Service Guide" and a retired Senior Concert Technician at Steinway Germany who is actively engaged in European music festivals, was invited.

In August, he gave a lecture at the "Domestic Technical Seminar" on the basic theory of concert piano tuning and the moral mindset required of piano tuners. In this year's "Advanced Course," he demonstrated the entire process of disassembling, restoring, and tuning a performance grand piano (Steinway semi-concert piano) used at the Leeum Museum of Art concerts, while providing comprehensive education to establish the theoretical and practical framework of piano tuning through hands-on training.

Domestic instructors included Jonggu Im (author of Korea’s first piano tuning thesis), Seonghwan Park (B?sendorfer piano expert), and Insu Seo (Steinway piano expert), who provided customized practical training on advanced keyboard mechanisms and tuning details to create perfect sound.

The trainees were selected strictly, with 20 participants chosen to ensure understanding beyond the June classes and actual application. Among them were active professionals such as Sujin Park (31 years old, Yonsei University, exclusive to Gangnam University) and Donggyu Lee (48 years old, Daegu University, exclusive to Mungyeong Culture and Arts Center, completed the 2023 Samsung Foundation-supported Seiler technical training in Germany).

Kim Hyunyong, president of the Korea Piano Tuners Association, stated, “Both instructors and trainees participating in the education worked with one heart to further develop the skills of tuners through this training so they can become advanced tuners.”

Ryu Munhyung, CEO of the Samsung Foundation of Culture, said, “After the pandemic, we have finally restarted the ‘Domestic Piano Tuner Training Project’ in earnest. We hope that the support from the Samsung Foundation of Culture will bear fruit and become a strong pillar for the development of K-Culture and K-Classic.”