PIANO ROUND! - We celebrate 900 years of Utrecht with 9 special pianos!

Steinway & Sons is THE reference among pianos. This should come as no surprise, because since its foundation in 1853, Steinway has developed more than 120 patents on piano construction. Many of the techniques Steinway launched still belong to the standard of contemporary piano construction. Therefore, during Rondje Piano, a Steinway & Sons D-274 concert grand piano cannot be missed. 98% of major concert halls worldwide rely on this type of Steinway for their concerts. The grand piano is 274 cm long and has an extremely rich and full sound. The instrument was made entirely by hand in Hamburg. Pianos Maene is the official distributor for Steinway & Sons in the Netherlands and Belgium.

This grand piano is unique in contemporary piano manufacturing. The instrument is a modern grand piano that uses a principle that was the standard before 1859. The strings lie parallel to each other and not crossed as most pianos are built today. The result is a sound that is more transparent and has more different registers, but at the same time it has the volume, stability and playing comfort of a modern grand piano. The first instrument was commissioned by Daniel Barenboim. Meanwhile, Chris Maene's workshop is building a whole family of small to large models. There is even a special ergonomic grand piano with curved keyboard developed in collaboration with top architect Rafael Viñoly.

Steinway & Sons is undoubtedly the most well-known piano builder in the world. What is less known is that they build not only grand pianos, but also upright pianos. These instruments are built with the same care, high-quality materials and concepts as the grand pianos. The impressive thing is that they often sound better than some grand pianos! The current generation of Steinway pianos is equipped with a new kind of pedal that allows you to play more quietly without sacrificing sound quality: Dolce Pedal.

Doutreligne is an excellent choice for lovers of the typical European piano sound - at a competitive price. Besides the entry-level models, there is also a "Master" series. These instruments include a Kluge keyboard and Renner action. Kluge and Renner are both German manufacturers of keyboards and actions respectively. They build actions for Steinway and other piano builders and are among the world's top manufacturers. The Doutreligne Master series consists of grand pianos and upright pianos.

Of course, this round-up of pianos cannot fail to include a digital piano. In the past decade, digital pianos have evolved tremendously. For instance, there are digital pianos with a full piano keyboard (hybrid instruments). The movement of the hammers and keys are measured optically. These instruments therefore feel identical to an acoustic piano.

The Yamaha Avant Grand series has a unique approach to reproducing the sound of an acoustic grand piano. When recording the original sounds of a specially selected concert grand piano, Yamaha engineers took samples from four different locations near the soundboard: left, right, centre and back. Compared to conventional recordings with left and right channels (stereo), this gives beautifully rich and authentic results.