Stuart & Sons is an Australian manufacturer of handcrafted grand pianos. The company is based in Tumut in New South Wales.
History Wayne Stuart founded the company in 1990. 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.
The company used to be based in Newcastle but in 2015, it relocated to Tumut at the base of the Snowy Mountains.
Pianos Stuart & Sons uses Australian timbers for construction, including Tasmanian huon pine for the 108-key piano built for Beleura House on the Mornington Peninsula.
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.
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. 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. A model with 112 keys was built between 2022 and 2024 and delivered to Rockford, USA in October 2024.
Piano locations
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 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
References
External links 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)