Glenn Easley
Glenn has worked in the piano industry since 1981. He studied Piano Technology in London and subsequently trained at Steinway Hall in London under the supervision of Bob Glazebrook. He worked as a concert tuner in London gaining invaluable experience at EMI Abbey Road, The BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre, many of London’s BBC studios and all of the London orchestras. He was later appointed as Steinway’s Technical Representative for the North of England, Wales and Scotland. Clients at the time included the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Leeds International Piano Competition, various BBC venues and many concert pianists’ homes.
After leaving Steinway in 1992, Glenn travelled around the world, working his way by servicing pianos across three continents. On his return, he settled in Manchester advising, setting up and subsequently maintaining the piano stocks at the Bridgewater Hall, home of the Hallé Orchestra. At this time he was also in charge of the pianos at the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Northern College of Music (which owned fifty Steinway grand pianos as well as one hundred others). During the late 1990’s, he was employed part-time by Steinway and Sons as their ‘Institutional Consultant’, assessing and advising music colleges and concert halls around the UK. He has toured Brazil with Arnaldo Cohen, the Middle East with the BBC Philharmonic as well as working for pianists across continental Europe.
During his 35 years as a concert technician Glenn has prepared pianos for well over 20,000 concerts and recordings. He has worked with the vast majority of the pianists and orchestras on the international circuit and has acquired a wealth of knowledge in selecting concert instruments for orchestras, concert halls and conservatoires.
Although difficult to choose, a few career highlights have included being part of Kathy Stott’s Bridgewater Hall Piano Festivals in 2000 and 2003 – particularly the first ever performance of four Rachmaninov Piano Concertos in one concert (Hough / Roscoe / Goerner / Shelley / BBC Philharmonic), broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Other particularly memorable events include working for such artists as Shura Cherkassky, Alfred Brendal, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Evgeny Kissin and Daniel Barenboim. Glenn was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 documentary in 2002 and has been interviewed for various publications including the Radio Times and BBC Philharmonic Magazine. He has written a series of articles in the European Piano Teachers magazine.
Glenn is a very enthusiastic teacher. Apart from coaching piano technicians in fine tuning (both theory and practical), regulation and voicing techniques his experience also extends to teaching the basics of piano technology to student pianists at degree level.
Now living in Auckland, New Zealand, Glenn is the technician for the Universities of Auckland and Canterbury, The Auckland Town Hall, The Auckland Philharmonia and the advisor to The Queensland Orchestra and the Sao Paolo Orchestra in Brazil. He runs the ‘Fazioli International Recital Series’ at Auckland’s War Memorial Museum and coordinates all of GPS’s work across Europe, Asia, South America and Australasia.
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
As General Manager of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1980’s, I appointed Glenn Easley to the position of our piano technician. After many years of problems with our pianos, the situation was immediately corrected. The instruments were revamped and once again played as well as the day they were purchased, the orchestra and venue gaining a reputation as having top class instruments. I was again able to book the world’s greatest pianists without any concern that the pianos would be problematical.
