Hannah Reimann
Founder and Artistic Director
In 1997, Hannah Reimann independently rebuilt her Steinway piano to better accommodate her hand size. Her success with the instrument has made her the face of the Stretto as a producer of concerts. Ms. Reimann was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal as a “musician on a mission to make the world safe for small pianists.”
In October 2023, she met David Klavins leading to the fruitful collaboration between Klavins Piano and Stretto Piano Concerts introducing the revolutionary Una Corda Stretto Piano. This unique new instrument has keys with a 5.8 inch (147 mm) octave width and is offered in both a 64-key model, suitable for music by JS Bach and his contemporaries, and an 88-key model for all music.
In the 1990s, Reimann played stretto pianos in Canada and Japan, and contacted all the major manufacturers including Steinway, Yamaha, Kawai, Bösendorfer, and Roland, presenting proposals and materials directly to executives to influence them. She offered her piano for concerts and traveled extensively to research and meet her goals.
She has produced public concerts using her personal Steinway “Stretto” piano in New York City since 2008.
In 2018, the CEO of Steinway & Sons told her to put her Steinway Model C stretto grand piano in a public place, again, to “see what happens.” In 2021, she became the only liaison for anyone wanting an original Stretto grand piano from Steinway & Sons.
For more than 30 years, her goal has been to influence piano manufacturers worldwide to offer narrow-key pianos (which we now generically call “Stretto”) and to produce concerts with them everywhere. Following in the footsteps of Josef Hofmann, Yoshinao Nakada, Christopher Donison, and Daniel Barenboim, these pioneers inspired her to tirelessly continue with this goal since they all advocated for, owned, and played pianos with narrow keys. She has promoted pianists who perform on DS Keyboards, a Sirius 6.0 Piano, and Kaduk keyboards via Stretto Piano Concerts and the ISPF since 2021.
Rhonda Boyle
International Liaison
Fellow pioneers and Stretto experts Australian Rhonda Boyle, coordinator for Pianists for Alternatively Sized Keyboards (PASK), and Carol Leone, classical virtuoso and Professor of Piano at SMU in Dallas, have greatly helped popularize the instrument, leading to a increasing number of individuals playing and owning pianos with Stretto keys. PASK was created in 2013 by Dr. Leone, Ms. Boyle, and pianist, Erica Booker, who lives and teaches in Sydney, Australia.
Ms. Boyle has tirelessly conducted research on pianists’ hand spans and piano playing with Erica Booker and husband Robin Boyle since 2009, presenting at conferences around the world. This has assisted the development of stretto pianos and electronic keyboards, providing her and Dr. Leone’s rapidly growing global network of enthusiasts with platforms, forums, and information streams since 2013.
Most of the pianos played in the Stretto Piano Festival are retrofits created by David Steinbuhler and his non-profit DS Standard Foundation, located in Pennsylvania, which serves a worldwide network of pianists. Dr. Leone and Ms. Boyle created a new wave of performers and educators who avoid injury and play a far wider range of repertoire with more joy and passion than ever.
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Julia Furlan
Assistant Administrator
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Eliana Yi
Assistant Administrator
Stretto Piano Concerts Board of Advisors:
Ron Losby, former CEO and President of Steinway & Sons
David Amram, world-renowned composer, performer and "renaissance man"
John Gingrich, of John Gingrich Classical Music Management and Sol Hurok Concerts early in his career
Raymond Angry, Pianist extraordinaire, composer, producer, soloist, and collaborator (The Roots) who has performed throughout the world
Paul Coletti, Viola soloist, chamber musician, composer, and recording artist who has performed throughout the world
Carol Leone, Professor of Piano at Southern Methodist University and pioneer of Stretto piano development and education
Robin Hirsch, Owner of the Cornelia Street Cafè for 41 years, Ms. Reimann’s colleague and collaborator for monthly Musicians and Spoken Word Exchange since January 2019
Stefania de Kenessey, NYC composer, former Professor of Music at The New School and advocate for equity “committed to helping women composers and musicians achieve parity in an unequal, biased world.”