Ryan W. Sowers,
Piano Touch & Tone Specialist
Last updated: February
2012
Email:
ryan@pianova.net Phone: (360) 705-4160 or (800) 972-8863
Experience
Over 30 years of
piano playing experience
1994-Present
Owner, Pianova Piano Service,
1998 Worked for Michael Reiter,
1997 Worked for Snyder’s Piano Service,
1995 Worked for Grace Piano Service,
Education
2011 Completed third five-day “Damper
Seminar” at the Steinway & Sons factory
2010 Completed second five-day “Voicing
Seminar” at Steinway & Sons factory in
2009 Completed the five-day “Comprehensive
Piano Service Seminar” at the
2001 Apprenticed with Darrel Fandrich,
1998 Attended Yamaha’s technician training
program at Yamaha North American Headquarters,
1992-1994
Apprenticed with Mitch Kiel,
1993 Graduated from The Evergreen State
College with credits in piano technology.
Professional Affiliations
Ryan
is currently the technician for the following organizations and institutions:
Mason County Community Concert Association
Lewis County Concert Association
2011-present President Elect of the Olympia Music Teachers Association
2009-2011 Member of National Institute Team for the
Piano Technicians Guild Annual Conference
2008-2011 President of the Puget Sound
Chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild
2006-2008
Vice-President of the
1994-present Registered Member of
the Piano Technicians Guild
1997-present Active in
administering the Piano Technicians Guild Tuning Exam
2000-2003 President of the
2000-2003 President of the
1997-2000 Vice-president of
1996
Member, National Ethics Committee,
1992-1994
Associate (apprentice) member of
Continuing
Education
Since joining
Ryan has also taught classes on
piano technology at the local and regional level.
Discographyhh
Ryan was the piano
technician for the following recordings:
Jessica Williams “Songs
for a New Century” Released 2008 by Origin Arts
Jessica Williams “Touch”
recorded
live at the Triple Door theater in
Two-time
Grammy Award nominee Jessica Williams has received two grants from the National
Endowment for the Arts; a Rockerfeller Grant for composing; the Alice B. Toklas
Grant for Women Composers, and the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation Fellowship. Jessica has been an honored guest on NPR's Fresh Air
with Terry Gross, and on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz. She has released over
40 albums in a career spanning as many years. Her album Joyful Sorrow was among
the Top 5 CDs of JazzTimes' Critics Poll in 1999, and her album In the Key of
Monk won that honor again in 2000. In late 2004, her album LIVE at Yoshi's
Volume One was nominated for a Grammy. In Europe, she scored Jazz Record of the
Year for 2 consecutive years in the Jazz Journal International Reader's Poll.
She has scored PBS and HBO specials, and has been presented the Keys to the
City of both San Mateo, and Sacramento, California
Charlie Albright “Vivace” Recorded at Corbet Theater,
This recording
was made on a Steinway Concert Grand purchased new for Centralia College in
2010 in honor of Charlie Albright. The recording was completely unspliced,
meaning that no editing of the notes occurred in any of the pieces. Charlie
Albright is one of the top young pianists in the United States. In 2011 he was
named Artist in Residence for Harvard University’s Leverett House, a position recently
filled by another Harvard-education musician, cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Winner of the
prestigious 2010 Gilmore Young Artist Award and the 2009 Young Concert Artists
International Auditions while at Harvard, pianist Charlie Albright made
his Kennedy Center debut to critical acclaim, hailed as “among the
most gifted musicians of his generation” in the Washington Post.
About his New York debut, the New York Times praised his “Jaw-dropping
technique and virtuosity meshed with a distinctive musicality." His list
of awards and accomplishments is extensive. To learn more see his Wikipedia page.