Shenandoah Conservatory has appointed Kate Redding, M.A., as the conservatory’s new lead piano technician. Beginning in her new role in November, Redding joins the conservatory after serving as chief piano technician at East Carolina University’s School of Music in Greenville, North Carolina, where she oversaw a fleet of 125 pianos and was awarded the East Carolina University Service Award in 2017.
“I’m grateful for the hard work of the search committee led so ably by Karen Walker,” said Shenandoah Conservatory Dean and Professor of Music Michael Stepniak, Ed.D. “After an extensive national search we are thrilled to have found a technician with the experience, artistry, and spirit of collaboration that Redding clearly brings to her work and workplace.”
Redding’s professional experience includes an internship with Aspen Music Festival, work with a Steinway & Sons piano dealership, and work preparing instruments for such pianists as Alexei Grynyuk, Joey Calderazzo, Julia Den Boer, Adam Neiman, Thomas Sauer, Robert McDonald, Peter Frankl, and Allyn Johnson, as well as other musicians including violinist Joshua Bell, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, multi-instrumentalist and composer Bobby McFerrin, jazz vocalist Maurice Hines and more.
A registered piano technician with the Piano Technicians Guild, Redding earned her Master of Arts in Musical Arts with an emphasis on piano technology in 2012 from Florida State University, a Diploma in Piano Technology from Western Ontario University in 2006 and Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in 2003. She received her C.F. Theodore Steinway Technical Academy Certification in 2009 from the Steinway & Sons Piano Factory in Queens, New York.