C. Bechstein opens flagship store in Manchester

Piano manufacturer, C. Bechstein has launched its flagship centre in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. The store’s opening event featured a piano recital by C. Bechstein scholar and Royal College of Music student, pianist Matthew McLachlan. 

The evening included speeches from Stefan Freymuth, CEO at C. Bechstein Pianoforte AG and Stuart Kernaghan, managing director at the centre.

Kernaghan said: ‘We were delighted to see the new centre full with people as equally as excited about its launch as we are. Manchester is a city with a rich musical history, so it is the perfect location to open the new store, the first of its kind for over 100 years.’

As well as the store’s collection of pianos, a mural (pictured above) by Manchester-born artist Stewy was unveiled by Stephen Hough CBE and depicts the pianist, composer and writer playing a C. Bechstein model D Concert Grand Piano.

Part of the Transmission House development, the C. Bechstein Centre Manchester includes a showroom, six practice studios and a recital space and is the first centre of its kind in the UK since Bechstein Hall, now the Wigmore Hall, opened in 1901. 

You can find out more about the C. Bechstein Centre Manchester here.