A new downtown Los Altos business brings a time-tested keyboard to the world’s epicenter of technology.
“In Silicon Valley, we have many talents here – not just in engineering,” said Chrissy Huang, gallery manager of Steinway Piano Gallery in Los Altos. “Obviously, there is a huge need for the piano in our community.”
The gallery opened its doors in mid-March at 316 State St. and has already sold several signature Steinway & Sons pianos, Huang said.
The expansion to Los Altos – adding to other Bay Area galleries in San Francisco and Willow Glen – came after years of searching for a storefront in the South Bay. Then, two years ago, Huang visited Los Altos. She stopped for coffee at Peet’s Coffee & Tea and noticed the space across the street that now houses the piano gallery.
“This is a lovely building,” she said. “I’d been searching for a place for a very long time.”
Prior to the Steinway gallery, the storefront housed Helix, the community science center owned by the San Francisco-based Exploratorium. Helix, open for a year under grant funding, closed its doors in late 2014.
In this case, it appears that science’s loss was music’s gain.
“This space opened up, and we are very happy,” Huang said. “I’ve been working at different locations, and this is very different from other locations in any other city.”
Since opening for business March 20, approximately 100 visitors have stopped in the store to purchase, browse or simply say hello.
“Every single day we have people coming in and saying, ‘Welcome to Los Altos,’” Huang said. “I have never experienced that.”
Huang has worked with Steinway for years, previously as a liaison with Steinway artists. Before joining the company, she earned a master’s degree in piano music from USC, taught piano classes and performed professionally.
Huang is still involved in music education through the Santa Clara County branch of the Music Teachers’ Association of California.
“The South Bay/Silicon Valley community is very supportive of music education, and we have the best product,” she said. “Steinway is the only way in our industry.”
Each Steinway grand piano, for example, comprises more than 12,000 single pieces and takes nearly a year to produce, according to Steinway & Sons’ website. The company has been a mainstay since its founding in 1853.
In addition to piano sales, the Los Altos gallery will host various Steinway artists in concert. Saturday, a master class will feature the 90-year-old Ruth Slenczynska, a world-renowned pianist who gave her first professional recital at age 4 and trained under Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Huang – animated while discussing the upcoming concert – said she studied with Slenczynska and is excited to bring more musicians to Los Altos. The master concerts are closed to the general public, but Huang said she hopes to incorporate unrestricted events, too.
“I’m sure Steinway will sponsor us to allow us to use the facility here. … We have people coming to take pictures and people saying thank you for bringing Carnegie Hall here,” Huang said with a laugh. “That is very inspiring.”
For more information, visit shermanclay-sanfrancisco.com/losaltos.
