Join Us at the Sheraton Hotel
in Salt Lake City
February 22-25, 2012

WestPac early registration and special Sheraton hotel rates are good only for reservations made by February 8, 2012.
Click here for conference registration info.
Click here for hotel details.

Some of the classes we're offering this year:

Full Concert Sound Setup • Zen and the Art of Concert Prep • Grand Damper Systems Demystified • Everything Upright • Regulation ‘Boot Camp’ • Voicing without Needles • Tuning on the Stage • From the Point of View of the Pianist • High Performance Regulation ... and many more.

  • The Best Instructors
  • The Best Classes
  • The Best Exhibitors
  • The Best Hotel
  • THE MOST FUN!

WESTPAC draws on the accumulated experience, knowledge and ideas of the best minds in our profession.

Start budgeting your education dollars now for the 2012 conference!

First-Time Ever Classes!

All-day Prepared Piano
& Extended Techniques Summit

Prepared pianoA full day of classes followed by a concert with world premiere pieces at 7:30. Prominent contemporary composers and piano technicians will explore these new techniques. Get answer to questions about proper piano preparation and use, hear live concert demonstrations. The Summit is included in your WestPac Conference registration fee! Details here...

All Day with Fazioli

Claudio ValentFazioli’s head concert technician Claudio Valent will work on a ten-year-old concert grand piano and bring it back to top performance level.
More about the class...

Claudio Valent

Claudio ValentClaudio Valent’s involvement with Fazioli dates back to 1980, before the company was officially established. He literally saw the birth of Fazioli pianos from the very beginning, personally helping and assisting in the evolution of these fine instruments.

His early experiences at the factory were under the authoritative guidance of Lino Tiveron, who was renowned for his long-standing care of the pianos of the great Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Claudio started with stringing and string winding, keyboard preparation and gluing hammers, and then progressed to damper installation and action regulation. Within a short time, he began tuning and voicing, and these became his favorites. Claudio received additional training with Paul Stöckle at Piano Fischer (Stuttgart, Germany), Heiner Sanwald (Freiburg, Germany), and Rick Baldassin (Salt Lake City). In addition, he has had the opportunity to meet and exchange information and experiences with numerous piano technicians at the Fazioli factory, which he considers a valuable opportunity for mutual growth.

Since 1991, he has taken care of concert service for Fazioli in the most important theaters in Italy, such as Sala Verdi of the Conservatory in Milan, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Teatro La Fenice in Venice. This has given him the opportunity to work for some of the world’s great artists, such as Angela Hewitt, Herbie Hancock, Martha Argerich, Alfred Brendel, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and many others.

Claudio has been involved with the testing of Fazioli pianos in music schools and conservatories in Italy, Thailand, Lithuania, France, Spain, England, Austria, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Russia, and Slovenia. He regularly holds training courses at the factory for technicians from around the world that service Fazioli pianos. Additionally, he has conducted seminars for technicians in Shanghai (2006), Moscow (2008), Ho Chi Minh City (2009), and St. Petersburg (2011).

Claudio has been the head technician at Fazioli since 1988, dealing with the tuning and final voicing of all the instruments at the factory. He is a member of AIARP, the Italian Association of Piano Tuners and Repairers.

Renner Action Replacement

Matthias StoeckleMatthias Stöckle , World-wide Technical and Marketing Director of Renner, Germany, will show how to install a new action and frame on to an existing keyboard in a live demonstration.
More about the class...

Matthias Stöckle - Renner

Matthias StoeckleMatthias Stöckle enjoys an extensive career spanning over three decades in our industry. He joined the Lois Renner Company in Germany 20 years ago where he has served in all areas of technical support, manufacturing, and R&D, and currently heads up their worldwide technical and marketing departments for the Renner factory. A graduate of the famed Oscar-Walcker Piano Technical School in Ludwigsburg, Germany, he now conducts Master Courses and serves as a member of the Master Craftsmen Examination Committee for this world renown technical institution, in addition to conducting seminars for the Nordic, Dutch, Italian, Swiss, French, and Japanese piano technical associations in their respective countries. This will be his first master class to be presented at a Piano Technician Guild conference in the U.S. and the organizers of WestPac II are very proud to be able to introduce him for the first time.