Piano & Strings Instruments Workshop · August — December 2026 · Al Quoz, Dubai
Become one of the UAE's first piano technicians
Every piano in the Emirates was tuned by hands trained somewhere else.
That ends with ten people.
That ends with ten people.
Five will train as piano technicians, five as violin makers — across five months at our Al Quoz workshop, taught by master craftsmen from Blüthner of Leipzig and Academia Cremonensis of Cremona. No experience needed, and participation is free for everyone selected.
Applications close 5 September 2026
In Strategic Partnership with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority
10
Places available
6
International expert visits
160+
Training hours each
20+
Instruments serviced
Why this programme exists
A pianist grows as good as the piano
The Emirates has acquired some of the finest instruments in the world. Concert halls, universities, schools and homes across the country now hold pianos and string instruments of real distinction.
What the region does not yet have is its own generation of craftsmen to care for them. Every tuning, every regulation, every restoration still depends on expertise flown in from abroad.
This programme changes that — and you can be in the first cohort. Over five months at our Al Quoz workshop you will learn a craft from masters who have spent their lives inside it. You will work on real instruments from your first week. And you will finish with a certificate, a portfolio, and a genuine path into a profession that barely exists here yet.
What the region does not yet have is its own generation of craftsmen to care for them. Every tuning, every regulation, every restoration still depends on expertise flown in from abroad.
This programme changes that — and you can be in the first cohort. Over five months at our Al Quoz workshop you will learn a craft from masters who have spent their lives inside it. You will work on real instruments from your first week. And you will finish with a certificate, a portfolio, and a genuine path into a profession that barely exists here yet.
The cohort this programme is built to serve
Choose your craft
Two tracks. One workshop.
You apply to one track and train in it for the full five months. Both run side by side at our Al Quoz workshop — the piano track conducted by Blüthner of Leipzig, the string track led by Academia Cremonensis of Cremona.
Track A · Conducted by Blüthner, Leipzig
Piano Technician Training
The discipline of making a piano speak. Five places.
- Piano tuning and pitch calibration
- Voicing and tonal balancing
- Mechanical regulation and repair
- Structural understanding of pianos
Track B · Led by Academia Cremonensis
Violin & String Instrument Making
The craft behind four strings and a bow. Five places.
- Violin, cello and double bass fundamentals
- Wood selection and acoustic principles
- Assembly and finishing techniques
- Repair, restoration and bow servicing
Who will teach you
Two traditions, brought to Al Quoz
You will not learn this from a manual. Each track is led by an institution that has spent generations doing the work — and their masters are coming to Dubai to teach it in person.
Leipzig, Germany · Est. 1853
Leads the piano technician track
Blüthner Pianos
Julius Blüthner has been building pianos in Leipzig since 1853 — more than 170 years, five generations of one family, in the city of Bach and Mendelssohn. Their instruments were chosen by Liszt and by Debussy.
Blüthner will conduct the piano technician track, sending their own master technicians to our Al Quoz workshop. What they teach is not written down anywhere. Voicing, regulation, the judgement of when a note is finally right — this knowledge has only ever passed from one pair of hands to the next. For five months, it passes to yours.
Blüthner will conduct the piano technician track, sending their own master technicians to our Al Quoz workshop. What they teach is not written down anywhere. Voicing, regulation, the judgement of when a note is finally right — this knowledge has only ever passed from one pair of hands to the next. For five months, it passes to yours.
Academia Cremonensis
Cremona, Italy
Leads the string instrument track
The Cremonese method
Cremona is where Andrea Amati shaped the first true violin, where Stradivari worked for sixty years, and where Guarneri built the instrument Paganini made famous. UNESCO recognises Cremonese violin craftsmanship as a living heritage of humanity.
Academia Cremonensis will lead the string instrument making track. Their luthiers bring that method to Dubai — the choosing of the wood, the arching of the plate, the varnish, the setup, the bow — taught the way Cremona has taught it for nearly five centuries: at the bench, with a blade in your hand and a master beside you.
Academia Cremonensis will lead the string instrument making track. Their luthiers bring that method to Dubai — the choosing of the wood, the arching of the plate, the varnish, the setup, the bow — taught the way Cremona has taught it for nearly five centuries: at the bench, with a blade in your hand and a master beside you.
Who can apply
Ten places. Not one more.
The programme is deliberately small. Every participant works closely with visiting masters on real instruments — a ratio that simply is not possible at scale.
Participation is free for everyone selected
5
Piano Technicians
3 Emiratis · 2 UAE residents
5
Violin Makers
3 Emiratis · 2 UAE residents
You should apply if
- You are 16 years of age or above
- You have an interest in music, craftsmanship or technical work
- You have some musical or manual aptitude — welcome, though not required
- You can commit to the full programme, August to December 2026
How selection works
- Submit your application online before 5 September 2026
- Interview and a basic aptitude assessment
- Final selection by the programme committee
- Orientation and workshop induction in late August
How you will learn
Hands on the instrument, from week one
Seventy per cent of your time is spent at the bench with a real instrument in front of you. The remaining thirty is guided theory and online mentoring — the understanding that makes the hands intelligent.
120+
Hours at the bench
Practical, workshop-based training on real instruments — servicing, repair and restoration, using professional tools and materials.
6
Weeks with a master
Six one-week visits from international experts — three for the piano track, three for strings — teaching in person at Al Quoz.
40+
Hours of mentoring
Guided theory plus weekly online sessions with your experts — technical review, case discussion and one-to-one feedback between visits.
An expert corrects lever technique on a live instrument during an on-site visit week
Your five months
August to December 2026
Late August · Mobilisation
Participant selection is finalised. You attend orientation and workshop induction, meet your cohort, and your tools and materials are put in place.
September · Foundation
The first expert visits arrive for both piano and violin. Foundation training begins at the bench, and your online mentoring starts.
October · Development
Second expert visits. Intermediate skill development and continued workshop practice — the point at which the work starts to feel like your own.
November · Advanced practice
Advanced technique, real instrument servicing and repair sessions. You begin working on instruments that belong to clients and institutions.
Early December · Mastery
Final expert visits and advanced techniques. You prepare the portfolio that documents everything you have learned and completed.
Late December · Completion
Final assessments, a public showcase of your work, and certification. You finish the programme as a trained technician — and the first of your kind in the UAE.
What you leave with
A qualification, a portfolio and a profession
- A Certificate of Completion issued by House of Pianos
- Endorsement from the participating international experts
- A skills evaluation report setting out the competencies you have achieved
- Internship opportunities at our Al Quoz workshop
- A place in the first generation of instrument technicians trained in the UAE
The programme closes in public
In late December we open the Al Quoz workshop to the public. You present your work, demonstrate a repair or restoration, and meet the teachers, musicians and cultural leaders who make up the UAE’s music community.
It is the moment the programme stops being training and becomes a career.
It is the moment the programme stops being training and becomes a career.
Our partner
Made possible by Dubai Culture
The Piano & Strings Instruments Workshop is designed and delivered by House of Pianos in strategic partnership with the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), with instruction led by Blüthner Pianos of Leipzig and Academia Cremonensis of Cremona.
That partnership is what makes ten fully funded places possible — and what turns a private ambition into a public one. Dubai Culture’s mandate is to grow the Emirate’s creative economy and develop local talent. Ours is to make certain the instruments at the centre of that culture are cared for by hands trained here.
Together we are establishing a craft the region has always depended on and never taught: the technicians and makers who keep every piano, violin and cello in the country playable. The first cohort begins in August 2026.
That partnership is what makes ten fully funded places possible — and what turns a private ambition into a public one. Dubai Culture’s mandate is to grow the Emirate’s creative economy and develop local talent. Ours is to make certain the instruments at the centre of that culture are cared for by hands trained here.
Together we are establishing a craft the region has always depended on and never taught: the technicians and makers who keep every piano, violin and cello in the country playable. The first cohort begins in August 2026.
Organised by
Strategic partner
Applications close 5 September 2026
Ten people will be chosen. One of them could be you.
Participation is free. No prior experience is required — only curiosity, patience and a willingness to learn a craft properly. The application takes a few minutes.
Questions about the programme? Write to [email protected] or call our Al Quoz workshop.
10 free places · Applications close 5 September 2026
