President of B.C. Pianocraft Ltd. and Piano Technician
Awards and Recognition
Thanks to his extensive experience throughout his career our honoured guest lecturer,
Mr. Johann Krebs, has been specially recognized by various organizations. mr. krebs was invited to the bluethner factory,
in Leipzig, Germany, where he demonstrated how the full potential of the bluethner grand piano could be brought forth through precise adjustments.
For the yamaha technicians' competition, after two days of preparation, his piano was chosen to represent Yamaha in the promotional concert they had organized.
Of recent note, in 2003 Mr. Krebs received the Dean's award of excellence for his considerable work with the
University of British Columbia school of music's numerous concert, teaching and practice pianos.
Studies and Training
Mr. Krebs began learning about the maintenance and repair of pianos under the tutelage of Dieter Bergauer
at the first cooperative of piano builders of Vienna and Budapest, where he studied for five-and-a-half years.
During that same time, Mr. Krebs also trained at the Ehrbar piano factory and studied at what is now known as the Music University of Vienna.
He went on to complete technical training at the Steinway factory in Queens, New York under the supervision of Joe Biseglie;
and also studied special voicing techniques with the head technician at the London, England Steinway establishment.
Mr. Krebs has tremendous experience with steinway pianos in particular, having worked with
Steinways for various orchestras, solo performers, chamber musicians and other organizations of note;
under a variety of circumstances and cultural heritages and sometimes under very demanding conditions.
In addition to ubc he has worked with many of Vancouver's local theaters.
He has worked nation-wide with organizations such as the CBC, the University of Toronto, Hart House in Toronto, the University of
Lethbridge and the Lethbridge concert hall.
Mr. Krebs has also worked with international Steinways at such places as Diligentsia Concert Hall in The Hague in the Netherlands,
and Vienna's Musikvereinssaal and the Konzerthaus;
and has even tuned the pianos for the new year's ball in Vienna in the Hofburg Palace where Europe's royalty and government
leaders were in attendance.
Besides his work with pianos, Mr. Krebs is an accomplished pianist, having won second prize in the Royal Dutch Society
of Musicians competition in the Netherlands.
He has a diploma in medical music therapy where he specialized in psychosomatic illness, and a diploma
in laboratory technology for research in chemistry.
The musical and research skills gained in these fields have contributed greatly to his understanding of music and the piano.
Career
Mr. Krebs operated a rebuilding shop from 1976 to 1981, after which he became the head technician at the
Banff School of Fine Arts.
Since 1984 he has worked for the University of British Columbia School of Music as their staff piano technician.
While there, under the supervision of Dr. Robert Silverman, he completely rebuilt the Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano.
Since doing so, the quality of this instrument has become renowned and is attracting recording artists - even from abroad.
He has also restored and upgraded the Bosendorfer concert grand in the School of Music recital hall.
In seattle, at the University of Washington, Mr. Krebs has taught voicing and a class on how to restore Steinway pianos.
In Banff he served as the translator for the Bosendorfer technical training program.
At UBC, Mr. Krebs' latest project involves research in tuning and how it can be used as a tool to expand the musical potential of the piano.
His research also investigates what tuning gives the greatest support to the singer and the chamber musician and is best suited for solo performance.
During the project's four years a method has been developed for tuning that produces the same pitches as the singer and gives the chamber musician greater freedom of expression.
This tuning method has also resulted in an expanded dynamic and expressive range and gives the musician greater security and contact with the instrument.
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