Debra St. Charles has been tuning and repairing pianos since 1972. She began her career in Milwaukee, Wisconsin working for Arnold Nuehaus Pianos. In 1978, she moved to the East Coast and worked as an artist and technical illustrator before she was hired as a piano apprentice by Ted Snyder. During her time with Snyder’s, she learned to rebuild and refinish pianos.
After several years, at Snyder’s she started her own piano business and moved into her first rebuilding shop. In 1992, she moved to a 2,000 sq.ft. shop in the Oella Mill and specialized in the restoration of high quality pianos such as Steinway, Chickering, Mason and Hamlin, Yamaha and Bechstein, to name a few. She furthered her player piano skills in 1995 after completing a course in California at the PianoDisc factory and becoming a certified installer. She was featured on the cover of Self Employed America in 1997. In 2006, she completed a course at the Story and Clark piano factory in Pennsylvania and earned certification as a QRS/Pianomation technician.
During her career as a piano technician, she has worked on thousands of pianos and tuned for some of our most respected pianists and musicians including Judy Collins, Faith Hill, Deanna Bogart, Jim Brickman, Elton John, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mickey Rooney, the Baltimore Symphony, the Washington Symphony, National Symphony, and many more. She recently completed a PianoDisc installation for John P. Coale and Greta Van Susteren.