Obi Manteufel grew up in Seattle and Tacoma, and spent summers in Eastern Washington. He studied piano under the guidance of Bertha Poncey Jacobsen at the University of Washington, Nadia Raisenberg in New York, and Gina Bachauer and Wilhelm Kempff in Copenhagen. After a four year performing career in Europe in his late 20's, Manteufel returned to the Northwest and developed his craft of rebuilding concert pianos - first in Seattle, and then on Bainbridge Island. It was in the Northwest, he developed the expertise of creating pianos that enable him, and fellow performers, to realize the highest artistic vision. He completed over sixty pianos, including many with his own designed Manteufel soundboard. These included pianos for Byron Janis and other concert artists, the 1876 Centennial Steinway house in the Pantages Theater in Tacoma, Washington, and an 1892 Steinway for the Seattle Symphony in Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington. In addition to being a concert pianist and piano technician and restorer, Mr. Manteufel is a knowledgeable musicologist who has enriched the Northwest musical landscape with his artistic direction of chamber music and piano festivals.