Rose & Rose

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Lovers of the keyboard, you are hereby banished to the dungeon.. The Scene
Before going here, ask yourself: How important are appearances? If the answer is "Very," brace yourself for exposed air-conditioning ducts, painted pipes, industrial carpeting and a makeshift concert hall with mismatched chairs. If the answer is "Not at all," a friendly staff will conduct you to the imports, the replicas and the curios. Elderly Eastern European craftsmen (who used to work for Steinway) are hard at work on repairs while ongoing lessons in piano tuning substantiate an overriding passion for the instrument.

The Collection
This one-of-a-kind, subterranean, multipurpose, cellar storehouse was founded in 1984 by Kalman Detrich--a piano restorer who can count John Lennon, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald as previous clients. With over 70 instruments in its collection (and a reproduction of a knee pedal used by Mozart), the museum is an oddity to be sure. Too bad they got rid of that cement piano created during World War II when wood was scarce.