Rare century-old piano in search for new home
Sunderland Pianoforte SocietyA piano society is searching for a new home for its century-old instrument.
Sunderland Pianoforte Society keeps the Model D Steinway in the Pottery Room in Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.
But the venue is expected to shut for a multimillion-pound redevelopment later this year, leaving the group in need of a new home for the rare instrument.
Society chair Eileen Bown said the society was looking at options but hoped it could return to the museum when it reopens.
"It's huge undertaking and it'll be a fantastic thing when it's done," she said of the repairs.
"I hope that we'll be able to go back but if we can't then it's something we just have to accept and move on.
"The important thing is that the society remains a part of the Sunderland music scene."
'One of six'
Sunderland Pianoforte Society was founded in 1943 and currently has about 20 members, with recitals held at the museum.
Its piano, made in the Louis XVI style in light walnut, was built sometime around 1902 in Hamburg, Germany. It is believed only six pianos were built in that style.
Following years of borrowing instruments, the society got it in the late 1960s at the recommendation of pianist Ronald Smith.
"I think it's the only one that's in public view, because the others are all in palaces and stately homes in Europe," Bown said.
"It is very special, it's very historic."
The pianist said finding an alternative home could be tricky because of size and sound constraints, but keeping it in storage could be costly and unsafe.
"It's not about the logistics of actually moving the instrument, it's finding a place that would be able to accommodate it, somewhere that was big enough and where it would be safe, because it's a very valuable instrument."
She said the society planned to hold recitals at the museum up until the end of October and members were hopeful a new home would be secured by then.
The museum's four-year redevelopment will see the creation of galleries and the main entrance will move.