Antique pianos sound off in China's niche piano museum

WUHAN, May 18 (Xinhua) -- With a milky white shell, a century-old Steinway &Sons piano still produces delightful melodies in the Wuhan Qintai Piano Museum where hundreds of antique pianos are on display and have been repaired to produce their original, unique sounds.

He Lijun, the curator of the museum, has long had a passion for the instrument. He opened the museum in 2014 in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, with his collection of more than 100 antique pianos. With a doctorate in engineering, He has recruited talents such as music majors, carpenters, and painters to build up a professional piano restoration team over the years.

It takes the team three to six months to repair an antique piano.

"Pianos from different eras were made by various sophisticated production techniques to have a unique sound quality, and their original structures must be maintained when repaired to preserve the sound," said He, adding that some pianos were designed exclusively by artists, and many piano bodies were hand-carved by designers and inlaid with precious stones and other treasures.

Wednesday coincided with International Museum Day. Visitors to the museum are able to play some of the antique pianos.

"An 80-year-old professor of music once came all the way from Beijing only to play a Steinway &Sons piano made in 1864," said He.

At the corner of the exhibition hall of the piano museum, sits the most ancient piano in the museum -- a Musette-branded upright piano made in London in 1820. He's team worked for several months to repair the dented wooden soundboard to restore the piano's sound.

To let more people appreciate the beauty of antique pianos, He often invites musicians to hold activities such as New Year's concerts and piano recitals in the museum.

In 2020, the museum was rated as the national third-class museum. He's team has helped repair more than 100 old pianos on average a year, preserving not only the arts but art history.