Westfield Center Guest Presenter at Cornell CCHK Workshop
July 30-August 2, 2024: I was delighted to be invited to do a presentation at the Cornell Center for Historic Keyboards under the auspices of the Westfield Center for Keyboard Studies with my Hood Acker replica of an 1816 Nannette Streicher fortepiano. Attendees at the Workshop included many piano technicians wishing to learn about early pianos as well as students of and performers on early pianos. I gave a slide presentation and discussion of the place of a piano like my replica both within the Stein/Streicher piano building legacy and instruments of today, along with views into the process of construction. I then played 3 compositions by Nannette Streicher on my piano that demonstrated how it reflected well the Stein/Streicher touch and tonal aesthetic choices and design.
Hilton Head Symphony League Musicale Performance April 21, 2024
I was invited to give a private concert and talk as part of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra League’s Musicale Series so I a took my 2009 Anne Acker Flemish Double harpsichord to Hilton Head, SC into a lovely private home to give a presentation with talking and performing to a very appreciative and music-loving audience of about 60 members of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra League. A number of them showed up to help bring in the harpsichord, and then take it back to my van as rain started and storm clouds loomed!
Works included ranged from the earliest published, to variations on an Elizabethan bawdy song, to Elizabeth Jacquet, to Scarlatti and more.
While knowledgeable about music, like many such otherwise educated and curious people, they knew little about how harpsichords work and their history. They were most appreciative and we had a good time!
Pre-Concert Lecture for Concert by Jory Vinkour for Bach Ascending April 12, 2024
I was honored to give the pre-concert lecture for my dear friend’s Jory Vinikour’s brilliant performance at the dedicatory concert of the Richard Kingston double manual harpsichord acquired in 2023 for Bach Ascending programming.
Lecture Recital at Verdier House, Beaufort, SC Nov. 6, 2023
Anne will be presenting a lecture recital at the historic John Marks Verdier House in Beaufort, SC at 3 pm on Nov. 6, 2023. She will be playing the ca. 1826 Robert & William Nunns square piano she restored for Verdier House several years ago. Music featured will be works by English and American composers that are period appropriate to the instrument and the house.
Sustaining Keyboards Conference Sept. 15-16, 2023
Anne was delighted to be an invited speaker at the amazing conference Sustaining Keyboards, Sept. 15-16, 2023 held at Cornell University, hosted by the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards and the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboards Cornell. She enjoyed being housed in the comfortable guest suite at Bethe House, a student dormitory. Anne’s topic was “It’s a Material World”. The talks were scintillating, the company amazing, and the music sublime, an event to remember!
Attended The Westfield Center Conference: The Forte/Piano, Cornell University, Aug. 5-9, 2015
I attended Forte/Piano, a once in a lifetime gathering of the world’s many of the greatest lovers of the historical piano including performers, scholars, and builders. Words cannot express. It was an honor and a privilege.
HKSNA 2015 in Montreal, May 20-24
Attended a fabulous meeting of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America, for which I serve on the Board, in beautiful Montreal at McGill University.
AMIS 2014: Summary of the Ivory Movement Restrictions, May 31st, 2014
At the Annual Meeting of The American Musical Instrument Society, I gave an invited but extemporaneous presentation on the current state of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife’s extreme restrictions on movement of items containing even antique ivory and how this affects musicians and other owners and collectors of musical instruments.
AMIS 2014 Talk: Recent Research in Keyboard Instrument Key-Touch Response at The Piano Design Lab
May 31, 2014, at The Annual Meeting of the American Musical Instrument Society, Sawmill Creek Resort, Huron, Ohio. Presented a paper on research at The Piano Design Lab, University of Waterloo, Ontario by Dr. Stephen Birkett and myself. Results to be published, so you’ll just have to suffer and wonder here!
Boston Early Music Festival Exhibition, June 2013
I had a great time exhibiting at the Boston Early Music Festival Exhibition, running the booth for The Paris Workshop with the other North American agent, Gerald Self. I also brought two of my own instruments, a Flemish Double Manual harpsichord and a fretted clavichord, both of which I was gratified to see were well received. I’ll be back in 2015!