William Stodart square piano ca. 1822 full restoration begun October 2025
Will update. This instrument is in my Pennsylvania workshop. Work on it will pause from November through May.
Longman & Broderip Single Manual Harpsichord 1787 8’8’4′
Much of the summer and into Fall of 2025 was spent working on a single manual harpsichord, Longman & Broderip #660, 1787. You can find its lineage in the online Boalch database. This beauty came to Lichtfield Connecticut from London not long after it was made. The names of owners and those who have worked on it can be found on the lowest key. L&B #660 had been restored by Paul Irvin some 30 years ago, and was due for more love. It came to me after spending a short time in another restoration shop, which had restrung the two 8’s registers in non-historic wire and quilled the two 8′ jacks with black delrin. The 4′ had not been installed/strung by either Irvin or the more recent shop. Note that there is not and never has been a buff type of stop. Time had taken its toll on the wood of the case and trim moldings. A hinge had broken, the keyboard showed a checkered history of replacement keytops and…well, let’s just say again that I spent much time working on the instrument from June through September! I restrung the instrument with Stephen Birkett’s historic wire after the two of […]
Unfretted Older ZHI Clavichord Upgrade
This instrument entered my workshop for the third time! I first encountered it many years ago and made some repairs in the owner’s home. Later, they were moving and asked me to take it on consignment. I made some more improvements and it sold, but noted to myself that someday it deserved more. Well, it came back after many happy years with that buyer, so it was time to improve it more before sending it on to the next buyer. This design had some major issues. For one, each pair strings for a single pitch/note looped around the hitchpin instead of having two separate hitchpins. In the bass, the hitchpin rail was thin and of a weak material that had begun to fail, so the hitchpins would lean forward and the strings slide off. I mapped the string routing carefully (very critical for clavichords) and changed the single hitchpin set up for the first octave to double hitchpins. The case was also cupping significantly, an inherent problem with the case design and construction. I added a custom iron T-bar under the bottom board, painted to match the wood of the bottom board. While it added significant weight, the instrument should […]
Restoration of Senftleben Virginal / Spinet
Late Spring 2025: This little instrument was the darling of a Charleston area family since it was new many decades ago. I had honestly never seen one of these before, nor heard of the firm. There was a lot of problem solving to do. It received many jack repairs, leather plectra, new strings, new soft felt for the drop down moderator, along with the full spa treatment for keyboard, case, soundboard, etc. Initially the low bass tone proved unsatisfactory, so Stephen Birkett made some custom twined strings for the bottom several notes. They proved a massive success!
Concerts with The Goliards, February 8th and 9th, 2025, Les Trouveres
Anne performed on sinfonye and portativ with the Goliards in “Les Trouveres” under the leadership of John Hillenbrand, vielles along with Erika Andres, recorders, Marcy Brenner, viols, Cuffy Sullivan and Sheila Berg, vocals. The program was performed at St. Francis of the Islands Episcopal Church and St. George Episcopal Church, both in Savannah, Georgia.
Pictured here is my Wolkenstayn portativ acquired a few months before the concerts.
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.
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.
Debut concert on commissioned Acker harpsichord with Savannah Baroque
Savannah Baroque presented “A Baroque Celebration” featuring the debut of a highly decorated new harpsichord by ensemble member and harpsichord builder Anne Acker on March 7, 2023, 7:30 p.m. in the fantastic acoustic of St. Francis of the Islands, 590 Walthour Rd, Savannah, 31410. The program included joyful, celebratory, and dance inspired works. Along with more familiar names, the program continued the ensemble’s tradition of including works by long neglected brilliant women composers. The harpsichord was commissioned by a client in California so this will be the only chance to hear and see it before it leaves Savannah. Savannah Baroque members Marcy Brenner, viola da gamba and Ann Cafferty, baroque violin joined Anne playing the new harpsichord.
Reviving Nannette Streicher, Part 1: The 1816 Streicher piano replica project
Published in The Piano Technicians Journal (vol. 65, no. 2, Feb. 2022, pp 15-18): The first half of an article I wrote about my journey in completing a replica of an 1816 fortepiano by the famed piano builder Nannette Streicher that was begun by a mentor and friend, Margaret Hood, but who sadly passed away too young before its completion. Interestingly, the veneer of Cuban mahogany comes from a log, gifted to me by a Miami sculptor in my days there, that I sent to Margaret and that she sawed herself for the veneer. Now it has come back to me. The instrument debuted at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2019 and is now part of my personal collection.
mentioned in New York Times Article “The Woman who Built Beethoven’s Pianos
Anne was pleased to consult and be mentioned by notable writer Patricia Morrisroe in her November 6, 2020 New York times article about Nannette Streicher and her pianos. You can even find a photo of the replica Nannette Streicher piano from 1816 begun by Margaret Hood and completed by Anne.