Discover the Amsterdam music scene during the Roaring Twenties
Just before Christmas, the Municipality of Amsterdam announced its decision to start the procedure for the free market sale of the building, which houses the Amsterdam museum for player pianos already for nearly a quarter of a century. Under the current market circumstances, it is unavoidable that this will lead to the closure of the museum
The Geelvinck Pianola Museum possibly is the most cute museum in Amsterdam: you step back into the Roaring Twenties. Discover the stories of the piano and the so-called pianola, the self-playing piano from the early 20th century. You see and hear the piano performance reproduced as if the ghost of the pianist of a century ago is actually playing. The museum boosts a collection of over 30.000 historic pianola rolls, one of the largest in the world.
Open each Sunday from 2 pm till 5 pm.
Free of charge for Iamsterdam City Card.
Starting coming Summer, we will have extended opening hours and a renewed exhibition: please check our website for details.
You will find the Geelvinck Pianola Museum at:
Westerstraat 106
It is located on walking distance of the Anne Frank House in the famous historic city quarter called ‘De Jordaan’, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Amsterdam Canal district’. It is around the corner of the Noorderkerk and all around are small streets with restaurants and artistic shops.
For weekly chamber concerts, music tours and other musical fun such as life pianola music with silent film, please see our concert agenda
You can buy tickets at the counter of the museum; please reserve in advance at info@pianola.nl .
The concerts usually last for about one hour and afterwards you are kindly invited to drink a glass of wine with the musicians.
The Geelvinck Pianola Museum closely cooperates with Museum Geelvinck, which is the keeper of a remarkable working collection of historic fortepianos, the Sweelinck Collection. The majority of these instruments are now in depot. However, in coming June 2017 the Geelvinck Music Museum will open for the public in Zutphen.
Already one of the historic fortepianos (one of the famous pianos made by the Parisian piano builders’ firm of Erard) is on view in the Museum Cromhout House at Herengracht 366 (near the famous ‘Golden Bend’): the ‘Geelvinck Salon in the Cromhouthuis’ series schedules concerts every Sunday 16h00. Discount tariffs for Iamsterdam City Pass and Museumkaart.
With our annual Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival, we aim to stimulate the public’s interest for the preservation of this sound heritage, making our classical music past part of the present. The festival takes place in the second part of October with some 40 chamber concerts in castles and historic houses in Amsterdam, Zutphen and all-over the country.
