When performing music composed before 1850, Staunton Music Festival takes all possible steps to ensure historical accuracy, using original and period instruments and hiring the world's finest musicians trained in historical performance practice traditions. The purpose of this fund is to purchase original or replica “period” historical instruments and to provide funds for the reconditioning, repair, tuning, storage, transportation, and insurance of these musical instruments.
In late 2023 a successful campaign secured enough funds for Staunton Music Festival to purchase a stunning newly-built replica of Conrad Graf's 1830 Viennese fortepiano. The piano, built by the esteemed Rod Regier of Freeport, Maine, will arrive in Staunton in mid-2024 and will be unveiled at the August concerts.
Fundraising for this effort still continues! We will need money to protect, transport, and service the SMF Graf for many years to come. We invite you to make a tax-deductible contribution today. Join the 50+ donors who have taken a leadership role. Thank you!
supported by
Elizabeth Delzell
Terry E Grant
Elizabeth Hartman
Robert Nickel
James & Celia Rutt
John & Anne Sills
The Estate of Frances Whitesel Smith
Patricia Abraham
Dr & Mrs Richard L M Coleman
Rosemary Eyler
Tom & Diane Fechtel
Bart Huxtable
Alice McLeod
Mr & Mrs P William Moore
Melissa Patrick
Stewart & Mary Searle
Tom Arbaugh & Larry Harrell
Margaret & Drew Bailey
Richard & Mary Barnes
Leigh & Sally-Beth Buckner
Christine & Michael Burch
Nancy Carpenter
Rick Chittum
Lou Dolive & Ruth Arnold
Robert Emmett & Kristine Kasselman
Nancy Geyer & Peter Glick
Lynn & Stan Grimm
Joyce Kelly & Paul Healey
Dr & Mrs James Huggins
Elizabeth Lane
Mike & Bette Mahoney
Claudio O'Neill
Roy Richardson
Millicent Mae Terrell
Wick & Betty Vellines
Lois Wilson-Crabtree
Bryn Ardanuy
Larry & Zaida Bergmann
Susan Boyd
Jameson & Beverly Buston
Richard Butland
Lee & Smadar Chaffee
Carolyn Moore Ford
Jane Hamrick
Carolyn & BJ Harvick
Margaret Henderson
Rona Hokanson
Mark Huebsch
Padraic & Brigid Hughes
Steven Jaslar
John Kolp & Cynthia Seibels
Dr Barry M Lamont
Joann Loring
Kristin & Stephen Maxwell
Rick & Dara Myrah
Barbara Penchuk
Davidson Perry-Miller
Molly Ramkey & Bruce Winn
Don Rybarczyk & Carol Polen
Dean Sarnelle
Peter Schulz
Carol & Buffy Shapiro
Grace Suttle
Carl Yaffe & Lois Narvey
Barbara Whipple & Paul Kazarov
ABOUT HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE AND THE GRAF-REGIER
As you may know and appreciate, at Staunton Music Festival, all music composed before 1850 is performed on period instruments (original and replica) by professional musicians highly trained in historical traditions of interpretation and style. Music from the past was not written with modern instruments in mind. While Bach, Mozart, and Schubert can sound fabulous on today’s instruments, the experience of hearing such repertoire on the historical instruments for which it was composed can be a revelation.
The name of Rod Regier is synonymous with the finest craftmanship in historic keyboard construction. Mr. Regier, an MIT graduate, has been constructing harpsichords and 18th and 19th century fortepianos from his workshop in Freeport, Maine for nearly 50 years. His fortepianos can be heard in the concert halls of numerous major American universities (Yale, Cornell, Stanford, Dartmouth, UNC-Chapel Hill, Indiana, Notre Dame, UC Berkeley, among others) and several of the most prestigious conservatories, from Juilliard and Peabody to the Sibelius Academy in Finland.
Get invested! You will be able to follow Mr. Regier’s progress on our website: from selecting the perfect pieces of wood, to the shaping of the case and creation of the soundboard, to the installation of the strings and keyboard mechanism. This will likely be Regier’s final large-scale piano, and as such it offers a fitting testimony to his lifetime of exemplary craftsmanship.
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Tamworth Music Festival (dba Staunton Music Festival) | Tax ID: 02-0464351 | Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation
