Bechstein returns to London’s Wigmore Street
Owen Mortimer
Friday, May 7, 2021
The celebrated German piano manufacturer C. Bechstein has announced its return to Wigmore Street in London after an absence of more than a century.
This article originally appeared in International Piano magazine.
The company opened its first Bechstein Hall at 36 Wigmore Street in 1901 with a concert featuring performances by keyboard luminaries Ferruccio Busoni and Vladimir de Pachmann. Due to Bechstein being German-owned, the First World War brought about the seizure of the venue as enemy property in 1916. It reopened as Wigmore Hall the following year.
The new C. Bechstein building will be located at 22 Wigmore Street, comprising a flagship showroom on two levels, 13 practice rooms and a selection room for concert hire pianos. A one-bedroom apartment equipped with a Bechstein piano and access to 24 hour practicing facilities will also be created for international artists visiting to perform in London.
The crown jewel of this project is a 100-seat concert venue, to be named Bechstein Hall. Terence Lewis, managing director of Jaques Samuel Pianos, will take on the role of artistic director and plans to offer what he describes as ‘a new and completely different approach to the way concerts are structured’.
Lewis added: ‘Bechstein returns to the concert stage, which it once mastered as the favoured piano of the golden age of pianism. With this massive investment in London, one of the world’s leading centres of musical excellence, Bechstein proclaims boldly – it is back!’
Work is already underway on the new building, which is expected to open in spring 2023.