Matthias Kunze

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Matthias Kunze (2017)

Matthias Kunze (born August 2, 1952 in Dessau ) is a German master piano builder , harpsichord maker and piano tuner .

Life

Kunze's father was one of the few independent lawyers in the German Democratic Republic . Since he had sent his children for confirmation and not for youth consecration , they were not allowed to take a high school diploma. Matthias Kunze therefore completed an apprenticeship as a piano maker in Leipzig at the state-owned company Deutsche-Piano-Union , today's Rönisch company . He worked at the Landestheater Dessau and passed the master craftsman examination at the Chamber of Crafts in Dresden in 1977 .

Mecklenburg

Because the lung-sick daughter suffered from the bad air in the Halle-Leipzig industrial area , the family moved from Bitterfeld-Wolfen to Schwerin in 1978 . The local conservatory created a post for Kunze; he had to tune all pianos in the music schools in the Schwerin district and in the Mecklenburg State Theater in Schwerin . In 1982 he applied in vain to the district council for a business license as a freelance piano tuner. When the second application was also rejected three years later, Kunze submitted the exit application . Thereupon one brought him the business license for the "piano service" in the house; however, he was not allowed to carry out repairs that required materials from the non-socialist economic area . It was improvised, rebuilt and exchanged. Whatever relatives in West Germany did, the grandmother brought to Schwerin. An old hammerhead maker from Leipzig bequeathed him his machines - which was actually not allowed. Kunze fetched her from Leipzig at night and kept her hidden for a year. He got the felt for the piano mechanics in Wurzen . This was made possible under real socialism through "barter" with smoked fish .

Steinway

Kunze received his first Westgeld in 1988 at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival from Justus Frantz , whose grand piano he had tuned for the first performance in Mecklenburg . After the fall of the Wall (GDR), he attended advanced training seminars at the chambers of crafts and volunteered at Steinway & Sons in Hamburg, while the son of the same name had been learning piano there since 1991. After Matthias Kunze sen. 1993 Steinway Academy had graduated, he was authorized Steinway dealer in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern . The one-person company with a sales salon in Alt Meteln became a piano house. When the son came home after passing his apprenticeship exam, the workshop was built in January 1996. In 1997 the first of so far six apprentices began training in Alt Meteln.

The piano house plays a central role in the music business in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It organizes concerts in churches and tents, children's music festivals and piano matinées with piano teachers from Schwerin in the State Theater (which is always sold out). The Fauré Quartet and Ewa Kupiec played at the company's 15th and 20th anniversary . The house provides the grand pianos at the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Festival and looks after the instruments at the Rostock University of Music and Theater . As a thank you for the decades of support, Stefan Malzew had him conduct the 4th movement of the 1st symphony (Brahms) in Neubrandenburg in 2013 . In his youth, Kunze wanted to be a conductor; the loss of a few fingers ruined this wish. From 1992 to 2010 Kunze was on the board of the Association of German Piano Manufacturers . Today he serves him as a publicly appointed and sworn expert.

In April 2015, the son took over the business with a new branch in Schwerin. The workshop, warehouse and office remain in Alt Meteln.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Piano maker Kunze was already unique in GDR times (Die Zeit, 1994)
  2. ↑ Wurzen felt factory
  3. ↑ steinway-meckpom.de ( Memento of the original from May 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.steinway-meckpom.de
  4. ↑ Acclaimed piano matinée in the State Theater (Ostsee-Zeitung, April 20, 2015)
  5. ^ Nordkurier, September 6, 2013
  6. ^ Association of German Piano Manufacturers
  7. ↑ Schweriner People's Newspaper
personal data
SURNAME Kunze, Matthias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German piano maker in Mecklenburg
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd August 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Dessau