«It is never too early and never too late.»
MY LIFE IN MUSIC
My love for music was inherited, my musical skill, I gained through hard work. The pianist Adrian Aeschbacher and conductor Niklaus Aeschbacher are descendants of my grandmother’s family. Maybe this explains my good ear and musical skills. However, my journey to piano playing and above all piano building required a persistent commitment and unwavering strength to overcome internal and external difficulties.
A worthwhile detour and professional fulfillment
Born in 1957 in Schaffhausen to a veterinarian, I began taking piano lessons at the age of six. After visiting schools in Rheinfelden and Basel in Switzerland, I enrolled in percussion at the University of Music in Freiburg, Germany. For two and half years I studied under Bernhard Wulff and Peter Wirweitzki. Following this, I attended the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, Switzerland, for two more years where I was trained with Billy Brooks to become a percussionist. However, at this time my longing for the wide world proved to be stronger than my desire for a career in music. For one year I traveled the seas on a Swiss freighter during which time I contemplated whether or not to follow in my father’s footsteps and pursue a career in health care or farming and only slowly realized my musical calling.
I have always been interested in the engineering and building of musical instruments and it was from pursuing this aspect of my passion for sound in particular and music in general that my career was finally born. At Krompholz in Bern I successfully completed a four year apprenticeship in piano building and tuning and acquired the Swiss Federal Certificate of Capacity. Following this, I applied the knowledge I gained in a variety of ways by working with soloists, conservatories and concert promoters, further honing my skills. After I started working for Musik Hug in Zürich, my responsibilities included supervising the shop’s apprentices. At the same time I broadened my knowledge and experience with customer support and concert services and became expertly familiar with all major musical instrument brands. In my birth town, Schaffhausen, I took on a new challenge at Marcandella Musical Instruments. As a concert technician and tuner I was charged with overseeing the International Bachfest, the city theater and conservatory and earned the respect of many renowned pianists.
Exciting professional experience in Canada and the United States
Despite all my professional and personal success, my wanderlust returned once more. In 1990, I immigrated to Canada and worked in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and in Seattle, Detroit and New York City for authorized representatives of Steinway & Sons. On Vancouver Island in Victoria, I founded my successful first business, "Traditional Piano". Working together with prominent musicians, Steinway & Sons New York, radio and TV broadcaster CBC, Banff Centre for the Arts, the Esther Honens International Piano Competition, colleges and music academies, I broadened my horizon and consolidated my professional skills in a unique and special way.
Successful Return
In January 1996, I returned to Switzerland for family reasons. From my former customer base, my professional career grew again, first in Osterfingen and then in Schleitheim, where I had spent my adolescent years. Starting in 1997, I worked as a teacher at the Swiss Piano Building Workshop in Brügg near Biel for six years. After travelling the world and finding my musical profession I fulfilled my third dream, owning not only a workshop but also a show room and retail space. My business was registered as a Swiss company on October 14, 1999 and my store opened in Weinfelden, a region where I had many longtime clients. Since October 1st, 2013 I am managing my own business in Wil and in Kradolf-Schönenberg. My life motto was affirmed: «It is never too early and never too late.»
Personal Commitment
The things that matter most to me have not changed over the years: love for my work, being passionate about perfection, the determination to remain cutting edge and my conviction that I can serve my clients best as a one-man business with personal attention.
This is my way to foster music with enthusiasm. It also includes my dedication to the educational duty for leading people, particularly children and teenagers, to piano playing as training for life. Against this backdrop, I decided to invite pianist friends from all over the world to give concerts in Weinfelden, Wil and its surroundings.
