This piano has a distinguished provenance. During the 1930s and 1940s, it was the property of the Belgian Consul, Paul Beulens, and was housed at the Belgian Consulate in Sydney. The Consul was a close friend of the father of the famous concert pianist Ignace Paderewski, and so it was that Paderewski, whilst in Sydney during his concert tour of Australia, was a guest of the Belgian Consul. This instrument is the very piano that Paderewski used to prepare for the Sydney leg of his Australian concert tour.

When Paul Beulens died, he bequeathed the piano to his secretary, Eileen Holmes. Subsequently, she left the piano to her brother, The Honorable Kevin O’Leary, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, and former council member of the Australian National University.

At some time during the 1980s, the piano was rebuilt, including extra fixing of the bridge to the soundboard and soundboard repairs, restringing, and replacement of the damper felts and hammer heads.

This Pleyel is typical of its period and is among the types of piano commonly encountered by Fauré and Debussy, but its alterations make it impossible to judge exactly how it may have sounded or felt either when new, or under Paderewski’s fingers.

This piano entered the collection of the ANU Keyboard Institute in 2006, on generous long-term loan from the Honorable Kevin O’Leary QC (1920–2015).

Pitch: A435