Piasco, Italy (Cuneo) – "Tre Secoli di Arpe," (Three Centuries of the Harp), a new exhibition featuring 40 rare musical instruments representing the evolution of the harp over the last 300 years will open at the Victor Salvi Museum in Piasco, Italy on February 11, 2007. The collection will be on display through the end of this year. The Victor Salvi Museum, located at via Rossana, 7 in Piasco (Cuneo) Italy, is built on top of the Salvi Harps factory – one of the world’s leading makers of fine musical instruments. The Victor Salvi Museum is the only museum of its kind devoted exclusively to the harp, its music, history and the art of harp-making.

"The harps in this new exhibition represent fine examples of the harp’s evolution over the last three centuries," says Anna Pasetti, museum curator and musicologist. "Included, are instruments made by such noted harp makers as Naderman, Holtzman, Storck, Renault, Meyer, Cousineau, Erard, Pleyel, Domeny, Dodd, Egan, Wurlitzer, and Lyon & Healy." Didier Blin, exhibition designer, has organized the collection chronologically and by style of instrument beginning with those without pedals, followed by harps with simple movement pedals and finally all double movement harps. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the collection of chromatically tuned harps.

"The instruments included in the exhibition are fine examples of the different decorative styles used in harp design," says Julia Salvi, president of the Victor Salvi Foundation. "These beautiful instruments reflect the changing tastes of harpists from the floral style of the mid-18th century to the neo-classicism of the Napoleonic era to the romantic gothic and Art Deco eras. With each new exhibition we have the opportunity to showcase another aspect of the museum’s extensive collection, which allows us to bring the beauty of these remarkable instruments to the attention of the public."

In addition to its permanent collection of more than 100 harps illustrating the evolution of the instrument over the last three centuries, the museum features a performance space, music archive, and a glass-enclosed gallery overlooking the Salvi Harps factory that allows visitors an opportunity to observe craftsmen in the process of manufacturing new harps. Exhibitions change on a rotating basis.

For more information about the current exhibit please visit the website of the Victor Salvi Museum at www.museodellharpavictorsalvi.it or call +39 0175270511

The museum is open weekdays from Wednesday to Sunday. 10.00 – 13.00 am / 14.00-17.00 Admission is 5 euro