AMSTERDAM.- After a quarter of a century at the 'Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis' in Amsterdam, Museum Geelvinck relocates to Huis 'De Wildeman' in Zutphen.

The Amsterdam Museum Geelvinck is keeper of the Sweelinck Collection of historic pianos. It has been a long cherished wish to create a music museum around this collection of playable fortepianos. The municipality of one of the oldest and best-preserved historic cities of the Netherlands, Zutphen, now grants Museum Geelvinck the opportunity to establish a music museum for the development of the piano and its music.

Till about a century ago, Zutphen, the capital city of the county of the same name in the Eastern part of the Netherlands, was thought to be the possible place of birth of Ludwig van Beethoven in 1772. In 2014, the bi-annual Beethoven Festival Zutphen was established. The permanent exhibition at the Geelvinck Music Museum Zutphen will be designed around the historical figure of Beethoven, his musical predecessors and his influence on the development of the piano and its music up to today.

Since 1975, the city mansion Huis 'De Wildeman' houses the Museum Henriette Polak. In 2016, this city museum for figurative art will be relocated to the by then fully renovated 'Hof van Heeckeren'. Museum Geelvinck expects to open its new Music Museum in Spring 2017. It will be a preliminary 'pop-up' concept for a period of two years. The Geelvinck Music Museum follows the spirit of the late Mrs. Henriette Polak, 1893-1974, a famous Dutch philanthropist who also supported the revival movement for Old Music in the sixties and seventies of last century.

Museum Geelvinck closed its former premises in the city palace 'Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis' for the public on 20th December 2015. Part of the collection of Museum Geelvinck will remain in Amsterdam, where the museum has a location with a depot and practice rooms for conservatory students in the Posthoornkerk. In addition, Museum Geelvinck is in the process of creating a network of historic locations within the Netherlands, where historic fortepianos and square pianos from the collection will be regularly performed on by professional fortepianists. The museum initiated the Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival, which in its fifth edition this year has grown into the largest festival for fortepiano worldwide, including a competition, master classes, a symposium and a call for contemporary compositions for the historic square piano.

Museum Geelvinck received in 2015 over 45.000 visitors. It organized more than 120 chamber concerts, including performers such as, Richard Egarr, Michael Tsalka and Willem Brons. Museum Geelvinck collaborates within professional partnerships in the Netherlands and abroad. It is also active within ICOM CIMCIM, ICOM DemHist, ICOM ICLM, ICOMOS, REMA, IFCS, EGHN and other international organizations.