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CAREY BEEBE

Ariana and Marie at the David Evans German Single harpsichord

Marie Searles is a piano graduate of the School of Music at Australian National University who undertook further study of fortepiano with Bart van Oort at Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag. Remaining in Europe for seventeen years together with her violinist husband John Ma—a violin graduate from Sydney Conservatorium and the Australian National Academy of Music—they returned to Australia a few years ago and founded Aperion Baroque in 2022.

Our special project for the week Marie spent at the workshop in late August 2026 was the German Single harpsichord built for Sydney organist and harpsichordist David Kinsela by David Evans in 2010. (Most of David Kinsela’s instruments—including his beloved 1984 Evans Taskin French Double which I rejuvenated in 2024—can now be found at Canberra’s Wesley Music Centre, where they are regularly heard in concerts.)

We were joined by Ariana Odermatt for two days. Both Marie and Ariana are heavily involved with early keyboard performance and teaching in Canberra, including at the ANU School of Music where I have my 2020 Ruckers Double.

To make the German Single more versatile, we were able to convert its keyboard to allow A415/A440 transposition. Tuning problems of the harpsichord were found to be caused by all the tuning pins having a knurled roughness just above their tapered bottoms, and the pins bottoming out in wrestplank holes of insufficient depth. This was solved by drilling the wrestplank to suit new ø5mm pins. The harpsichord was then restrung in Malcolm Rose wire, the type used by David Evans, but with a slightly heavier stringing schedule we had we devized on computer after measuring the original stringing.

The two choirs of the harpsichord were then revoiced, resetting the register positions to allow slightly longer quills, cutting the new quills to ghost, and then voicing and regulating before fitting new dampers. Canberra audiences will be able to enjoy the rejuvenated instrument not only in Wesley, but out and about the region as being compact and light, it is easily transported to outside venues.

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