The international world of pianos on our doorstep

After a career in the piano industry that has spanned four decades, Cornelius Musters is still passionate about what he does.

When he was 20, Cornelius did a three-year piano technician course in his native Holland. He tells the story of how he went on to acquire his first customer: "The gas man came to my house to disconnect the gas because I couldn't pay the bill. But then he asked me what I did and when I explained that I restored and tuned pianos he said that if I tuned his piano he would pay my gas bill and that was my first customer."

By the age of 23, Cornelius had his own company and eventually built up to 800 customers.

However, in his mid-30s Cornelius and a group of close friends were struck with the tragedy of the death of a friend from cancer. He was just 37 years old.

This made the group reevaluate life and vow to follow their dreams. "We decided, just go and follow our dreams." One of the couples came to Pizarra in Malaga province where they bought an old house. They asked Cornelius to help them restore it after two weeks in the area he says, "I never wanted to go back to Holland."

He returned for a while and continued to build his business, but 17 years ago he finally followed his own dream. After two years in Torre del Mar while his house was being built in Riogordo, he settled in the Axarquía village.

Knowing that his passion was still pianos, combined with the need to work, he says he asked himself: "OK what am I going to do now?"

So he decided to place an advert to sell a piano. "It was really to see how many people would respond. I didn't actually have a piano to sell," he laughs. But the response he reveals was "incredible". He shipped 30 secondhand instruments from Holland, which he sold "very quickly" in Spain.

One of his first customers was a man from Malaga with whom Cornelius still works today. In fact the pair work in partnership to design bespoke pianos which are made in Germany and shipped all around the world.

Cornelius explains that his business partner designs the pianos while he deals with the technical aspects and travels with the instruments to their destinations. The designs include classic wooden grand and upright pianos as well as different coloured and even transparent ones.

The work has taken Cornelius all over the world to the houses and super yachts of Sheikhs and royal families - from Dubai, to Iran, Morocco and beyond.

"The rich don't ask about the price. They just want something that's unique. They allow artists to create and provide work in a world where most people are just looking for the cheapest version of something," he argues.

Piano restoration

Cornelius also continues to restore secondhand pianos that he imports from northern Europe. He sells them mainly to Spanish and foreign residents in Spain and says that demand for pianos at music conservatories and schools was "exploding" at least before the pandemic, as young people are wanting to learn different genres of music.

"Traditionally the most popular instrument here was the guitar and in fact the last piano factory in Spain closed down about 100 years ago, so new pianos are quite hard to buy here," he claims.

Cornelius has recently donated one of his restored pianos to the primary school in Riogordo. "I hope it will inspire children to play an instrument," he says.

When asked about how Covid-19 has affected business, Cornelius admits, "I have never sold so many pianos. People are at home, bored and the pandemic has been a sign of how short life can be. People who always wanted a piano, or have a piano which they have never played, so it needs tuning, are deciding that now is the time." Due to the travel restrictions, sales have been mainly in Andalucía and to people of all ages: "It is never too late to do whatever you want to do," he says.

Cornelius believes that his is "the most beautiful profession". He gets to learn about many different cultures while spending time with his clients.

"We always end up talking about food and music and never religion or politics. I also know that life in some of the countries I have been to isn't always what you read in the papers. You can learn a lot from people," he concludes.