“To the ears of a musical novice, the tuba ranks lowest in the family of instruments—an oafish cousin with a voice like a bullfrog,” writes Josh Shaffer in Friday’s News and Observer (Durham, N.C.). “But to Vince Simonetti, who has collected 310 tubas and euphoniums, the biggest birds play the prettiest songs. The tuba and its triumphant bluster provide the load-bearing beam to hold up a symphony. And after a lifetime of heavy-brass infatuation, he invites the world to tour his assortment of fat and boisterous horns, likely the world’s largest private collection, now assembled in their own museum.” Simonetti is a former principal tuba player of the North Carolina Symphony. “Simonetti and his wife Ethel have created a band geek’s wonderland with sousaphones crowded into every corner, eager to oom-pah. They hang from the ceiling and cover the walls.… On his free tours, which start at the March 5 grand opening, Simonetti will gesture lovingly to the first tuba he ever bought, a BB-flat Helicon.… Then he’ll show off the Stradivarius of his collection: the Alexander model 163, made in Mainz in 1953, favored by professional tubists everywhere.” The article is accompanied by a video and slideshow of the museum.
Posted February 22, 2016
