The Piano
According to your biography, your “love for music started in Melilla (Spain), listening to your sister Celia practice on the family’s old Aeriol piano, which your father rescued from a piano-bar in Morocco.” Can you give us the backstory? How did your father happen upon the piano in Morocco and get it to your home?
Melilla, a Spanish city founded in the Middle Ages, is located on the northern coast of Africa, bordering with Morocco. Both parents, my siblings, and I were born there. My father, while he was in Morocco for business, found the piano abandoned in a bar and to our surprise, he appeared at home with this large upright piano in a truck. My sister had been receiving piano lessons at school but had no piano to practice. Now she did!
Also, what is an Aeriol piano? a player piano?
The Aeriol is an American piano manufactured in the late 1800s in Worcester, Mass. by the Aeolian Piano Co. Originally a player piano, it was in great disrepair when my father found it, but after some restoration it became our first family piano.
What happened to the piano?
The piano was sold to another family when our family moved to Málaga so that we could continue studies at the conservatory ( Conservatorio Superior of Málaga).
Is Celia a professional musician?
She is indeed. Celia became a pianist specializing in chamber music and professor at the Royal Conservatory of Granada (Spain). She eventually was appointed director of the conservatory.