Finchcocks is an eighteenth-century mansion in Kent, England including gardens and out-buildings. In 1971, it was purchased by Richard and Katrina Burnett to serve as a home for Richard’s growing collection of historical keyboard instruments, and provide a workshop to restore and reproduce harpsichords and early pianos, this in partnership with master instrument builder Derek Adlam. The house was
first opened to the public for visits and concerts in 1976; the first Open Day attracted over 700 people. The Adlam-Burnett workshop ceased its activities in 1982, and the house then became a privately-owned musical museum. Over the years, thousands of music lovers and piano aficionados from around the world visited Finchcocks to listen, study, and perform. in 2016, the museum closed and the house was sold. However, a core collection of instruments, now known as the Richard Burnett Heritage Collection is being maintained in nearby Tunbridge Wells, Kent. It remains an Open Resource, that is, the instruments are accessible for all interested pianists—professionals and amateurs, children and adults—to touch, try out, and play. The Finchcocks Charity for Musical Education (officially The Finchcocks Charity, Limited) was founded in 1984 to raise money to support concerts, recordings, workshops, school visits, and other educational activities around the collection, and to maintain the instruments in pristine condition. The non-for-profit American Friends of Finchcocks, Inc., was established in 2014 to raise awareness of the work of the Finchcocks Charity and the collection in North America, and to enable the many American visitors, past and present, to make charitable donations to the Collection. Our activities include:
• Updates on educational activities.
• Fundraising, with the proceeds going to the Finchcocks Charity.
• Outreach to music schools, conservatories, professional musical societies, festivals, piano builders, and museums.
