The International Piano Archives was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1965 by Albert Petrak and Gregor Benko, who soon moved the organization to New York City where they added William Santaella to the staff. In New York, the Archives quickly grew into an audio treasure and earned acclaim for its reissues of historic piano performances. In 1977, the International Piano Archives was given to the Univer
sity of Maryland, College Park, where it serves students and faculty, as well as an international community of musicians, researchers and friends of piano performance. From 1980 to 1994, under the leadership of Neil Ratliff, IPAM's collections increased and diversified, and the reissues of historic piano performances continued. Ratliff also initiated the publication of books and a newsletter, as well as a program of public events and exhibitions. IPAM's first Curator, Morgan Cundiff, was succeeded in 1993 by Donald Manildi. Located in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, IPAM is the only institutional collection in the world that deals specifically with the history and performance of classical piano music. In its collections you will find…
• Over 60,000 recordings in all formats dating from 1889 to the present, documenting the artistry of thousands of pianists both famous and obscure. All major performers are represented by their complete recorded outputs, with historic material in digitally restored copies—all available for listening by request on state-of-the-art equipment. The repertoire covers solo pieces, concertos, and chamber music involving the piano. Among these recordings are composers playing their own works, audio and video examples of contemporary players, and hundreds of “private,” unpublished recordings captured at live recitals and concerts.
• Over 27,000 published scores of piano music including a vast number of out-of-print copies of little-known works, plus diverse publications of the standard repertoire. The latter group includes editions prepared by noted interpreters of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and others, with their personal fingerings, pedalings, technical suggestions and analytical commentary.
• Documentation on the professional careers of thousands of concert pianists, including examples of their programmed repertoire, reviews from the critics, publicity materials, biographical data, photographs and correspondence.
• Extensive recorded interviews with hundreds of major pianists from the past and present. IPAM’s unique resources offer unlimited opportunities for comparative examination of piano technique and interpretation, as well as scholarly study of all areas of the keyboard literature.
