Museum of Science and Industry

Accordion players Giuseppe and Antonio Teoli made a surprise guest appearance at MOSI’s Da Vinci – The Genius exhibition to see some of the origins of Italian musical instrument design.

Giuseppe and Antonio, who are of Italian heritage, live in Rossendale and play throughout the North West. They played traditional tunes amongst Leonardo da Vinci’s early musical inventions and an original Italian barrel organ, which was made in Manchester and is on display in the exhibition.

Da Vinci is less known for his musical instruments, which include a portable piano designed to be worn around the waist, a mechanical drum used in military marches to give the impression of a larger army than in reality, and a double flute. The instrument designs have been brought to life in the exhibition, in hand-crafted instruments created by Italian artisans.

Giuseppe Teoli said: “It’s so nice to see how the old craftsmanship worked, compared to the new technology used today in instruments. The portable piano looks so heavy so I can imagine it would have been quite difficult to move around with. I’d love to hear how it sounded.”

Lorraine Taurasi, President of the Manchester Italian Association said: “Italians have always been associated with beautiful music and it’s fascinating to see how da Vinci’s early musical instrument design developed into instruments such as the barrel organ and the accordion. The barrel organ is an important part of the history of Manchester’s Little Italy in Ancoats. The area was famous for barrel organ production and repairs, as well as musicians like Dominco Rea, who performed to factory workers on the streets.”

The exhibition showcases Da Vinci’s incredible variety of inventions – from musical instruments, to military equipment, underwater machines, flying machines and even a model of the ideal city.

Displays are divided into sections about Da Vinci’s work on Physics & Mechanical Principles, Civil Machines, Flight Studies Machines, Military Machines, Hydraulic Machines and Musical Instruments, as well as dedicated areas on the Mona Lisa, the Vitruvian Man and The Last Supper. 

Da Vinci was a prolific writer as well as an artist and designer on subjects as diverse as geometry, engineering, fauna and flora, mathematics, physics and philosophy. His ideas were documented in around 24,000 pages of codices, of which only around 6000 remain today, and these notes were used to recreate the objects and images in the exhibition. He drew incredibly detailed anatomical sketches, and engineered extremely innovative designs for buildings and mechanical devices, most of which were never actually built while Da Vinci was alive.

Da Vinci – The Genius runs until 13 June at MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry), Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester.  Ticket prices are £7.50 for adults, £5 for concessions or £20 for a family ticket (2 adults, 2 children).  Tickets are available at the MOSI Box Office, www.ticketmaster.co.uk or call 0844 847 2261 (24 hours). Group bookings: 0844 847 2354. Tickets are non-refundable. For more information look up www.mosi.org.uk or www.davincithegenius.com 

For media information or images please call Sarah Roe on 0161 606 0176 m: 07847 372647.  

Notes to editors

About Grande Exhibitions: Creators and promoters of the Exhibition who have researched, sourced and interpreted much of what is contained in the exhibition.  Based in Rome Italy and Melbourne Australia, Grande Exhibitions is dedicated to delivering quality blockbuster exhibitions of mass appeal that entertain and educate

About The Anthropos Foundation: From Il Genio de Leonardo Da Vinci Museo in Rome, talented and gifted Artisans have made the machines inventions and many items that you see on display at the exhibitions.  They have spent more than 10 years bringing to life over 120 of Leonardo’s concepts and designs and use in the main techniques and materials available in 15^th Century Italy

The Radisson Edwardian, Manchester is the official sponsor of the exhibition

 

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