Hendersonville – Freeburg Pianos is making musical waves with its huge new showroom in Hendersonville.
Keith and Joann Freeburg’s business has been a popular retail outlet and repair center since 2013. The Freeburgs added the marquee structure (suite B) of the commercial plaza at 2314 Asheville Highway (U.S. 25 North). It was popular Stan’s Electronics for decades. This addition is wider than the other plaza structures, which has the original Freeburg showroom between a martial arts studio and a dance studio.
Spanning 8,000 square feet, the new showroom is among the largest in the region. Levi Freeburg said it may even be the “largest on the Eastern Coast.” Personable Levi manages the operation, and leads sales. He is the Freeburgs’ son. Levi joined the family business in 2012, after stints as YMCA of WNC’s teen and sports director then as Biltmore Church’s director of sports outreach and pre-teen ministries.
The massive showroom fits 90 pianos. Instead, the same 60 pianos from the prior showroom are spread out for an airier feel. The ambience is quite comfortable and “welcoming,” business manager Joann Freeburg said.
New pianos shown there are hand-crafted Mason & Hamlin (founded in Boston in 1854), three individually-crafted Shigeru Kawai ranging from $81,395 to $123,395, Kawai, and German-engineered Perzina for $10,990 to $27,180 each. Kawai accounts for one-fourth of the showroom’s pianos, ranging widely from $5,295 to $42,295. Freeburg Pianos also offer upright, wall-adjacent pianos and Kawai and Casio digital pianos.
All of these offer the customer (piano) “keys to (musical) success,” one might say.
Pre-owned pianos in Freeburg Pianos include a Steinway built in 1868, with exquisite rosewood carvings and fully-remodeled instruments.
The 5,400-square-foot original showroom has a half-dozen “warehouse special” pianos on sale. Levi’s goal is 115 pianos total in both showrooms. Each showroom has adjacent storage and repair space of nearly 3,500 feet.
Concert Hall
Both showrooms have performance areas. A Shigeru Kawai grand piano is in the main showroom. Joann Freeburg organized many jazz and classical concerts, mostly pre-COVID, at various area venues.
Sites include a 65-seat music hall in a separate room in Freeburg’s original showroom.
The new showroom can seat 90 people, in open space in the heart of the main showroom. Its acoustics are “tremendous,” Keith Freeburg said. Piano prodigy Christopher Tavernier said, “The new space is wonderful and has very live acoustics. It’s a great space for music making.”
Keith plays standup bass, in local symphonic performances. He’s periodically been in a jazz quartet with Tavernier, and Asheville musical legends Rita Hayes on flute and percussionist Byron Hedgepeth. They played Claude Bolling’s 1973 Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano, in mid-March at the grand opening Freeburg Pianos’ new showroom. Tavernier’s solo classical piano concert took place there days later.
Tavernier and his fiancee, bassoonist Emmalee Odom, played there as a duet last August. Tavernier, who turns 25 next month, is officially recognized as both a Perzina and Freeburg performing artist. He has frequently played at Freeburg Pianos.
He quips that “the Freeburgs have been instrumental in my growth as a musician. I honestly wouldn’t be where I am today without their continued support through the years.” Tavernier has piano performance degrees from Florida State and Brooklyn College. He is earning his master’s degree in the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
Tremendous Tuner
Keith Freeburg is hailed as a phenomenal piano tuner and technician. He’s been at it since 1979, and remains at the top of his game. He estimates that a piano can last a half-century with proper care. He fine-tunes pianos of concert pianists into peak performance. Celebrities who performed on or with pianos serviced by Keith include George Winston, Victor Borge, The Piano Guys, Bob Hope, Judy Collins, Roberta Flack, Tony Bennett, and Hank Williams, Jr.
Freeburg Pianos’ four technicians and Keith handle piano repairs, upgrades, and full restorations.
Keith and Joann, University of Minnesota sweethearts, married in 1974. They moved to this area in 1982, when Levi was a month old and his sister Emily was four.
Joann Freeburg, an ordained minister, is assisted in business functions by her granddaughter Katelyn McCollin. The West Henderson senior, who played varsity basketball, eyes an accounting degree in college. Katelyn is thrilled to gain valuable experience, and by being around family “‘on the regular.'”
For further information, call the Freeburg Pianos showroom at (828) 697-0110 or check freeburgpianos.com.