Tours

Touring the Cantos Music Collection has something for everyone. Musicians will revel at the opportunity to play some of the rarest instruments in the world.

Music lovers will hear what Mozart may have heard as he composed on a fortepiano or see what the Beatles might have seen in studio while composing Strawberry Fields Forever. History buffs will be immersed in music's vast, varied and beautiful history from our 1560 Virginal  through to a dazzling blue grand piano built to commemorate 100 years of George Gershwin.

Is science your thing? See how inventor Leon Theremin used the heterodyne principle to create an instrument you can play without actually touching it.

How you can experience the Cantos Music Collection: 

Public Tours

Everyone is welcome to drop by on Sunday afternoons at 1:30 and 3:00 p.m. or Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m. for a general tour of our world-renowned collection with one of our gifted interpreters.  Reservations not required.
Cost:

Adults: $10
Students and Seniors: $8

Private Tours

If you'd rather tour the collection with a group of friends, family or colleagues on your own, book a private tour by calling (403) 543-5115.  A minimum of two weeks advance notice is required for private tour bookings.
Cost:

Groups of  1-5: $15/per person
Groups of 6-20: $10/adult or $8/student or senior

Specialty Tours

A minimum of three weeks advance notice is required for the following Specialty Tour bookings:

Cost:

$50.00 per tour (Maximum 20 people)

Explore the concepts of sound production in musical instruments through this interactive tour that makes connections between music, science and everyday life.

Ever wonder what goes on in the Cantos workshops? Learn about the repair, restoration and conservation process along side one of our acoustic technicians. Hear about the fascinating techniques used to restore some of the world's oldest keyboard instruments.

A trip through the Cantos Music Collection brings rock music to life from Boogie Woogie piano of Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammonds to the warm tones of the Hammond B3 in '60s soul to the pulsating drum machine technology used in disco and forward through the decades to modern recording and instrument technology. Hear the music on the instrument for which it was written!

This tour is an electronics buff's dream. Learn how inventors and musicians have used technology to create sound from the earliest Theremin and Ondes Martenot instruments through to the Robb Wave organ built out of a six-cylinder car engine  and vacuum tubes, Lesley speakers, tape replay technology and modular synths.

The content and theme of this program can be organized to support your particular interests.  For instance, tours can be shaped to emphasize:

• singing with historical keyboard accompaniment
• technology behind electronic instruments
• tuning practices through the ages
• music's influence on history and history's influence on music
• how music and other arts can help soothe, relax and rejuvenate in today's get-up-and-go culture.

Musical Melange
Play a game of "Name that tune" as you hear familiar melodies and learn about some of our favorite instruments in the Collection. This tour is affectionately known as "The Bob Tour" as it was made popular by interpreter Bob Pearson.

Period Pieces
Enjoy period music on the instruments for which they were intended. You may hear Mozart on an Austrian piano from the early Classical era or one of Bach's Baroque compositions on a period harpsichord.  Attendants will hear three full compositions over 45 minutes in the Gallery.
To book a tour, please phone (403) 543-5115.