Antonio Forero and Lyon & Healy Harps

As Lyon & Healy celebrates its sesquicentennial, president Antonio Forero reflects on the company’s rich history.

In a city that dates back 177 years, Lyon & Healy holds the distinction of being one of Chicago’s oldest businesses. As the famous harpmaker celebrates its 150th birthday this year, Harp Column caught up with its president and CEOAntonio Forero earlier this spring to talk about the company that has been a cornerstone of the harp community for more than a century.

Harp Column: In a couple of months, a lot of harpists are going to be descending on Chicago—tell us a little bit about Lyon & Healy’s 150th birthday celebration and what you have in store.

Antonio Forero: The first thing we did was to create an instrument that we have called the Style 150. We had a lot of ideas at the beginning of this project. One of the concepts was to go to an architect and try to create something that shows what we represent these days. But then someone came in a meeting saying, “Why don’t we give the sound of Lyon & Healy a sort of celebration?” So then we started thinking about building a harp that would be very unique, but simple enough that everyone can afford. And that’s how the project started and how we developed the instrument. We’re going to build it only through our 150th year—it was introduced at the end of 2013 and will be built until the end of 2014. So that was one project.

Another project was to build other instruments that are special, so we’re building a Salzedo in red. Salzedo used to have a special red that he used. So we went to the extreme of finding that specific color that he used to use, and then built a harp in the Salzedo red for that occasion. Then we built some special Style 17 models that we will be introducing as well during the week’s celebration that we’re going to have.

And then we started looking through our archives and trying to understand and build our history, looking back at all the brochures, catalogs, and different materials that we have. During our anniversary week, this historical collection will be on display for everyone to see. Another part (of the celebration) is to take some of the unique Lyon & Healy instruments—like the first 23, the first Salzedo, this type of thing—and create an exhibition of what we’ve built through the 150 years. We will be showing that during the week as well.

In the end we thought, “What are we going to do for harps and harpists in the city of Chicago?” We thought the best approach was to have a week where we will be presenting our harps in landmarks of Chicago and inviting dignitaries of the city as well as harpists from all around the world to come, and we will have a big celebration of what we are.

HC: It sounds like it will be an amazing time, especially for harpists who will be able to experience all this. In creating the Style 150, do you feel like you were trying to create a snapshot of the Lyon & Healy sound this anniversary year?

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AF: Yes, we feel that one of the characteristics of Lyon & Healy is that, through innovations that they made (they were very innovative at the beginning of the company), they generated a tradition of what the Lyon & Healy sound is. That is one of the unique characteristics of this company, and so we are celebrating that Lyon & Healy sound that is recognizable around the world.

HC: Well, you know, all of the world’s great instrument makers really set themselves apart by their unique sound. What do you think are the key factors in how you create this “Lyon & Healy sound” your harps are known for?

AF: It is a combination of a lot of factors. One is the factor of the apprenticeship system that is very unique to the company. The transmission of knowledge from one person to the next preserves our tradition. The other aspect is the woods: how we select the woods, how we dry the woods, how we give the dimensions to the woods. So it is a whole process that goes together to generate the unique sound of Lyon & Healy.

HC: Can you tell me a little bit about how Lyon & Healy started making harps? I know the company is 150 years old. You started making harps 125 years ago, is that correct?

AF: Yes. There were these two young Bostonians who came to Chicago to start a music shop. They started selling printed music then, after that, selling musical instruments. The harp came to their attention because they had to start repairing some of the instruments that were coming from Europe that were not holding up very well to the climate and transportation that was needed at those times. So they decided to build a harp. It took them a lot of time and a lot of money—$10,000 then—to research and build their first Lyon & Healy harp. So it was actually 25 years after they opened their business that they started producing that harp. And from there, they started developing different patterns and different things to make the harp stronger, taller, more resonant.

HC: Interesting, so they started building harps in response to some of these instruments they were seeing coming over from Europe.

AF: Yes, and the need that they were seeing, and Mr. Healy was a harpist as well.

HC: Well, Lyon & Healy has obviously a very deep connection with the city. The company is 150 years old and the city is only 177 years old—so Lyon & Healy certainly is one of the oldest companies to be continuously operating in the city. Has that been a conscious decision on the company’s part, to stay here rather than to go elsewhere?

AF: I can only speak from my own experience, because I don’t know how the decision was made before that, but when I came in 2000, one of the ideas was, well let’s move to a place that will be easier to produce the harp. But the point always has been, we are from here. Here is where we belong. Employees are here. If we move somewhere else, are we going to have the employees? We are part of the city. And for harpists that are coming from all around the world, they know that we are here, and we have been here for so long. The city is part of who we are. So the decision at that time was no, let’s stay here. And that’s when we decided to bring the showroom from the first floor to the fifth floor, modernize the facility, even if it is not ideal for production to span five floors. But because we are so involved in the city and this is where we have been so long, this was the right place to be.

HC: You mentioned the issue of finding employees if you were to move out of the city. How do you find these people? I was just kind of blown away, going through the factory, and seeing these highly specialized skills. Most people don’t have these skills, so how do you find the people that build your harps?

AF: Well, a lot is word of mouth. You know, when we need new people or when we are increasing production, or when someone retires, we ask the employees if they know someone, and a lot of the time they bring a friend or a family member or someone to the company. So that’s why you will see a lot of relationships. I think there is one family that has seven or eight people working here. The other factor is the apprenticeship system where someone comes in and will learn how to produce a specific part. And the people who come here stay here for a long, long time. There is a Bureau of Labor statistic that the average employee tenure is 4.6 years in the United States, and we’re at almost 12 here. I can name many employees that came here when they finished high school or college, and they stay here for all their lives. They’re happy here—they learn something that they like to do, and they’re very committed to doing it.

HC: Switching gears a bit, I imagine that making harps today is probably much different from how it was 125 years ago. What do you think is more important in making Lyon & Healy harps in 2014? Is it innovation, or is it this tradition that you’ve built over 125 years?

AF: I think both, because one will not go without the other. Innovation generates tradition. The people that worked in the company at the beginning when they started building harps were innovators, creating the extended soundboard, making the harps a little bit taller, more resonant, more durable. Those innovations created a tradition in the company. So both things go together. Always we are trying to innovate. The machines that have to be used to build some of the precise mechanism parts are important. But the tradition of how to build them and how to approach the issues are very important. So I think both things go together all the time. A company evolves all the time, but innovation is what creates tradition.

HC: What is one part of Lyon & Healy’s harp-making process that has not changed in 125 years? And then on the flip side of that, what is one aspect of how you build harps that has changed the most?

AF: One aspect that has not changed is the sound box. I think they are doing it with the same clamps and the same way that they were doing it 125 years ago. Everyone has been transmitting to the next person how to do it, and they keep on doing it the same way. In the other aspect, I think one of the areas that has changed the most for us is the mechanical production. In the last 20 years, there have been enormous advances in the way that parts are produced. And there’s more precise machinery to do that—all the CNC machines that can do multiple operations very precisely. I think that’s the area that has changed the most.

HC: When I see the harp-making process, I think it all looks difficult. But for the harp builder, what are the most challenging or difficult aspects in the process of making an instrument?

AF: Being sure that the instrument will have durability, that is the most challenging part for any harp maker. You’re working with natural materials, and you know that the best instrument is made when you go to extremes, so you make thinner sounding boards, the longest length of strings. When you maximize everything, you maximize the sound. So what you’re trying to do is work with those basic concepts, but maintain the durability of the instrument so that the instrument will last. Those are the biggest challenges that we will always have.

HC: It is a constant balancing act.

AF: It’s a fine line between strength of the instrument and the quality of the sound because one’s fighting the other, essentially.

HC: Well, shifting gears a bit, Lyon & Healy is involved in much more than just making instruments. You’ve got a concert hall with a concert series, you sponsor young harpists’ early career promotion with recordings and performances, you have a competition for young harpists—the Lyon & Healy Awards. So what do you see as Lyon & Healy’s role in the larger harp community, beyond just making instruments?

AF: We like to think that we are harp and harpist. Those two aspects are not separate; those two aspects are always together. You cannot just build harps without the other side of it—the harpist. The company has understood that concept for a long time. The idea of having a concert series is something they did back in 1905 here. The idea of the competition was as well something that started a long time ago first with Israel (the International Harp Competition in Israel) in 1959, and later with the USA (International Harp Competition) since its beginning. The company was involved with the idea that they would try to find that harpist that will have a career and develop the harp. We have also been evolving with the (Lyon & Healy) Awards as well, because we feel that there are different areas of the world that we can go with Awards and make harpists knowledgeable, not only of our product, but also how to perform and certain things. So we have been involved with the harp community since our early stages, and with teachers like Salzedo and Grandjany and a lot of other teachers through the history of the company.

HC: What do you want everyone reading this interview who hasn’t been to your Chicago factory to know about your harps?

AF: The harps always speak for themselves, so anyone that has seen the Lyon & Healy harp here, or anywhere, they have seen who we are and what we represent in craftsmanship, in sound, in a lot of aspects. The instruments are the ones who are always speaking for us.

HC: You’re marking a pretty big milestone here this year with 150 years. And it’s fascinating to look back at the history of the company, but where do you see Lyon & Healy in the future, as it celebrates its 200th birthday?

AF: The harp world is growing, and it is growing in areas that we never thought would happen. Asia is one of the areas that is growing, so is Latin America. And the interesting question is how are we going to grow with the harp industry, and what are we going to be contributing in that growth of the harp industry. Also, the question of how we are going to grow as the harp grows more popular in a lot of different areas outside of the United States. It is always easy to understand your territory, but it is difficult to understand other people who speak different languages, who like different things, and who perceive things in a different way. That will be the biggest challenge that the company will have in the future. •