Resonating with sights, sounds, opportunities and discovery, The Sigal provides a total musical immersion experience designed to delight and inspire music lovers of all ages. Our visitors include music aficionados, students, musicians, scholars and tourists from across the country and around the world.
Resonating with sights, sounds, opportunities and discovery, The Sigal provides a total musical immersion experience designed to delight and inspire music lovers of all ages. Our visitors include music aficionados, students, musicians, scholars and tourists from across the country and around the world.
Resonating with sights, sounds, opportunities and discovery, The Sigal provides a total musical immersion experience designed to delight and inspire music lovers of all ages. Our visitors include music aficionados, students, musicians, scholars and tourists from across the country and around the world.
In the Spring 2020, the Carolina Music Museum became the Sigal Music Museum, thanks to the generous gift of the acclaimed Marlowe A. Sigal Collection. With it, The Sigal gained international prominence.
LOOK. LISTEN. LEARN.
In addition to ever-changing displays of our permanent pieces, the museum hosts the exhibits of culturally important instruments on loan from various institutions and collections. Our museum also serves as a performance venue, providing space for intimate concerts by distinguished local and international artists. We also offer opportunities for audiences to hear special performances on select period instruments.
In the Spring 2020, the Carolina Music Museum became the Sigal Music Museum, thanks to the generous gift of the acclaimed Marlowe A. Sigal Collection. With it, The Sigal gained international prominence.
LOOK. LISTEN. LEARN.
In addition to ever-changing displays of our permanent pieces, the museum hosts the exhibits of culturally important instruments on loan from various institutions and collections. Our museum also serves as a performance venue, providing space for intimate concerts by distinguished local and international artists. We also offer opportunities for audiences to hear special performances on select period instruments.
In the Spring 2020, the Carolina Music Museum became the Sigal Music Museum, thanks to the generous gift of the acclaimed Marlowe A. Sigal Collection. With it, The Sigal gained international prominence.
LOOK. LISTEN. LEARN.
In addition to ever-changing displays of our permanent pieces, the museum hosts the exhibits of culturally important instruments on loan from various institutions and collections. Our museum also serves as a performance venue, providing space for intimate concerts by distinguished local and international artists. We also offer opportunities for audiences to hear special performances on select period instruments.
“A music museum has a responsibility to not only display instruments, but to give our guests the opportunity to hear what these dynamic objects sounded like in the context of their histories. It’s a privilege to provide people with a more accessible and interactive avenue in understanding the past.”
ALEXANDRA CADE – SENIOR CURATOR
OUR
MISSION
Our mission is to celebrate, entertain, and inform audiences of all ages about the incredibly diverse musical cultures of the world, through historically significant instruments.
Our vision is to be the leading center for preserving and celebrating musical narratives from Appalachian, European and Non-Western cultures through educational programs, exhibits, and performances by distinguished artists.
OUR
FOUNDERS
Early 2017, Greenville arts advocates Steve Bichel, Beth Lee, and Tom Strange set out to create the leading center for preserving and celebrating the musical narratives of the Carolinas and the Southeast—and that vision became the Carolina Music Museum.
Steven Bichel, a piano performance major before earning a BS in Electrical Engineering from Clemson University, is now quite active as a Real Estate Investor and an Arts Advocate. Steven is presently President of the Greenville County Youth Orchestra and has also been a Board member of several arts organizations. He is the sponsor of the Junior Artist Piano Competition at the Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities since its inception and contributes widely to the arts.
With advanced degrees in Piano and Adult Education and graduate study at the Juilliard School, Beth was a pioneer in Arts Administration throughout the development of the National Endowment for the Arts (1965-present.) Founder, Past President, and Director of multiple Community organizations, between Michigan, Kentucky, and South Carolina, she continues to be a loyal Advocate of the Museum and Music Education.
Thomas Strange holds a BS and PhD in Physics, as well as a BFA in Art Studio, from the University of South Carolina. He is a Technologist and founding member of Maven Capacitor, SC Launch, and SCBIO, and is an early keyboard authority and sponsor of the “Changing Keys” exhibit at Colonial Williamsburg.
Debra Strange is a graduate of Columbia Junior College with a background in Illustration and Graphic Design. Debra is currently serving the Sigal Music Museum as Director of Community Engagement. Debra also manages the popular Instrument Adoption Program and assists with the management of Event planning at the Museum.
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
ANDY WHITE | PRESIDENT
KATHY MCKINNEY | VICE PRESIDENT
LINDA ARCHER | TREASURER
JOHN BECKFORD | SECRETARY
ANNE Q. BARR
JOE BLAKE
BEVERLY HENDERSON
ANN HICKS
LISA KISER
TIM MARSHALL
SUE PRIESTER
ANDREW SIGAL
NANCY STANTON
DEBRA STRANGE
SUSAN THOMPSON
BRADLEY WINGATE
EXECUTIVE
LEADERSHIP
THOMAS STRANGE
Executive Director
Artistic Director and Chief Curator
tom@sigalmusicmuseum.org
SARAH ARBOGAST
Vice President of Development and Marketing
sarah@sigalmusicmuseum.org
ALEXANDRA CADE
Senior Curator and Director of Woodwind Studies
acade@sigalmusicmuseum.org
DEBRA STRANGE
Director of Community Engagement
debra@sigalmusicmuseum.org
ADVISORY
BOARD
ANNE ACKER
Senior Editor, Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments
JOHN KOSTER
Curator Emeritus, The National Music Museum
DARCY KURONEN
Curator, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
LAURENCE LIBIN
Curator Emeritus, New York Metropolitan Museum
MICHAEL LYNN
Professor of Recorders and Baroque Flutes Oberlin College
JENNY NEX
Curator, Russell Collection, St. Cecilia, Edinburgh
DR. ALBERT R. RICE
Author and Appraisals
JOHN WATSON
Curator Emeritus, Colonial Williamsburg
OUR BUILDING
Part of Greenville’s Rich History
The museum resides in the historic former home of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company at 516 Buncombe Street. Built in 1930, the building featured large glass front windows that allowed passers by to observe the bottling process. The front section of the Coca-Cola building—the only part of the plant that remains—became the home of the Carolina Music Museum in the summer of 2017, thanks to the support of Greenville County, which became known as the Sigal Music Museum in 2020. The museum is located in Heritage Green, downtown Greenville’s urban arts and cultural campus.
