Jonathan Haas built the world's largest timpani, which made its official debut in Louisville, KY, at the Percussive Arts Society's November 2003 convention. 

Jonathan himself built this remarkable musical instrument, which produces an unprecedented B flat two octaves below the lowest C on any existing timpani.  The timpani is  70" in diameter – nearly 6' wide -- and nearly 4' tall, almost twice the size of the world’s second-largest timpani (a 48-incher used by Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra). 

Its solid copper kettle, which Jonathan discovered in an Aspen cow pasture, had originally been used to manufacture Swiss cheese at the turn of the century and, remarkably, matches the exact size specifications of a timpani.  A prototype of the instrument made its debut in August 2003 at the Aspen Music Festival.

Visit our PHOTOS page for more pictures of the instrument.