Sound of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Click on the image to watch the video news short and hear the celesta

05 December 2025 – HYANNIS, MA – Meet the instrument you’ve probably heard but never heard of: the celesta.  Organist, choir master, ballet conductor—and celesta player—Kevin Galie recently performed with the Cape Cod Symphony and brought the unique celesta sound—and a rare celesta—with him to the Cape.

What is a celesta?

A celesta is a musical instrument that uses a keyboard, felt hammers, sound plates, and wooden resonators to create a unique bell-like sound. The instrument gets its name from the French “cèleste” for “heavenly—and its bell-like tones sound fantastical and otherworldly. It plays like a keyboard, but technically belongs the percussion family, much like the glockenspiel, to which some people compare its sound.

Victor Mustel invented the instrument in 1886 where it debuted in his company’s Paris store. The composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky embraced it and incorporated it into the Nutcracker Suite, where its sound has become emblematic of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

“Tchaikovsky went crazy, “ said Galie. “He immediately bought one and sent it to Russia. Tchaikovsky sent a note along. He said: I bought this instrument, it’s top secret .. For him it was like his secret weapon for composing.”

Are celestas common?

Today the celesta is an increasingly rare beast. Only one company, Schiedmayer, produces the instrument according to the original design, continuing a production run that began in 1890.

Some ballet companies, including the Boston Ballet, have the instrument, but they are few and far between. Galie’s unique ownership of not one, but two celestas sets him apart, and he has become a go-to source for the sound.

What music does the celesta appear in?

Its ethereal tones appear in current compositions, like the Harry Potter soundtrack, but for many people the celesta’s bell-like tone conjures images of the iconic and classic holiday ballet, the Nutcracker Suite.

Does the celesta have a future?

Galie said some groups without the actual instrument attempt to replicate the sound of the celesta’s hammers and bells using a digital synthesizer.

“What happens with a lot of orchestras is they use a synthesizer,” said Galie. “It’s actually a pretty big difference and also you have all these beautiful instruments and these expensive violins …  and then you have someone sitting here with a synthesizer and a speaker. It’s sort of sad. “

For more information:

Kevin Galie website

Schiedmayer – About the Celesta