Meet Your Hosts

Danilo Konvalinka
Danilo is a quiet man, born in Yugoslavia but raised in Austria. He came to this country in 1956 and has always been in the music box business. His vocation and avocation are one in the same, mechanical musical instruments. Danilo's Grandfather was Ferdinand Lang, who was the favored composer of the last royalty of Austria, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. His mother was a coloratura soprano and sang at the Vienna Volks Opera. His father was a self-styled engraver, craftsman and clock repairman who also played piano by ear. One of his aunts was a classically trained professional pianist who specialized in interpretations of Mozart. Some of his other aunts were violinists. Initially, with his wife Lois, the collection grew from one shop to several satellite shops around the country with many dedicated employees, the Musical Wonder House Museum beginning in 1963. Since 1987 Danilo has single-handedly increased the collection to 5000 pieces. Luckily for us, Danilo and Joe open the museum every summer to the public and share their passion for music with us. There is no other museum in the world which offers so many examples of restored mechanical musical instruments, displayed in such elegant surroundings, and maintained for all generations to marvel. It is indeed The Musical Wonder House.

Joseph M. Villani
Joseph M. Villani was raised in Milo, Maine. He was educated in Lenox, Massachusetts and Rochester New York, graduating with a BS in Music Ed with concentrations in Piano and Voice. Along with Master's study at Westminster Choir College under Joseph Flummerfelt and Nancy Parrella, USM and WCSU, he has sung with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Robert Shaw for the 'Mostly Mozart' series at Lincoln Center, NYC, as well as having the honor to sing for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London England. Joseph was recognized in Maine, New Jersey and New York for his contributions to the District, State and Regional MENC and ACDA organizations as a clinician, conductor, manager and accompanist. His school ensembles have performed throughout the northeast. When not at the Musical Wonder House, you can find him performing, accompanying soloists and leading the sing-alongs at the Front Porch in Ogunquit, Maine.

Richard and Marilyn Delano
Richard Delano hails from Phippsburg, Maine to a long line of seafaring folk in 1940, raised and schooled in Bath, Maine, graduating in 1959 from Morse High School. He joined the Navy for four years, and returned to Maine in 1963 to marry his high school sweetheart Marilyn. Richard graduated from UM, Farmington, with a degree in Education in 1966, and has taught grade 6 in Topsham ever since. Richard and Marilyn live in Woolrich, have raised two boys, and are now the proud grandparents of five. Richard loves meeting people from away, using different languages and guiding old and new friends through the Musical Wonder House. Marilyn enjoys greeting the people and working in the gift shop.

Paulo Carvalho
Paulo Carvalho hails from a large family in San Paulo, Brazil. With a PHD in Education from Oxford, England, he has served both as a high school professor and as a principal. Later Paulo worked for the government as the Personal Assistant to the Governor of San Paulo. He enjoys greeting our visitors and assisting them in the gift shop. When he is not in the hall or the giftshop, you will find him nurturing the beautiful flowers that grace the walkway to the mansion.