Because it was owned by a German firm, the hall was seized as "enemy property" during World War I. The hall with over 130 pianos was sold at an auction to Debenhams for a very small amount of money, and was re-opened as Wigmore Hall in 1917. Musicians who have performed there since include Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Victoria de los Ángeles, Sergei Prokofiev, Shura Cherkassky, Paul Hindemith, Andrés Segovia, Julian Bream, Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten and Francis Poulenc. 