Movers dropped a rare and expensive grand piano belonging to one of the world’s leading pianists, damaging it beyond repair.
Canadian musician Angela Hewitt detailed the accidental destruction of her F278 Fazioli — worth an estimated £155,000 — in a poignant Facebook post.
“I adored this piano. It was my best friend, best companion,” wrote the Italy-based pianist, who had been at a recording session in Berlin. “I loved how it felt when I was recording ― giving me the possibility to do anything I wanted.”
“I hope my piano will be happy in piano heaven,” she added.
Hewitt said Fazioli Pianos’ founder, Paolo Fazioli, and his staff had inspected the damaged instrument ― which she’d used in numerous concerts and every European recording session since 2003 ― but found its broken iron frame, lid and case to be “not salvageable.”
“It makes no sense, financially or artistically, to rebuild this piano from scratch,” she wrote. “It’s kaputt.”
The movers were “mortified,” said Hewitt, who plans to use another Fazioli piano for an upcoming summer festival in Umbria, Italy, before getting a new one of her own later this year.
“In 35 years of doing their job, this had never happened before,” she wrote. “At least nobody was hurt.”