Paula has always wanted a Grand/Baby Grand Piano. I have always wanted to get her one. It all sounds very mundane, but this is really a pretty rich story. Bottom line.... we got one!
In this picture it is being played by Oregon ER doctor Ron Potts, who recently won a major prize at the Seattle International Piano Comepetition and will soon participate in the Bosendorfer International Amateur Piano Festival in Vienna in May. He was very impressed with the piano.
We thought about a used piano for years, and Paula looked at many books and studied the best piano's. One kept jumping out at her. It was called an Estonia, a very obscure but extremely high quality piano. One day Lotof of Michelle's piano's in Portland had a display at Costco. Within hours we had ordered a new piano to be custom built in Estonia for Paula!
That was almost two years ago. The piano was delivered to Lotof's studio last June, as the Rainbow house was just coming together. We decided to wait until it was finished to take delivery. Meanwhile, Paula had a full complement of electronic attachments added to enhance it's use for teaching and enjoyment. None of it has affected the pure tone and richness in any way.
Lotof, shown here in his showroom, studio is an interesting guy in his own right. He is from Israel, a very accomplished pianist and quite the salesman! Last Thursday night, he and the local Vice Consul for Italy here in Portland hosted world renouned pianist Gianluca Luisi at the studio. He had brought Luisi from Italy to teach a number of Master's classes in the area, and he did a small (about 30 of us) concert at the studio! By the way this guy is unbelievabe. I haven't figured out how to upload a video from the interenet to this blog yet, but you have to check out this guy at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY2sSEA_lEE. Incredible.
Super nice guy as well. He had never played an Estonia piano before, so Lotof asked him to sit at ours and play a bit. He seemed to love it, and played for a long time. He was very gracious, and talked with Paula at length about the piano!
His hands move so fast and lightly it is like watching a magician! Still photo's cannot capture the beauty. GO TO THE VIDEO!
Soon I hope that this will be grandchildren at the keyboard with Paula next to them or standing as she is here helping them to find enjoyment in the piano! We are going to have to remove the front railing on the house to get the piano in, and I will surely post pictures of the piano in the house.
A super fun guy, a super evening (which I went to reluctantly) and a fun family heirloom to look forward to enjoying for generations.
Finally, a picture of Ron Potts, the local ER doctor really enjoying the Estonia! He is in his 70's. I was thinking maybe it is never too late to learn, until he told me he had been playing since he was 4 years old.
Aw shucks, maybe it really isn't too late! Peace out. Grandpa
Jessica Sellers, our deaf friend from Farmington Ward days is all grown up. A member of Credo, she was the photographer for the day. This was the only shot of her! Not bad either!
