Tori Sutton
Staff Reporter

A grassroots campaign to save an old piano with an unique history is picking up steam.
Concerned community members have rallied over the last week after news that a 1913 Steinway & Sons piano – believed to have been played by Glenn Gould and Oscar Peterson – had been sold by a local church and was headed out of the city.

St. John’s United Church recently sold the piano to a doctorate student from Owen Sound who plans to become a concert pianist.

Actor Bruce Dow – best known for his work on the Festival stage – found himself fronting the effort after being contacted by a “few members” of the St. John’s congregation who had concerns about the piano leaving Stratford.

Since a story appeared in local media over a week ago, Dow said he’s been flooded with phone calls and emails of support.

Plenty of people have also pledged financial support for its purchase, something that has made money a non-issue, he said.

Anyone interested in contacting Dow can do so at bruce@brucedow.com or savethestratfordpiano@hotmail.com.

He’s also received feedback from the F Minor Society, Canadian conductor and pianist Mario Bernardi and the Benjamin Britten Peter Paris Foundation, which have all agreed the piano should be kept in the city.

Now Dow is working to establish a formal committee, and its first meeting is expected to be held soon.

“I think this is a great piece of Stratford’s heritage and is something we should hang onto,” Dow said.

“It’s a piano that should be available for everybody to play.”

 To that end, the piano is really just the tip of the iceberg for Dow, who said it’s not only about keeping it in the city, but establishing an arts centre where it can be played.

“There is no place in the city for local artists to perform,” he said, noting the Stratford Shakespeare Festival – though very generous – is not a community theatre for public use.

“What we don’t have in town is a community arts centre. We have a brand new rec centre which is wonderful but we don’t have a performance space for the community.”

Dow stresses the issue has little to do with the St. John’s – he calls it a great church with great people – but more about what can be done now to save the piano.

His research indicates the piano was first owned by the Rotary Club of Stratford and used by many organizations, including the Stratford Festival. It was sold in 1969 to St. John’s for about $2,000. The new buyer paid between $25,000 and $30,000, he said.

St. John’s board chairperson Trudy Jonkman said the piano, which had been used for choir practices, had been tuned regularly but was in need of major refurbishment, a project the church could not take on.

When the church was approached by a party last summer interested in purchasing the Steinway, it had the piano appraised.

Jonkman said the church did its due diligence and decided it was time to sell the piano. The board felt confident in sending the piano to its new home, knowing it would be refurbished and played by someone with great talent, she noted.

“We are really truly completed thrilled,” Jonkman added.

There are tentative plans to have the pianist play a concert at St. John’s before moving the piano out of town.

Stratford resident John Sewell was the one who initially put the buyers in touch with the church, something he did as a favour and received no compensation for, he said.

“The two groups are very good people and I just wanted to help them out,” he said.

Now that the purchase has stirred up some controversy, he is representing the pianist and her parents, who do not wish to be identified at this time.

Sewell said the family is aware of the situation, but to date, nothing has changed and the sale remains final.

However, he is open to receiving a proposal from the group that is forming and is committed to keeping the channels of communication open.

“If they want to do that it might influence their thoughts, I don’t know,” Sewell said. “If this is what people feel they need to do it’s better they do that and see what happens.”

Roger Hilderley, vice-chair of the Perth County Historical Foundation, said his group is not ready to make a statement on the Steinway. He expects it will be discussed at an upcoming board meeting next month. Until then, he would like to see the situation remain positive, making it more about saving the piano than who sold or bought it.

“The board of directors of the Historical Foundation is solidly behind keeping it here in Stratford,” he said.