The Fazioli piano in the lobby of the Shangri-La Hotel in Toronto has a Joni Mitchell quote carved inside.REMENYI HOUSE OF MUSIC PHOTO
Even if you don’t play music, a luxurious grand piano always hits the right note in high-end décor. The latest trend for putting your piano in the spotlight is to have it customized.
“It’s a relatively new phenomenon,” says Mike Remenyi, junior vice-president of Remenyi House of Music in Toronto. “An interior designer can put a customized piano into a home in a way that transforms the space but it’s functional. A customized piano is an interactive work of art.”
Of course, you don’t need an interior designer, but with prices starting at about $150,000 and up for a customized piano, homeowners usually want it placed just so in their large spaces.
These pianos typically measure five feet in width and seven feet in length and weigh about 455 kilograms.
“We are seeing this trend partly because interior designers are seeing this as a way to separate themselves as well as the space,” Remenyi says.
World-respected piano makers such as Fazioli, whose facility in Italy Remenyi has visited, have the capability of creating eye-popping, superbly sounding pieces.
While Remenyi says he must respect his client’s wishes for privacy and therefore can’t provide specifics about these pianos in homes within the Greater Toronto Area, he says you can get a glimpse of a customized piano in the lobby of the Shangri-La Hotel in Toronto.
The piano’s finish is meant to mimic a finish that the hotel used in its restaurant and the inside of the lid is carved with a Joni Mitchell quote, Remenyi says.
It’s even not a problem if you’ve purchased a piano as a stunning collectible but can’t play it. Technology now allows hundreds of hours of recorded music featuring the piano to be available at voice command.
“Someone can come into their home and say, hey Siri, play me Bach’s Prelude, and the piano will play it for them,” Remenyi says. “You can even hear your piano played by different artists.”
PianoDisc and QRS are two options for turning your piano into a player piano system. And if you want to actually play your piano yourself, but have only yourself hear it through headphones, you can engage PianoDisc’s QuietTime piano silencer.
This content was produced by The Globe and Mail’s Globe Content Studio, in consultation with an advertiser. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved in its creation.