Flown directly
to Victoria, Italian ‘Fazioli’ piano is hailed as ‘World’s Finest’
VICTORIA, BC – Before heading over to Vancouver to do some
piano shopping, a Victoria-based physician and his wife consulted ‘The Piano
Book’ – an in-depth guide to purchasing pianos by piano-guru Larry Fine. In it they came
across an Italian brand of pianos called ‘Fazioli’ that the book describes as
being “impeccably prepared” and “combining both great power
and great warmth in a way that few other pianos can”. The book
rates the Fazioli in class ‘1 A’, which is the highest possible rating
for any piano. The factory was founded 30
years ago by Paolo Fazioli – a pianist and an engineer that set out to make the
finest piano in the world.
Needless to say, their curiosity was piqued. Knowing
that even the smallest Faziolis are just under $100,000 meant that they had
only planned to just see one to satisfy their curiosity and then they were
going to continue their shopping. But things didn’t exactly turn out that
way.
Amazed by the beauty of what they saw and heard, the
Victoria couple ordered a 6 foot long Fazioli that was priced at
$110,000. All Fazioli pianos are made to order and are tested by the
company’s founder Paolo Fazioli before they leave the factory. Each
one takes more than 1000 hours of highly specialized hand work to make, which means
that if a buyer is not taking one of the pianos the store has in stock, then
their piano will come 3 or 4 months after the order has been placed.
Factory founder Paolo Fazioli himself took at detour on his way to Calgary to stop in Victoria, and was interviewed by both the Times Colonist and Oak Bay News, two local newspapers that we excited to meet the famed piano maker at a media event where pianist Daniel Chow performed. Having only a few hours in BC, Fazioli flew back to Vancouver by helicopter.
Read TIMES COLONIST article here
Read OAK BAY NEWS article here
Today, a growing number of professional pianists are convinced that Fazioli makes the finest pianos available in the world – including jazz legend Herbie Hancock, and the world's leading interpreter of Bach music Angela Hewitt. Only around 100 pianos are made each year in this small factory just north of Venice. Fazioli pianos feature many innovations – the sum of which has caused the pianos to be hailed as the absolute 'pinnacle' of the piano world. They have many parts plated in 18K gold to prevent corrosion, and at the heart of each Fazioli lies a soundboard that is taken from the same trees in northern Italy where Antonio Stradivari once carved his wood for his famous violins. Their ‘F308’ model is the world's largest piano in production at staggering length of 10 feet and 2 inches.
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