The second MozartJahr was in full swing by 2006, so the Canadian orchestra Tafelmusik made it the focus of its season. The Mozart scholar and pianist Robert Levin (who had done so much with our Schantz piano in the early ‘90s) was invited for a week of concerts using our instrument at the University of Toronto. That meant Barbara had to go service the piano and tune for all the rehearsals and concerts. Everybody happy: UT got free piano maintenance, Tafel got a free fortepiano, Bob was sold out with great reviews, audiences and Barbara got terrific concerts with Bob’s usual brilliant performances and improvisations.
Back in the shop, another French double received very untraditional decoration for a client with a taste for art nouveau. We turned to Kerry Witmer, the faux finish artist who had done such wonderful marbling on our Flemish harpsichord. He came up with a wonderful free-form soundboard painting and Tom designed an appropriate nouveau-style stand.
Kerry’s versatility found another outlet on the outer case for an Italian harpsichord based on an antique instrument in our possession. The client’s wife was a violinist, and they were in awe of the photos in a new volume featuring the decorated instruments of Antonio Stradivari. We decided to use the patterns on the side bouts of a famous violin to embellish the case. And then the lid interior received a stippled treatment that looked very textured.
A very different sort of Italian harpsichord was in the shop for restoration. Karen and Peter Flint were expanding their collection of antique harpsichords, and a very large instrument with an elaborate outer case and extraordinary tall stand came into their hands. After an initial treatment in 2006 to make it musically useable, it came back the following year for a more complete restoration. We had done some maintenance and performance-related service for the Flints in the previous few years, but as their acquisitions increased there would be more serious restoration and involvement with the collection that continues today.
