Most Expensive Pianos
Written by: tom Filed Under: Music, World on December 18th, 2006Have you ever tried to imagine what the world’s most expensive piano might be? Imagine no further. The most expensive piano in the world belonged to the Beatle’s John Lennon and was auctioned off to British pop-singer George Michael in 2000. When the topic of expensive pianos comes to mind you might think somewhere along the lines of a Bosendorfer, or a Bechstein, or maybe a Steinway & Sons “Alma-Tedema”, with its lavish artwork and hand crafted symmetry. But the Steinway & Sons “Model Z” Piano formerly owned by John Lennon is a fairly ordinary walnut upright piano that still bears a few cigarette burns attributed to the musician.
The piano was originally bought by Lennon in December 1970 and delivered to a studio at his home in Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire, England. He composed and recorded the song “Imagine” on it and was filmed playing the song on it for the first time for his wife, Yoko Ono, and the Plastic Ono band. Believed to be a piece of British history by many, the most expensive piano in the world sold at auction in the year 2000 for £1.45 million (about US $2.1 million) to George Michael after a “who’s who” bidding war that included several other British celebrities.
A Steinway & Sons Model Z
After using the world’s most expensive piano to record songs for an album, George Michael returned the piano to the Liverpool museum that housed it prior to his ownership. He stated that “the piano was not the type of thing that should be in storage somewhere or being protected, it should be seen by people.”
Of course, that doesn’t help anyone with seven figure budget and an urge to own the most expensive piano on the market. Luckily for anyone like that, Kuhn Studio and Bösendorfer Pianos have created a very pricey piano.
The Kuhn-Bösendorfer piano, as well as the accompanying bench, is set with 100,000 hand-cut, polished gems by glass artist Jon Kuhn. Kuhn’s glasswork is known for its luminescent quality and is featured permanently in over thirty-five museums, including the New YorkMetropolitan Museum of Modern Art and the White House Permanent Collection.
The Bösendorfer piano on which the diamonds are set is no less deserving of praise. Bösendorfer has been a name in the piano industry known for voice and playing sensitivity since 1828.
The Kuhn- Bösendorfer line of pianos will soon be available for public consumption. Anyone wishing to own the most expensive piano available can expect to shell out $1.2 million for the privilege.
A Kuhn-Bösendorfer piano
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Wow! Too expensive… Find a music store that sells used instruments, that way you can get a better price on a decent instrument (piano don’t “spoil” or “get used up”). In fact, older instruments are generally better because the wood has had time to age and they are less likely to warp or change.
There’s a picture of the actual piano available at this link:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/jonkuhn/bosendorferpiano/prweb1923994.htm
The earlier picture was an illustration.
those piano’s are so awsome
I Love piano’s so much there realy cool
wow. its very expensive I dont think anyone would buy such tag price! hehehe
i have a piano of 1 million yah
A really ugly piano
I’d take the Bösendorfer. I once saw a piano that don henley bought which was shown in a steinway dealer store. It was made of brush wood and went for 400,000+. It’d be nice to have that much to blow on a piano!
If you think that’s expensive for a piano, look into the stradivarius violins