A grand piano once used by Sarah McLachlan may be too pricy for Anvil Theatre.
On Monday, city council considered a staff recommendation to buy a Yamaha CFX grand piano for use in the Anvil Theatre. For the past few months, Anvil Theatre has been renting the piano, which was used by McLachlan on her recent tour.
“As the theatre is becoming busier and busier, there is more requirement compared to 2016,” said Vali Marling, general manager of Anvil Centre. “To date we have 12 rentals for the piano and that’s just year-to-date – that does not include what is upcoming.”
A staff report stated the original cost of the piano was $215,000, but the price was discounted by 33 per cent ($72,000) because it was used and a further $10,000 from rental fees that have been paid to date. To cover the cost of the piano, staff proposed transferring $90,000 from a speaker replacement request and finding $43,000 from the theatre’s operating budget and a potential sponsorship and/or payment plan with the supplier.
Marling said the supplier is willing to work with the city on a payment plan over a two- or three-year period. She said an organization may be willing to sponsor the piano in exchange for giving its name to a series of musical performances.
“There is not a lot of leased pianos of the quality that the clients are looking for,” she told council April 24. “We have struggled to find the quality we require.”
If the theatre doesn’t purchase a piano, Marling said it will continue to rent one for the theatre.
“We look at how many times the piano is required over a four- to 12-week period. We would rent it for whatever time that’s required. It’s less money that way than paying for the delivery and pickup of the piano,” she said. “Every time the piano is moved there is a cost incurred to tune the piano.”
Some councillors expressed surprise with the funding request for the piano, as it had been considered and rejected during discussion about the five-year capital plan.
“This has come back as an issue with the theatre,” Marling explained. “All theatres have a piano and currently at Anvil Theatre we are renting a piano. It’s the current piano that the theatre operator is recommending for purchase.”
Council opposed the piano purchase, but directed staff to report back with more information on the matter.
“I appreciate that a piano is a requirement of a theatre of this calibre,” said Coun. Mary Trentadue. “It makes sense to purchase rather than to continue doing a rental, which seems like a very awkward process. I do actually support the theatre having a piano. It sounds like a piece of equipment that should have been part of the initial start-up for the theatre.”
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr expressed concern about buying a piano from the supplier without exploring other potential sources for a piano and seeing if the city can find a better deal.
“I need to see a business case for a $250,000 piano,” said Coun. Patrick Johnstone. “There are a range of pianos available. This is at one end of the range available to us. It’s hard for me to agree to this without having some idea what the actual business case is as far as rentals, how much we are actually going to make from having this piano. I don’t have the information in this report to approve this.”
