It isn’t every day you see a huge truck with “Professional Piano Movers” painted on its side trying to make the turn at Main and Adams streets, but that’s just what happened last Friday morning. The truck was delivering a Steinway & Sons baby grand piano to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville.
Less than a half-hour after the truck parked in front of the museum, two men had unloaded the instrument and set it up in MOCA’s theater. The Steinway is on loan from Philip Pan, the concertmaster of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. The piano has been in Pan’s family for years and will be on loan to MOCA indefinitely.
“It’s a magnificent piano and a magnificent gift,” commented MOCA Director Debbie Broder. She said music is part of the contemporary art world and the piano will be used to make music a regular offering at the museum.
The Steinway will make its official debut Feb. 24 at 2 p.m., Broder said, when Pan will be joined by JSO flutist Rhonda Cassano for a performance. It will be open to the public and admission is free.
She also said she hopes it will be the first of many concerts of 20th- and 21st-century music held at MOCA.
”There is no way we could have had such a wonderful piano without this generous gesture,” added Broder.