“A precious Chinese instrument worth $50,000 was damaged on a US Airways flight on Friday,” writes Brian Wise at WQXR’s blog on Sunday (6/23). Its owner, pipa virtuoso Wu Man, was “boarding a flight from Philadelphia to New Haven, where she was to give a world premiere with the Kronos Quartet” of a work she co-wrote with Philip Glass. “Wu said she had tried to stow the delicate instrument in an overhead compartment but it would not fit. She asked if she could strap the instrument into the empty seat next to her, but was denied. A flight attendant then offered to stow the pipa in a coat closet in the front of the plane. As the attendant was opening the closet, she dropped the instrument, causing the neck to snap in two.… Wu got off the flight with her broken instrument, and was later booked a bigger aircraft to Hartford, which had more overhead room.… The International Festival of Arts & Ideas, where Wu performed on Saturday night, arranged for a substitute pipa for her concert.… Earlier this year a $20,000 cello bow belonging to Alban Gerhardt, was snapped in two in an incident involving the Transportation Security Administration.”
Posted June 24, 2013
