Consumate musician gone

The Gloucester Times (Mass.) reports that Stephen Scotti has died. The article quotes one of his friends:

”He would come over to tune our piano, and he would give us a concert for two hours and in between he’d tighten a couple of strings — and I didn’t care if he tuned anything,” said Gilson. “We’d have a houseful of people here listening by the time he finished.”

I met Scotti only once, in circumstances rather like that. He was a guest at a cast party after a rural theater performance. He simply sat down at the piano and entertained and engaged a diverse set of party goers for two unforgettable hours. It was a privilege to have been in a room with this artist of entertainment, even once.