Yellowknife (Jan 14/05) - When her friends get together to play music, they always come to Amy Hendrick's house.

That's because Hendricks is the proud owner of a grand piano, an instrument that tends not to travel. But Hendricks' piano is unique in the distance it has travelled and the fact that Hendricks has given it a name: Nadia Petrof.

Amy Hendricks named her piano Nadia Petrof after the maker of the piano and its previous Hay River owner. - Jennifer Geens/NNSL photo

"It adds some mystery," said Hendricks.

Nadia's surname comes from the Czech company that made the piano, and Hendricks named the instrument Nadia because the piano originally belonged to a Russian. The piano came to Yellowknife from Kelowna, by way of Hay River, which is a story in itself.

A Russian concert pianist living in Hay River travelled to Kelowna to buy the piano from a dealer who offered free shipping with every purchase. The pianist bought the grand piano, but didn't tell the owner where she lived until he asked for directions to her house.

"Go to Edmonton, turn left and drive for 15 hours," was what she told him.

For Hendricks, the joy of playing classical music on the piano comes second only to her love of practising medicine. As a doctor at Stanton Territorial Hospital, she happened to be doing a visiting clinic in Hay River when she heard the Petrof was up for sale.

The fact that there was a grand piano available in Hay River, and that it was a Petrof, the kind of piano she had always dreamed of owning, sealed the deal.

"Then I had to buy a house to put it in," said Hendricks.

The long-suffering dealer from Kelowna drove up North again to transport the monster-sized instrument from Hay River to Yellowknife.

Then there was the matter of getting it into the house. The ramp for the piano turned out to be too short.

"So I called the pharmacist, which is what doctors do when we're stuck," Hendricks quipped.

Her friends raided their rock climbing equipment to fashion a pulley system and haul Nadia Petrof into the house inch by inch.

And that's where she has stayed.