A gruesome photo of a piano covered in blood has been making the rounds on the internet and in just three days has received over 1 million views.
The photo was taken by staff at the Cincinnati World Piano Competition (CWPC) after a second round performance by pianist Rui Urayama.
Representing Japan, Urayama was in the middle of a Bartok Sonata when her fingers began to bleed profusely. She continued to play and reported that she did not feel any pain.
According to a staff member, it took the piano technician nearly 20 minutes to clean off the blood, which had dripped down between the keys and settled in the key bed.
As posted on Reddit, here is a firsthand account of the performance:
For anyone interested in context for this, I am on staff at the CWPC. I originally took this photo and it was shared on Facebook by one of the jury members for the competition and took off from there. This competitor was a female playing the Bartok Sonata in round 2 of the competition. She advanced to the semifinals but lost last night. She already had some cuts on her fingers that she had been bandaging before this round, and they burst open during her piece. There were also drops of blood on the ground around the piano. It took our piano technician a good 15-20 minutes to get it all cleaned up since it dripped down in between the keys as well. The most amazing part about it was that this girl continued to play as she was bleeding all over and was trying to wipe the blood off of the piano while completing the end of her piece.
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