Children’s choir of the ‘Pedagogiki’ primary school in Athens during the shooting of episode 9 at Cape Sounion.

MY URBAN PIANO, a matter of the heart

A short introduction to MY URBAN PIANO

From 2017 to 2018 I was traveling to different European countries, to cities that were or are going to be a European Capital of Culture. MY URBAN PIANO was inspired by the project of the same name by the city of Luxembourg, where each summer colorful pianos are put in public places throughout the city. In June 2016 I had composed a piece for Mother’s Day called Mama. The music video for Mama was recorded on the ‘Urban Pianos’ in Luxembourg, went viral and finally led to the creation of my own version of MY URBAN PIANO.

With my ‘Piano of Hope’ in Leipzig.

Music has always been a messenger of peace, a voice of hope amidst of the fights and wars that afflict millions of people around the world. MY URBAN PIANO wants to remind us of the gift of peace that the European people have been blessed with for more than 60 years now. It is my deep wish to bring joy, hope, love and peace to the people that I visit with my music.

It is my deep wish to bring joy, hope, love and peace to the people that I visit with my music.

David Ianni’s MY URBAN PIANO — A review on an exciting musical journey through Europe. German version here.

In Vienna with the ‘Honeck Quartett’ playing ’Butterflies’, episode 8 (photo by Angela Kalista).

For MY URBAN PIANO I composed a specific piece for each city that I visited. I performed this music on a colorful piano which was designed by people of the city and will remain there as a symbol of friendship, mutual esteem and joint creativity. The final result of this creative process is a series of unique music videos that are dedicated to the different cities. Also, each episode is accompanied by a ‘making of’ video that documents the creation of the music videos. You can watch all of these videos on my homepage.

MY URBAN PIANO, released in December 2018, available here.

MY URBAN PIANO led me to the following places:

1. Luxembourg: Train of Dreams / Making Of / Single
2. Esch: Heartland / Making Of / Single
3. Aarhus: Joy / Making Of / Single
4. Prague: River of Love / Making Of / Single
5. Reykjavík: Snowflakes / Making Of / Single
6. Brussels: Parallel Worlds / Making Of / Single
7. Berlin: Friends / Making Of / Single
8. Vienna: Butterflies / Making Of / Single
9. Athens: Agios o Theos / Making Of / Single

During the shoot for ‘Heartland’ (episode 2) with actress Brigitte Urhausen (photo by Emile Hengen).

I have worked with different musicians, met a lot of wonderful people, from children to leukemia patients, people with disabilities, refugees, ambassadors, artists and many, many more. I am deeply grateful for every person who has been and is a part of this amazing journey. From the earliest days of my project I prayed that everyone who is involved in MY URBAN PIANO and exposed to its music should be blessed with positive experiences. I hope that the music and the videos will spread the message that we are all connected, and that peace can and should be a reality for every human being.

David Ianni, July 2018

Picture taken before the video shoot of episode 1, “Train of Dreams” (photo by Jeanine Unsen).

Photo by David Olkarny.

Pianist and composer David Ianni from Luxembourg has become well-known for his project MY URBAN PIANO: a series of music videos is produced in different European Capitals of Culture. An original composition is dedicated to each city, performed on an artistically designed piano. Each piano is donated. Join the journey and follow David on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and sign up for his newsletter. Each video plus making of material is published to David’s YouTube channel. For more informations, please visit www.davidianni.com.