MY URBAN PIANO Diary 14
The story behind the upcoming Berlin episode
The ‘Making Of’ MY URBAN PIANO / Episode 7 / FRIENDS (Berlin)
The idea behind “Friends”
The upcoming Berlin episode is very special to me. It marks the beginning of the second half of my project and raises MY URBAN PIANO to a new level. I always felt that music has a role to fulfill in our society that goes well beyond mere entertainment. Music should nourish the soul and bring hope and joy to the people, reminding us of our eternal self, thus glorifying our Creator — a mission statement that already J.S. Bach had 300 years ago. Given my close relationship to cellist Lisa Berg who was diagnosed with leukemia in summer 2015 and lost her battle against this unmerciful enemy, I wanted to help DKMS (Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei, German Bone Marrow Donor Centre) in their endeavors to defeat blood cancer. Children, who personify Hope so beautifully, should be at the center of this music video, designing a Piano of Hope (‘Das Hoffnungsklavier’).
Partners
I contacted the Luxembourgish Fondation Cancer who have given me the opportunity to premiere episode 7 at their annual Relais pour la Vie (on March 24th 2018), a charity event that welcomes thousands of people every year. As a Steinway artist (for over twenty years now) I also wanted to team up with my favorite piano manufacturer. I am grateful that Steinway & Sons sponsored an Essex upright piano that we have painted and designed for the music video. My friend, artist Raphael Gindt, who already designed the piano for episode 2, Heartland, drew up a plan to let a group of children paint the piano during the shooting of the video. I was fortunate that the headmaster of the Mercator-Grundschule, Mrs. Katrin Radjabali Fardi and her colleagues were very supportive of my project. Together with a group of almost a dozen of their pupils, we filmed episode 7 on March 11th 2018. For this video I hired Noumia Film, whose work I’ve known and appreciated since I first heard of them last year. Last but not least, I re-connected with two wonderful partners from last year: the Luxembourgish railway company CFL and Pianohaus Marcus Hübner from Trier. More on their contribution later.
The ‘Piano of Hope’ — Das ‘Hoffnungsklavier’
The piano, painted in red to symbolize life in all its vigor and energy, will go on a journey with the goal to touch and change lives. On March 24th, it will be presented to the public for the first time at the ‘Relais pour la Vie’ in Luxembourg, where I will play a few of my pieces in front of thousands of people. It will then be showcased at Pianohaus Hübner in Trier for almost two months, where people can play and touch this beautiful piano. During this time I will play a few concerts on the ‘Piano of Hope’, among others a live performance on April 21st on RTL TV at their annual Télévie, a show with the goal to raise money for charity.
World Blood Cancer Day 2018
For this year’s WBCD (‘World Blood Cancer Day’), which is celebrated on May 28th, DKMS came up with a beautiful idea: a ‘Train of Hope’ will travel throughout Germany between May 23rd and May 25th in order to raise awareness and to gain bone marrow donors. The departure of the ‘Piano of Hope’ will be in Luxembourg with CFL. We will travel to different cities, where I will play the piano at the stations. Over the course of the WBCD journey, the piano will be auctioned off for charity. Arrival is on the WBCD, May 28, back in Berlin, where the video was shot. I will play at the station, and on the same day I’ll also give a mini concert at the Steinway Haus.
Looking back
Of the twelve planned episodes for MY URBAN PIANO, six episodes have been recorded and published. Here is a very quick overview, taken from the ‘Making Of’ of Parellel Worlds (episode 6, Brussels):
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.
