Urban Pianos come to Town

The reclaimed and customised Pianos have found a warm welcome in town, and have found homes in the Passion Café, Sophisticakes Tea Shop, the RAIN Building , The Antiques Centre, Imperial Buildings , Whistle Stop Sweet Shop and the Old Market Gallery. 

They will all be in place and tuned up for Saturday September 29, ready to play the new melody created by Joshua Goodman, with Rotherham residents being encouraged to have a go!

Their arrival will be celebrated this Saturday from 12.50pm as local Charity Fundraiser Dominic Hurley will carry inspiration from the Kasabian piano in Riverside to the other pianos with the melody as he goes, ending in All Saints Square, where two pianos will play the melody and be accompanied by musicians taking part in the Busking Day.    

This will form the focus of the launch of Rotherham Open Arts Festival by Steve Rogers.

The pianos will be on display from 11am till 3pm for the public to play.

Penny of the Passion Café said: "We have been really looking forward to seeing our piano, created by young people in JADE in Kiveton."

Sam of JADE added: "Our young people have really worked hard at preparing and painting the piano and also in working with Joshua, we hope you all like it!"

Listerdale school said: "We are so thrilled to have been picked for this project as it has been a terrific experience for the pupils. "Working with the artist was a fantastic experience for children and staff. It is wonderful that generations of children will be able to play our Listerdale Urban Piano and be inspired to create and perform."

RAIN Building Manager Yvonne Woolley says "what an amazing opportunity for the RAIN Building to accommodate a customised piano.  I'm sure it will be a real eye catcher and we are keen to display it in support of the Rotherham Urban Pianos project."

David Kenyon of the Piano Centre has been moving pianos around the borough and will be making them ready for the event.

He said: "It's been an unusual project, we have been delivering pianos to groups and then when we collect them they look totally different! I am sure this will raise interest in people playing the piano."

The project was inspired by the piano "customised" by Ben Kealey of the band Kasabian, now in the new Gallery at Riverside .

Rotherham people have been very generous with their pianos, community groups and schools across the borough have been working hard to decorate them and also contributing to the melody created by Composer Joshua Goodman.

Joshua said: "There was a fantastic level of interest and I was amazed how creative Rotherham people were with the piano we had on display at Rotherham Show." Joshua has created a simple melody that can be played by one person or two less confident people together, so people of all abilities can join in.

Whistle Stop Sweet Shop have already had lots of people visiting to play their piano on show there, and we are appealing to all those visitors and to anyone with an interest, whether enthusiastic amateur or experienced professional, to play our Urban Pianos at our event.

If anyone would like to register to play an Urban Piano or book tuition with Get Sorted, (free for this project) please call Lizzy Alageswaran of the Gallery Town Project on 01709 823636 or email.

Information will also be posted on the Arts - Rotherham Urban Pianos' Project page of the Rotherham Council website and the new Art in Rotherham Facebook page.

The project is funded by Arts Council England.