Piano City Milano 2016

This year, once again, pianos will invade houses, yards, stations, roofs, farmsteads, museums, schools, libraries, laboratories, parks. Music won't stop from the sunset to the dawn and from the dawn until the sunset in a continuous love declaration for the piano, its music and for the city of Milan.

2016. Awakening notes

In these last five years, like a kaleidoscope, we changed and shaped ourselves to give voice to the music and to the most surprising urban sites. 2016 edition wants to tell about these five years of changes throughout Milan. A two-day&night journey from the centre to the suburbs on the notes of our pianos spread in the best spaces telling the story of the city from historical locations to new areas.

House concerts and Yards
Milanese people open the doors of their houses and the gates of their yards creating a social and sharing occasion. Someone prepares some sneak or a tea and an unusual listening experience to live together.

Diffuse concerts
Piano City Milano means bringing music everywhere, above all in areas which normally don't host any concert, turning the visual fields upside down and turning Milano into a great concert hall. Pianos will be hosted by the most characteristic Milanese corners thanks to City Concerts, produced and ideated by Piano City Milano for its audience. The Guest Concerts are all those appointments which are self-produced, proposed and organized by various realities such as schools and associations. For the little ones (from 0 to 12) Piano Kids: events, workshops and lessons for children.

house concerts

Concerts in private Milan residences spread all across town. An intimate space turns into a meeting place for a musical performance.

Yards

One of the characteristics of the city of Milan is that behind the facades of many buildings one can find small courtyards, intimate places usually only available to the residents that, more often than not, are true hidden gems..

City concerts

Squares, parks, stations, museums and the most characteristic spots of Milan’s everyday life turn into concert halls.

Guest concert

Concerts that were suggested and organized by other associations, and that Piano City Milano is happy to include in its program

Kids concert

Events, workshops and lessons especially created for children.

Piano Center

During the Piano City Milano days, The Gam/Pac museum center and the Royal Villa gardens turn into Piano Center, the very heart of the event.

December 16, 2011. It was an icy winter night

At caserma Mascheroni, a music marathon played by 30 pianists was the prelude of Piano City Milano
A few months later, in May, 2012, Piano Twelve, Vinicio Capossela and a “rain-soaked” piano opened the first Piano City Milano event. For the first time ever, many citizens opened the door of their homes to host a concert and invited the people of Milan to enjoy a new kind of listening and socializing experience.
Following the same method, through the years we wandered around town looking for new and unusual ways to describe the city: thanks to this vision, pianos got on trams and climbed up roofs, they rode through town on piano-bikes and boats played music as they sailed along the Navigli.
Once again this year, pianos will take over homes, courtyards, train stations, trams, boats, museums, parks and schools, and they will turn Milan into a single, huge open-air stage.

Thanks to all our friends and music aficionados who supported and believed in Piano City Milano. A particular “thank you” goes out to all the citizens of Milan and the locations that made their space available to us. Thanks also to everyone who offered to participate, but whom unfortunately we weren’t able to include in this year’s program.
Thank you, your response has been huge and we hope we’ll have you with us next year!

Organized by: h+; Ponderosa Music&Art
Founder: Daniela Cattaneo Diaz; Titti Santini
Artistic direction: Ricciarda Belgiojoso; Titti Santini
Festival Direction: Lorenzo Carni; Manuela Rosignoli
Administration: Barbara Gasperini; Francesca Raimondi
Production: City concert; Sirio Rotatori; Fabio Ferretti; Francesca Raimondi; Piano center; Matteo Milani; Giovanna Alfieri; Giovanni Fercioni - Cortili e assistenza city concert; Aronne Galimberti - Inaugurazione e artisti stranieri; Valeria Jampaglia - Responsabile logistica pianoforti; Barbara Gasperini - Guest Concert; Alesandro Salerno - gestione Siae
Staff: Francesco Bollani; Silvia Bovio; Nicoletta Calderoni; Emanuele Calorio; Stefano Coppelli; Giulia De Brasi; Andrea Dettori; Monica Falotico; Laura Favero; Samya Kadri; Alice Lecchi; Gabriella Manfrè; Camilla Rossi; Raffaella Scrimitore; Federica Simeon; Anna Tonetti; Monica Zecchino
Documentazione e Adv Video: (h)films
Public Affairs per Emerson Still: Francesca Sironi
Press office: Stilema
Graphic design: Zetalab; Francesca Sperti; Marco Boldrini
Tickets: Mail Ticket
Thanks to:: Assessorato alla Cultura del Comune di Milano, in particolare tutto il personale del Settore Spettacolo e della Galleria d’Arte Moderna; Flavio Addolorato; Katia Anguelova; Natalia Avella; Anna Bosoni; Sebastiano Cognolato; Matteo Costantini; Paola Dall'Olio; Filippo Del Corno; Fabrizia De Vita; Ludovico Einaudi; Ulisse Garnerone; Veruska Mandelli; Alice Manfredi; Vittorio Meloni; Andrea Minetto; Anna Mortara; Valentina Netti; Andrea Prandi; Gianmaria Radice; Paola Rita Scotti; Anna Traverso; Deborah Turati; Monica Vanini; Lo staff di Ponderosa e h+; I volontari di Piano City Milano
From a concept by:: Andreas Kern

Are all concerts free?
Many concerts are free of charge. Others, such as the house and courtyard concerts are also free of charge but they need to be booked in advance through our website http://www.pianocitymilano.it/programma.
What concerts do I need to make a reservation for?
Reservation is mandatory for all house and courtyard concerts and for some concerts around town. You will find all the info on the program right next to each event.
Which concerts are free?
Most shows around town are free entry, although for some them (where indicated) you need to make a reservation in advance. Please double check the info for each show on the program.
The concert I want to attend is sold out. What can I do?
You can check back on the website every few minutes or so to see if anyone has cancelled their reservation, in which case you can proceed to make another reservation under your name.
What about the concerts I don’t have to make a reservation for?
Almost all concerts around town are free entry, especially the ones at Piano Center. Be careful, though, because some of these shows have a limited capacity, so entry will be free on a “first come, first served” basis. In these cases, we strongly advise you get to the location of the event well ahead of time to make sure you can get in.
How do I know whether an event with mandatory reservation still has available seats?
To check on the availability of a concert, just continue with your booking procedure. If the show is sold out, the server will automatically tell you there are no more available seats and the procedure will be halted.
Where can I find out the address of a house concert?
For privacy and security reasons, the address of a house concert will only be revealed after you have made your reservation.
Where can I find Piano City Milano’s program?
The program can be found at Milan’s main cultural spots (museums, libraries and so on) or it can be downloaded in pdf format directly from our website.
What happens if the concert is outside (garden, courtyard...) and it’s raining?
In the event of rain, Friday night’s opening show will be the ONLY event that will be postponed to the following night (Saturday the 23rd). For all other concerts, since the locations are many and diverse, we can’t establish a rule to follow in case it rains. We suggest you still go to the location where the event is supposed to be held. There, you will be guaranteed to find a member of our staff who will give you the right directions. If not, you can still check our website or our facebook page.
I see that some events don’t have the “reserve” option, why is that?
If you don’t see a “reserve” option next to the event, it means the event is free entry. Please keep in mind you should get to the location a bit earlier than showtime where the clause “entry free on a first come, first served basis” is indicated.
I am a pianist. Can I take part in the events?
Unfortunately, registrations are now closed. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive info on when registration will open again for next year’s festival. Also, follow us on facebook to be kept up to date!