Piano City Milan 2018, a weekend filled with music!
Milan reopens its doors to a weekend of pure music: more than 470 concerts for a total of 50 hours of music
Milan will host for the 7th year in a row the most awaited music festival of the year: Piano City Milan, a stroll through every genre imaginable lasting two days and two nights. The event will be held in the areas that best represent the city, from the city center to the more far-reaching areas of Milan.
Piano lessons, musical marathons, afternoons boasting pure tranquility, nighttime concerts, and early musical matinees of songs from some of the most famous composers in history played by many of the best piano players in the world: these are only some of the many events offered to whoever is a fan of music or who simply wishes to pass a lovely day in the company of others.
The Hotspots of Piano City
Among the areas expected to host Piano City: historical locations like the Modern Art Gallery and Palazzina Liberty and the recently created shopping center christened “City Life,” where on Sunday the 20th at 18:30 you will able to relax to the sounds of jazz, blues, and boogie-woogie of Silvan Zingg. Other locations include Eataly Milano Smeraldo, where on May 18th at 12:30 Palermo-born piano player Davide Santacolomba will play, Piazza Gae Aulenti, where piano player Stefania Tallini and Cettina Donato will prepare a four-handed piano playing show, the Prada Foundation, the heart of the festival, which among the its many guests on the 20th of April will also have the renowned composer and orchestra director Enrico Intra. Other lesser-known locations include the famous bank vault, the Red Bull rooftop overseeing the rooftops of the canals of Milan, the Botanical Garden of Città Studi, the Government Archive building, and rescue stations.
To note
Boosta, dj and electronic keyboardist will perform on Saturday the 19th at 10 p.m. in Milan’s Volvo Studio, recently inaugurated by the well-established Swedish automobile company, situated in the Porta Nuova area of Milan.
On Saturday you can also attend the jazz exhibition by English musician Django Bates in GAM; City Life Shopping District will be the site of three main concerts from Saturday the 19th to the 20th. Vinicio Capossela will offer a free concert to spectators at GAM on the Sunday the 20th.
On the same day, there will be an 8-hour marathon of music at the Sforzesco Castle. The Idroscalo park will also be the backdrop of a mesmerizing concert: at sunrise, while the sun is still making ripples on the park’s lake, the public can enjoy music by Ukranian piano player and composer Pol Solonar. Finally, at the Garden Dance Hall, otherwise known as the Balera dell’Ortica, there will be two concerts filled with jazz, swing, and boogie music.
In this wonderful festival, who could forget the little ones, though? For younger children, 17 specific events have been organized to explore the inner workings of the piano, involving them with soft and playful melodies without leaving room to get bored!
New locations
The new locations of this edition are among the least-expected: galleries, branches of businesses, and bank vaults will open their doors to welcome unexpected melodies and sensational artists.
The Shoah Memorial will host the Armenian piano player Hegheine Rapyan, who on the morning of the 20th will hold a moving concert composed of Armenian music.
The Tree Library (Biblioteca degli Alberi) situated among the gardens of Porta Nuova in Milan and inaugurated ahead of schedule in anticipation of this wonderful music festival in conjunction with the Riccardo Catena Foundation, will welcome the public with lively melodies played by the young pianists from the Imola Academy on Saturday and Sunday.
Another interesting event is that of the Sunday the 20th at the Scala Opera House which, over fifty years after the passing of the musician and composer Gioacchino Rossini, will invite Vincenzo Balzani to play the famous Liszt Piano.
Events we recommend
You can book events such as Piano Tandem, which on Friday and Saturday will allow you to reach Parco Nord and Parco delle Cave to listen to music ranging from Jazz to Contemporary; Piano City by Bike (Piano Bici) on the other hand, will take you to Parco Trotter to offer a musical experience in constant motion to those interested, accompanied by Jazz, Rock, and showtune melodies played by eight young pianists from the Lacittàintorno (the city around us) touring company.
In an joint effort with ATM transportation in Milan, an initiative on Saturday 20th will also take place on trams: from 11 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. ten different musical events will be offered, from Jazz to rock, all played on the piano, paying dues to all of the most famous and timeless songs.
Among the events to book are also piano lessons held by some of the most famous artists who are guests for the 7th edition of Piano City Milan: they will share their specific techniques and their personal anecdotes with whomever wishes to be apart of the session. These brief courses will take place in the Gerolamo Theatre, better know as “La Piccola Scala”, or the small star, paying homage to the Scala Opera House and recently reopened to the public after a long period of restoration.
New events
Starting from this year, Piano City has revolutionized its organizational plan, adding nighttime and morning piano concerts, allowing the more curious to revel in novel musical experiences.
The events not to miss: the Silent Disco where you can dance to your favorite rhythms while still hearing a pin drop, and the relaxing concert by Andrea Vizzini in the Bagni Misteriosi, complete with a secluded swimming area in the Porta Romana district.
There are also two special initiatives presenting concerts on the water: that of Andrea Vizzini, who from a floating stage will perform Bach, Beethoven, Satie, Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy on May 19th in the Bagni Misteriosi and that of Pol Solonar, who will entertain with sweet melodies on the 20th at Idroscalo park beginning at 5 in the morning.
Piano City outside of Milan
This year, Piano City Milano reaches to the very outskirts of the city. A Fuori Porta program (events just outside of Milan) with tens of concerts by pianists from every musical background perform for the public in the Villa Reale of Monza, lakeside in Como, at the Malpensa Airport, and in many of the communes surrounding Milan such as Settimo Milanese, Peschiera Borromeo, Cassano d'Adda e Gorgonzola. Even more places and concerts are to be discovered: Cascina Linterno lights up with thousands of fireflies which beset the town; the Portello district boasts musicians like Francesco Buffa, Dynamico Duo, and Gerolamo Ciull, The Westin Palace Milan with Arturo Stàlteri; the Passante Ferroviario Vittoria con Antonio Zambrini; l'Humanitas San Pio X with Davide Montalenti; Palazzo Marino with Gaia Sokoli, Maria Clementi and Nicola Losito, and many more!
To learn more about all of the events that will take place in Milan and the surrounding areas from the 18th to the 20th of May 2018, we kindly invite you to visit the official Piano City Milan 2018 page, which answers any questions you may have.
