Anyone can tickle the ivories at pianos placed throughout the city (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Multiple locations in all five boroughs
Through Monday, July 5
Admission: free
www.streetpianos.com/nyc2010
Sing for Hope, a nonprofit arts activist organization that brings music to schools, hospitals, and communities with underserved youth, has teamed up with multidisciplinary British artist Luke Jerram to present “Play Me, I’m Yours.” The interactive installation consists of sixty pianos placed throughout the five boroughs, in such locations as Lincoln Center, Joyce Kilmer Park, the Staten Island Zoo, the Coney Island boardwalk, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Tompkins Square Park, and Chelsea Market, where people can sit down and just play away, like they have previously done in São Paulo, London, Sydney, and Barcelona. Not many New Yorkers have pianos in their apartments, and they might not be good enough to get a gig at Carnegie Hall, but they can sit down on these benches and tickle the ivories to their heart’s content, bringing music to intersections, public parks and plazas, and other mostly outdoor spots, giving mini-concerts and inviting strangers to sing along. As Jerram notes on the official website: “Disrupting people’s negotiation of their city, the pianos are also aimed to provoke people into engaging, activating, and claiming ownership of their urban landscape.” The last few days will feature many special events, including, on July 1, a London–New York link in Times Square at 11:00 am, Ragtime Rick Pedro dashing from Greeley Square to Herald Square to Bryant Park to Times Square for successive lunchtime appearances, and That Guitar Man from Central Park, David Ippolito, joining pianist George Wurzbach at the Naumburg Bandshell at 1:00. The project comes to a close with Sing for Hope performances July 1-4 at Chelsea Market at 6:00, with the grand finale taking place on the four pianos at Lincoln Center from 2:00 to 6:00 on July 5, with special guest artists from across the musical spectrum.