PIANO CITY MADRID is an international macro festival featuring the piano that, on the occasion of European Music Day, over three days (17, 18 and 19 June) consists of 60 free concerts distributed throughout the city, both outdoors and in some of the most representative public areas Madrid.
This first edition of PIANO CITY MADRID was organised by TopArtEspaña, with the institutional collaboration of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Area of the Madrid City Council, the sponsorship of Endesa and the artistic assessment of the pianist Chano Domínguez from Cádiz.
PIANO CITY MADRID was created following similar projects held in Europe since 2010. It all started in Berlin as an idea German musician Andreas Kern and was a success that other European cities joined the initiative, including Naples, Palermo, Novi Sad, and in particular Milan, which has been holding its own Piano City now for 10 years.
PIANO CITY MADRID is a festival dedicated entirely to the piano, to be held for the first time ever in Spain. It will be held in some of the most iconic locations in the city of Madrid, where there will be simultaneous concerts of classical, jazz, jazz-flamenco music and there will also be room for contemporary and electronic music. The project was conceived with the idea of spreading and taking culture to the street, within reach of all citizens, offering a total of 60 free concerts on 17, 18 and 19 June 2022.
The pianos will be located in different places in the city: some stages will be unprecedented with regard to music but extremely iconic in the city, these include Paseo del Prado, the Spiral Madrid Rio Bridge (PIANO CITY CENTRE – ENDESA STAGE), the Arganzuela Greenhouse, the History Museum of Madrid and the Parque Tierno Galván Auditorium. It will also be present in different centres managed by the Culture Area of the City Council including the auditoriums of Condeduque, CentroCentro and Matadero Madrid, as well as the Teatro Real.
The concerts, all free of charge, will see more than 60 famous Spanish and foreign pianists and young talents take to the stage, including many female performers and pianists from a wide age range, between 15 and 65. All musicians have been selected by TopArtEspaña, with the collaboration of Chano Domínguez, following the strict criteria of artistic quality, gender equality and a wide variety of musical styles.
In addition to the most famous names on the roster, such as Chano Domínguez, attendees can also see sets by performers including but not limited to Madrid locals Moisés Sánchez, María Parra and Ana Vega Toscano as well as Alex Conde and María Abad from Valencia, Elisabet Raspall and Clara Lai from Catalonia, Claudio Constantini and Federico Lechner from Latin America, without forgetting Uri Caine and Dan Tepfer from the USA.
PIANO CITY MADRID will also introduce young talent, as part of an agreement between TopArtEspaña, the Real Conservatorio de Atocha and the Escuela de Música Reina Sofía. The different piano departments will serve up a range of musicians, selected by their teachers, who will offer a wide variety of programmes bursting with artistic value. The aim of this initiative is to highlight the existence of a solid community of pianists worthy of being introduced to the general public. The project thus aims to revitalise two specific groups, that of emerging musicians and also that of live event workers who were very affected during the pandemic with the cancellation of concerts and festivals.
"PIANO CITY MADRID is open to everybody. We are asking all those who live in Madrid and all the people who visit the city during those dates to come and enjoy this live music, the wonderful sound of the piano and the mastery of the selected musicians in some of the most magical venues in Madrid" asserted Carmelo Di Gennaro, CEO of TopArtEspaña.
The technical sponsors for the event are the brands Kawai, Yamaha and Bösendorfer whose instruments will be played by the artists who will fill the city with music. Generali España, EMT, the Teatro Real, the Museo Nacional del Prado, the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Atocha and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia, the Instituto Italiano de Cultura and the Ateneo de Madrid will all collaborate in this event. The event also has a media partner of reference, Radio Clásica - Radio Nacional de España.
Endesa is the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in Spain. Endesa operates an end-to-end generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and public administrations. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribution and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, Europe’s largest electricity group.
