Celebrity Series Announces Locations for Street Pianos Boston

The sound of music will be heard all across Boston from September 23-October 10, 2016 as Celebrity Series of Boston brings back Street Pianos Boston.

Since July, sixty local artists have been hard at work, painting the pianos that will line the streets as part of the popular art installation Play Me, I'm Yours, conceived by international public artist Luke Jerram. Today, fulfilling a commitment to place a piano in each of Boston's 23 neighborhoods and select Cambridge locations, Celebrity Series announced the 60 locations of the pianos and the 75 collaborating organizations participating in Street Pianos Boston. Each piano will feature a simple invitation: "Play Me, I'm Yours".

"Street Pianos Boston embodies the Celebrity Series vision that the arts are for everyone and that all people should have the opportunity to participate," said Gary Dunning, Celebrity Series President and Executive Director. "After more than a half million Bostonians participated in Street Pianos in 2013, we knew we wanted to bring back this city-wide installation that activates public space and engages the public with the joy of live performance."

There will be two pianos located in Allston/Brighton, one at the Harvard Ed Portal, and another located at Athan's Bakery on Washington Street. In Fenway-Kenmore, pianos will be found at the Fenway Community Center, Boston University's George Sherman Union, the Christian Science Plaza, Fenway Park, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

In the Back Bay and Beacon Hill neighborhoods, visitors and residents will be able to tickle the ivories at Berklee College of Music, the Boston Architectural College, The Prudential Center, the Boston Public Library, King's Chapel, and the Massachusetts State House.

Across the river in Cambridge, pianos will be found at North Plaza and Kendall Plaza, both in Kendall Square. Other pianos will be located in Jill Brown-Rhone Park in Central Square, Brattle Plaza in Harvard Square, Longy School of Music in Harvard Square, Lesley University's Lunder Arts Center in Porter Square, and the Harvard University Science Center Plaza.

Each piano will be hosted by a local partner who has committed to acting as a "piano buddy", which includes covering the piano in inclement weather, reporting any damages and locking the keyboard at night during the two weeks of the installation.

There will be five pianos in Dorchester, including at the Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester at Savin Hill, Codman Square Park, Fields Corner, Lena Park CDC and at the Carruth building by the Ashmont T station. Those in South Boston will be able to sing along at the Boston Children's Museum, Castle Island, the Innovation and Design Building, and District Hall.

Pianos will be found in Chinatown-Leather District at Chinatown Park on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and at the Citi Wang Theater. Downtown, pianos will dot the plazas at City Hall and Downtown Crossing, in Reader's Park, Faneuil Hall's Quincy Marketplace, Post Office Square, Dewey Square Park, Rowes Wharf Plaza, and the Greenway Carousel.

In East Boston, pianos will be found at the East Boston Public Library, Maverick Square, and the Veronica Robles Cultural Center.

Jamaica Plain will have pianos at J.P. Licks on Centre Street and near the boathouse on Jamaica Pond. In Mattapan, commuters will find the piano near the Mattapan T station. In Roxbury, pianos will be heard at the Dudley Café and The Stonehenge at Egleston Square.

"It is important to Celebrity Series that Street Pianos Boston once again reflects and showcases the diversity of this city in as many ways as possible. The artists, piano locations, and community partners were selected to celebrate and engage with every neighborhood in the city of Boston. We are working with talented artists of all ages and backgrounds, and partner organizations that range from the largest cultural institutions to small community organizations. The locations are in parks, plazas, near T stations, and on sidewalks - all in locations where Bostonians from every neighborhood will encounter, listen, and play the pianos," said Dunning.

In the South End, Bay Village and Mission Hill neighborhoods, pianos will be placed in Statler Park, Childe Hassam Park, and O'Day Park by the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, as well as at Brigham Circle, and the Boston Center for the Arts.

Over in Charlestown, pianos will ring out at the Bunker Hill Mall and the Charlestown Navy Yard. In the North End and the West End, pianos will be found at the Old North Church, the North End Park on the Greenway, and at the Museum of Science.

Finally, in Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury, pianos will be placed at the Hyde Park Community Center, in Adams Park, and at the Roche Bros. Plaza. A full list of all the locations, host and partner organizations, and visual artists can be found atwww.streetpianosboston.org. An interactive mobile map for locating all 60 pianos can be found by downloading the free Beam.in app on iOS at http://streetpianosboston.beam.in.

The artistic work was completed at the Innovation and Design Building (IDB) in Boston and made possible through a generous in-kind donation by the IDB. The pianos are currently being tuned up with the support of current students and recent graduates from the North Bennet Street School. The pianos will roll out to the streets in late September, courtesy of Allston Piano Moving Company, the Official Pianos Movers of Street Pianos Boston 2016. The program kicks off officially on September 23, 2016.

Play Me, I'm Yours was created by UK artist Luke Jerram and has been touring internationally since 2008. Celebrity Series of Boston first produced the installation in Boston in 2013 when more than 500,000 people across the city engaged with Street Pianos Boston, sharing music and song in a citywide festival. More than 1,500 pianos have now been installed in 50 cities across the globe, from New York to London. The project has reached more than 10 million people worldwide, with each new city that commissions the work becoming part of a growing legacy.

"We often say that collaboration is embedded in Celebrity Series' DNA," continued Dunning. "We are excited about working with so many of our friends and colleagues across the city, as artists, hosts, community and civic partners. Luke Jerram has given us a wonderful gift and we're thrilled to bring back Street Pianos to Boston."

In Boston, Street Pianos Boston is produced by the Celebrity Series of Boston, whose community engagement initiatives reach thousands of individuals annually through master classes with main stage artists in public schools and conservatories; hands-on, interactive workshops for youth led by a core group of Boston-area artists; free community concerts in Boston neighborhoods; free and discounted tickets to main stage performances; and large-scale, public participatory performance projects such as Street Pianos Boston.

Funding support for Street Pianos Boston 2016 is generously provided by Amy and Joshua Boger, The Boston Foundation, the Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, the Klarman Family Foundation, Donna and Mike Egan, Eleanor and Frank Pao, Allston Piano Moving Company, The Innovation and Design Bldg., the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District, and Fund for the Arts, a public art program of the New England Foundation for the Arts.

To learn more about Street Pianos Boston, visit celebrityseries.org or streetpianosboston.org or follow the process on social media using hashtag #streetpianosboston.

ABOUT CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON

Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. Over the course of its 78-year history, Celebrity Series has presented an array of the world's greatest performing artists, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arturo Toscanini, Ignace Paderewski, Artur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Andrés Segovia, Kirsten Flagstad, Marian Anderson, Luciano Pavarotti, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the New York City Opera Company.

The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers-from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more-to Boston's major concert halls for 78 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its community engagement initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience-on stages, in schools, at home- everywhere.

The Celebrity Series of Boston, Inc. receives generous support from Amy & Joshua Boger, Leslie & Howard Appleby, the Boston Cultural Council, The Boston Foundation, the Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC, the Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Deloitte LLP, Donna & Mike Egan, Foley & Lardner LLP, Gabor Garai & Susan Pravda, David & Harriet Griesinger, Zachary Haroutunian and the Garbis & Arminé Barsoumian Charitable Foundation, the Charles and Cerise Jacobs Charitable Foundation, Paul L. King, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Joseph McNay, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, Eleanor & Frank Pao, The Peabody Foundation, PTC, the Cynthia and John S. Reed Foundation, the Royal Little Family Foundation, the Stifler Family Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Henri A. Termeer, Michael and Susan Thonis, Tufts Health Plan, Sanjay & Sangeeta Verma, Nancy Richmond Winsten, Anonymous, and many others.

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