Pianos Coming to Downtown Danville
DANVILLE – As part of Parks Make Life Better month, the Town of Danville continues to celebrate art, music, and the outdoors with the installation of two community pianos downtown. Starting this week, two street pianos have been placed outside of the Danville Community Center, 420 Front St., and the Danville Senior Center, 115 E. Prospect Ave, for everyone to play and enjoy.
The pianos invite the public to share their love of musical expression and visual art with their community. The instruments change the dynamics of these often quiet gathering spaces into ones of musical performance and shared conversation.
San Ramon Valley High School students Lauren Torchiana and Katherine Gilen brought the idea of street pianos to the Town’s Recreation, Arts, & Community Services Department last fall. Lauren had just experienced an outdoor piano in Coronado, CA while on a family vacation, and she loved the sense of spontaneous community that the pianos created. Her cousin, Katherine, had inspired her to play the piano when she was younger, and together they wondered if they could bring some of these brightly painted instruments to their hometown.
Lauren and Katherine invited their long-time friend, Grace McClure, to collaborate on the project. An accomplished artist and student at Monte Vista High School, Grace jumped at the chance to participate and provided considerable artistic talent to the design and painting of the pianos.
Recreation, Arts, and Community Services Director Henry Perezalonso said he is very excited to bring this idea to fruition. With the pianos installed outside the buildings in a public area, residents are invited to play and share their musical stylings.
“We are always looking for ways for our residents to express their artistic sides, and to embrace the culture available here in Danville,” Perezalonso said. “I think it’s going to be a great gathering space in our town.”
Due to weather concerns, the pianos will only be accessible to the public until September 2018.
