The Piano Guys
GNP is proud to welcome The Piano Guys to Boston’s Berklee Performance Center for one show only October 23 at 7:30PM. Tickets for this performance are SOLD OUT. Please contact the Berklee box office (located at 136 Massachusetts Avenue) at 617-747-2261 during box office hours (10a – 6p Mon-Sat) with questions.
These classically trained musicians create sophisticated new arrangements of everything from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony to Coldplay’s “Paradise,” often weaving seemingly disparate pieces together to create something totally new. Add to that their gorgeous panoramic videos shot everywhere from the top of a mountain in Utah to the beaches of Hawaii, and it makes sense that over 55 million people have viewed their work and 350,000 of those have subscribed to the You Tube Channel. In a recent fundraising campaign for their next crop of videos, they raised over $400,000 from their fans in just two months.
Hailing from Utah, The Piano Guys became an Internet sensation by way of their immensely successful series of strikingly original self-made music videos. They’ve made 35 since joining forces a little more than a year ago, including their most recent hit video, an innovative 10-handed version of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” But it’s the Guys’ highly original blend of classical music with pop that has really been the cause of an Internet phenomenon that has now brought them to their major label debut album, The Piano Guys, released on Sony Masterworks in October 2012.
In the last few months, The Piano Guys have performed on everywhere from “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” to “The Today Show” and “Katie.” Their most recent video “Mission Impossible” featuring YouTube violin sensation Lindsey Stirling, continues to build momentum with over 1.5M views in a month. It finds the band and Stirling in a spy thriller as covert operatives while playing their unique take on this famous musical theme.
But just who are The Piano Guys? Actually, there’s only one piano player, Jon Schmidt, and one other instrumentalist, Steven Sharp Nelson, on cello. Yet the other three – Paul Anderson, Tel Stewart and Al van der Beek – are equally significant members of the group. The Piano Guys’ name comes from Anderson’s piano store in St. George, Utah, which was called The Piano Guys. Looking for an alternative to low-yield conventional advertising, Anderson devised a Facebook promotional page and YouTube channel featuring the most famous pianist he could find – local pianist, Jon Schmidt. A self-described “New Age Classical” player, Schmidt was indeed well established locally, thanks to eight albums and seven piano books of his song transcriptions. He also performed concerts throughout Utah, one of which featured a young guest artist, Steven Sharp Nelson, who adventurously combined traditional cello playing with percussion effects. “I was 15 when I met Jon and started playing with him,” Nelson recalls. “I had to get a ride to shows! But we’ve had a great brotherhood that’s now lasted 20 years.”
The spectacular Piano Guys videos, which have so far netted over 130 million YouTube views (and 500,000 new views a day), are essentially divined by Stewart and Anderson. “We love showcasing the beauty of the earth—where people don’t expect to find classical instruments,” says Anderson, and sure enough, the Beethoven video combines stunning outdoor performance footage from the mountains surrounding St. George, Utah, with a concert featuring the American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, thereby manifesting The Piano Guys’ dual goal of bringing people to classical music and inspiring young musicians.
“Lots of parents are using our music to show their kids how fun classical music can be and motivate them to learn instruments,” says Schmidt. The Piano Guys’ cover song mash-ups, adds Nelson, have become “a great way to introduce ourselves and make an instant connection with our audience as a classic spin on new stuff – and a new spin on classic stuff.”
Links: thepianoguys.com – Tickets – Box Office Info – Directions – Map