.

 

 

 

 

PianOrquestra

This pop-classical avant-garde performance produces a fascinating musical result with a daring aesthetic. An intriguing musical experiment - one piano played by ten hands - transforms the piano into its own orchestra. PianOrquestra uses prepared piano techniques based on John Cage’s experiments to explore the infinite possibilities of sounds produced by a piano.

The group explores ethnic elements of Brazilian rhythmic roots and new sonorities and sounds, all produced on the piano in real time, through a variety of preparation resources that are not normally used by a traditional pianist.

Created and directed by Brazilian pianist Claudio Dauelsberg, the group explores Brazilian music in an entirely unheard of manner. The performance flows easily from classical to popular Brazilian music, including contemporary composers such as Villa-Lobos, Tom Jobim and Milton Nascimento and ethnic rhythms such as samba, coco, maracatu and ciranda. With meticulous synchronism in a performance that involves a high level of virtuosity among the ten hands, PianOrquestra creates a unique instrumental sound.

An original performance with surprising musical and visual impact!

The performance pleases and surprises critics and audiences alike. Claudio Dauelsberg, Marina Spoladore, Gisele Sant’Ana, Masako Tanaka and Maira Freitas play underneath and inside of the piano box, placing objects with different weights and densities - such as wood, metal and rubber pieces - on the piano strings, besides using felt, acrylic and metal drumsticks to obtain percussive effects.

Timbres range according to the density, weight and texture of the objects, some of which are especially built to obtain the desired sonorities. This way, PianOrquestra creates possibilities of sounds similar to a guitar, cavaquinho, contrabass, violin, harpsichord, and others, in addition to the most varied percussive timbres. The performance also includes strong rhythmic sessions and interaction with the audience.

Micro-cameras are installed inside, under and above the piano’s box, and the images are projected simultaneously onto a screen on the stage, so the audience can follow all the musicians’ movements inside and under the piano.

After the shows, the audience is invited to the stage for a guided tour of the inside of the piano, where they are shown, by one of the group members, that its dimensions are much more than merely the keys and the sounding box.