20 Pianos

20 Pianos is a creation by the British electronic musician Matthew Herbert (1972), a performance involving twenty pianos, each with its own story. It had its world premiere on 16 May 2014 in Oxford. The

performers are pianists Sarah Nicolls and Sam Beste.

'20 pianos tells the story of twenty pianos from all over the world,' Herbert explains. Their different tones, timbres tunings and histories will be amplified – from Steinway instruments at Abbey Road or the Sydney Opera House to battered primary school pianos and forgotten out-of-tune family pianos. The sound of each piano will be sampled, and photographs as well as oral histories will document each instrument.

The performance will begin with an introduction by the creator, in which he will talk about the instruments and how the project was conceived and developed. The main composition, Twenty pianos, which was inspired by the stories of the instruments and their owners, will be performed by one pianist, namely Sam Beste. In the so-called Story Pieces the pianos are played 'virtually', through a visual installation, accompanied by parts of the story of the piano being played. The corresponding Response Pieces are current works or improvisations with each respective piano in mind. The programme is concluded by Steve Reich's Radio Phase, in which the twenty pianos will once more feature.

The twenty pianos do not appear on stage; instead, there is a visual installation which can be played. The New Radiohonic Workshop, of which Herbert is artistic leader, have developed bespoke software and hardware to transform a simple table into a virtual piano and to call up images of the sampled piano as it's being 'played'. One of the featured pianos is the the one on which John Lennon composed Imagine, which is now owned by George Michael.

20 Pianos is a Proustian evocation of piano memory, part performance art and technological wizardry. Herbert has invited each organisation presenting his project to choose one instrument themselves which they would like to be part of the perfomance. The Holland Festival is still thinking about this, but will add a piano of their own.