About

Piano on Tour is an educational, social and cultural project making high quality classical music accessible to communities and schools around New Zealand and Europe.

Our aims are to:

• Create the opportunity for children and adults to hear live classical music, often for the first time.
• Inspire schools, communities, and hospitals with world-class performances from a concert grand piano.
• Make classical music accessible for all by keeping concerts low cost and in the community.

Piano on Tour was born in December 2012 when a one-off concert in a community centre in Motueka was an unexpected sell out. ‘We couldn’t believe it when we heard that people were being turned away’ says pianist and Piano on Tour founder JF Robert. ‘It highlighted to us that the smaller towns and communities of New Zealand are missing out on the wonderful experience of hearing classical music played live’.

Piano on Tour now travels the length and breadth of New Zealand to reach small communities and bring them world-class performances that would only usually be available in large cities. For more information about the concerts click here.

To achieve this, Piano on Tour bought a brand new concert grand piano in April 2014 which is transported in a specially adapted trailer and has already been driven thousands of kilometers to the most remote towns where it is set up in schools, community centres, rest homes and hospitals, and played to packed audiences including young, elderly, sick, disabled, and those new to classical music.

Classical music has been shown to help children with special needs through a variety of different ways including reduced stress, IQ development, and improved ability to concentrate. Piano on Tour is particularly keen to perform in schools and hospitals where the audience will be able to experience the benefits of live classical music in a way that is usually inaccessible for them.

Lyn Hurst, Manager, Friendship Hospital, Motueka.