MANY people have an old instrument lying dormant in a cupboard somewhere, whether it’s a first guitar played once, never to be seen again or a keyboard gathering dust in the loft.
Now, two musicians are on a mission to repurpose old instruments to create something entirely new out of the old.
Tim Vincent-Smith and Matthew Wright co-direct the Pianodrome Community Interest Company. Together the bandmates created the world’s first amphitheatre made solely from recycled pianos.
First debuting at Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden in 2018, the pair have created a brand new Pianodrome for the this year’s Festival Fringe.
Situated within the historic Old Royal High School, the venue will host everything from folk, classical and modern music to dance shows and theatre.
A bar featuring bespoke Bellfield Brewery beer – that’s been serenaded throughout the brewing process – will accompany food and soft drinks from homelessness charity Cyrenians.
Vincent-Smith, who designed the amphitheatre and is set to play in it, said it was a “dream venue”. He told the Sunday National: “In Paris there are these semi-circular amphitheatres that are just made out of concrete and nobody curates or programmes them. It’s a free space for the people of the place. That was an inspiration. And the Greek amphitheatres were an inspiration for that.
“I also wanted to have a dream venue for my band. Having the audience around you is so exciting.”
While ticketed events will be held as more than a dozen shows take place at the venue, each day will also see a free, unticketed show held. Wright said it’s important the Pianodrome is an accessible space for high-quality music.
The musician said: “There’s such a huge range of shows on. We have our lunchtime concerts from 1pm every day. We managed to get funding, so there are high-quality musicians, but it’s also free. It’s everything from folk, piano music, classical music and a lot of room for people to come along with their own instruments or to play the pianos themselves. It’s a hang-out space apart from anything else.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to hear some beautiful music, play some music yourself and have people bring their own creativity to the space.
“It’s really important for us to have free events because we want to encourage people to enjoy this space and enjoy the Pianodrome and the whole point is not to make money – we know why can’t make a lot of money out of a crazy project like that.
“We want to bring people to spaces that take them out of their own worries and lives and meet other people and spend time being in a space where they can feel creative and part of a scene.”
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