Following his sell out run in 2014 with Anatomy of the Piano, virtuoso maverick pianist and raconteur Will Pickvance returns to Summerhall with a brand new show for adults for the 2015 Fringe.
For this new show he takes us deeper into the magic to be found in a piano and shares the spells it has cast on him via music and charmingly intelligent humour.
Pickvance takes his audiences on a stream of musical consciousness. A vocabulary of Bach fugues, Victorian parlour songs, jazz standards, pop classics and more are surrendered to a pair of hands that are as capricious as their owner. Defying all limitations of style and genre Will simply expresses his infectious joy and love of music in his playing and chat.
Alchemy of the Piano looks at and attempts to demonstrate how the magic of music happens. It starts and ends with a single note, but what happens in between, nobody, including Will himself, knows until the moment’s gone. Where does this one-off piano mix come from? What sets it up? Chance. Perhaps the rhythm of footsteps in the corridor, or the crescendo of the boiling kettle? Maybe the man in the corner with the barking-mad dog inspires a melodic change in direction, before the squeaky piano pedal offers a place of refuge.
A piano virtuoso and staunch advocate for the instrument Will is a firm believer that music making is something that everyone can get involved in.
In a varied career as a professional musician Will Pickvance has been musical director for pantomimes starring various soap stars, been resident pianist Andrew Carnegie’s Scottish Castle and found himself in Leo Sayer’s backing band. He has jammed with The Eagles and directed the music for Ashley Judd’s wedding and Robbie Williams’ surprise birthday party (at which he accompanied Williams in an impromptu rendition of the million selling Angels).
Will’s children’s show, Anatomy of the Piano for Beginners can also be seen at Summerhall on the same dates at 10am
Alchemy of the Piano
Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre
7-30 Aug (not 17, 24), 20.20 (60 mins)
Submitted by Martin Mouth
