THE PIANO GUYS ANNOUNCE FIRST EVER AUSTRALIAN TOUR
TEG DAINTY & Nice Events are excited to announce that global YouTube sensation The Piano Guys will tour Australia for the first time in September/October 2018, performing their trademark classical renditions of today’s pop hits.
The much-anticipated tour opens up in Brisbane on Friday 28 September, and moves on to Perth on Saturday 29 September and Sydney on Monday 1 October before winding up in Melbourne on Tuesday 2 October.
Tickets go on sale at 10am local time on Friday 2 March for the four-city tour.
“We have been trying to meet up with our wonderful and devoted fans in Australia for years! Finally, everything came together for it to happen! The Piano Guys are beyond excited to come see you all in our first visit to the "land down under”!”
The Piano Guys – Steven Sharp Nelson, Jon Schmidt, Al Van der Beek and Paul Anderson – became an online sensation by way of their immensely successful series of strikingly original self-made music videos, which have so far surpassed 1 billion views and garnered 6 million subscribers on YouTube. They’ve made over 50 music videos since 2011, including their breakout hit, an innovative multi-handed version of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” and a gorgeous reinvention of the hit song “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen. Christmas Together is the Utah-based classical-pop group’s seventh major label album on Portrait/Sony Music Masterworks, following: Wonders, The Piano Guys, The Piano Guys 2, A Family Christmas, The Piano Guys – Live! and Uncharted.
The Piano Guys have performed everywhere from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to The Today Show as well having been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Buzzfeed, People Magazine, Mashable and so on. Their remarkable video for “Batman Evolution,” off the album Wonders, featured Batmobile replicas of the 1966 version, the 1989 and the Tumbler from The Dark Knight.
But just who are The Piano Guys? There’s only one piano player, Jon Schmidt, and one other instrumentalist, Steven Sharp Nelson, on cello. The other two members are Paul Anderson (producer and videographer) and Al van der Beek (producer and songwriter). The name comes from Anderson’s piano store in St. George, Utah, which was called The Piano Guys. Looking for an alternative to low-yield conventional advertising, Anderson devised a Facebook promotional page and YouTube channel featuring the most famous pianist he could find – local pianist, Jon Schmidt.
All four members of the group come from unique professional backgrounds. Whether they were brought together by serendipitous circumstances or fate, it matters not. When they get together, they make magic.
As well as experiencing huge success online with their hit versions of Frozen’s “Let It Go”, David Guetta and Sia’s “Titanium” and Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” amongst others, The Piano Guys have made a name for themselves through their grandiose music videos in exotic Wonders of the World locations, such as The Great Wall of China and Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil. The 7 Wonders video series has completed 4 videos with 3 more to come.
"We try to put a 'wow factor' in every video," says Anderson, promising that future videos for The Piano Guys tracks will likewise factor in plenty of wow. This certainly is true for "Peponi (Paradise)," the Guys' African spin on Coldplay's "Paradise," for which the group helicoptered a grand piano onto the edge of a 1,000-foot cliff and enlisted stellar African guest vocalist Alex Boyé to sing the translated words. Similar can be said for "Code Name Vivaldi,” which blends The Bourne Identity soundtrack riff with a similarly intense Vivaldi cello concerto in a breathless video, culminating with Schmidt and Nelson performing on a flatcar on a high-speed train. “Titanium/Pavane” is a mash-up of French classical composer Gabriel Fauré’s “Pavane” with David Guetta’s “Titanium.” - the Guys having previously lensed a lovely take on Guetta’s “Without You”. “Beethoven's 5 Secrets” merits a special mention. The piece itself employs five separate melodies from the four movements of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, in conjunction with One Republic’s “Secrets.”
“We love showcasing the beauty of the earth—where people don’t expect to find classical instruments,” says Anderson, and sure enough, the Beethoven video combines stunning outdoor performance footage from the mountains surrounding St. George, Utah, with a concert featuring the American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, thereby manifesting The Piano Guys’ dual goal of bringing people to classical music and inspiring young musicians.
“Lots of parents are using our music to show their kids how fun classical music can be and motivate them to learn instruments,” says Schmidt. The Piano Guys’ cover song mash-ups, adds Nelson, have become “a great way to introduce ourselves and make an instant connection with our audience as a classic spin on new stuff - and a new spin on classic stuff.”
In van der Beek’s studio prowess, together with the inventive cinematography of Anderson, Schmidt and Nelson have forged a fresh approach to the growing classical crossover fusion of classical and pop music that in their case has connected quietly but emotionally with a massive audience.
“We’re all spiritual guys, and the only way to properly explain it is not to take credit!” says Nelson. “It really seems meant to be.”
