“ ‘Chopsticks’ or Chopin?” writes James Barron Monday (6/21) on the New York Times online. “Actually, both, played on an eye-popper of a piano next to the Metropolitan Opera House. Monday was the first day on which 60 pianos could be played on street corners and in parks around the city as part of a public art project called ‘Play Me, I’m Yours.’ There were double-takes as people walked by: A piano? Anyone can sit down and play anything? … In Damrosch Park, steps from the Met, Kate Beck, a textile designer from New Orleans, played ‘Chopsticks.’ Rene Taylor, whose apartment in a nearby high-rise looks down on the upright they were playing, ran through the Chopin. … She had volunteered to look after the piano in Damrosch Park and three others at Lincoln Center during the two-week run of ‘Play Me, I’m Yours.’ That means unlocking them at 9 a.m. and locking them at 8 p.m., and covering them with plastic tarps if it starts to rain. Other volunteers have been enlisted to keep an eye on each of the pianos around the city—36 in Manhattan, 10 in Brooklyn, 4 in the Bronx, 6 in Queens and 4 on Staten Island.”
Posted June 22, 2010
