One of my favorite groups is “The Piano Guys.” They say that they are “four dorky dads from Utah.” The group consists of four men: a marketing genius that does video, a studio engineer that writes music, a pianist that had a successful solo career, and a cellist that does pretty much everything. These four men combine to create a unique sound that is fun, fascinating, and wonderful to watch. Their videos are as popular as their music.
So, when I heard The Piano Guys had a concert in Columbus in December, I knew I had to get there. I asked Tom, John, and Jackie if they wanted to go and they all gamely said yes. I bought the tickets online while we were in Arizona and marked the date on my calendar.
A couple of Wednesdays ago, it was finally time to go to The Piano Guys concert. We met John downtown and walked to the Palace Theater. The Palace Theater is a renovated 3,000 seat theater built in 1926 at the base of the LeVeque Tower. It is the home for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and hosts many of the big musical acts and performances held in Columbus.
Even though I enjoyed seeing the renovated theater, I was more excited for the Piano Guys concert. Most of the time you only see Jon Schmidt, the pianist, and Steven Sharp Nelson, the cellist, onstage. But you hear and see the work of the other two Piano Guys through the concert. The music incorporates all kinds of video and special effects. During one song we were enjoying the video when a group of young people from the Columbus Youth Symphony came onstage to play. At another point a couple of bagpipers left the parade of pipers in the video and joined the act onstage.
The concert was as spectacular and wonderful as I expected. They intersperse music with humor and observations. I often wondered, “how did they make that happen?” when everything was going on. My favorite part, of course, is the cellist. He plays cello, bangs on cello, and makes the cello sound all kinds of ways I never knew a cello could sound. But all The Piano Guys are amazingly creative. At one point all four of them played different parts of the piano! Wild and so much fun!
If you ever have a chance to see The Piano Guys in person – go! Even if you don’t like classical music, this concert is different. Do you think cello music is boring? Go to one of these concerts. You will think about a cello differently in the future.
In case you have never heard of The Piano Guys, here are some links to my favorite videos of their work.