europiano - a musical journey through the continent

ARTE is celebrating Europe – and the piano – with a unique eight-hour TV and streaming event filled with iconic pieces on the day of Fête de la Musique.

From Lisbon to Stockholm, Athens to Hamburg … masterpieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Grieg, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Schumann will be performed on a single day at iconic venues throughout Europe. ARTE invites to a musical journey across the continent and its musical heritage with europiano on Sunday, June 21th.

Through live broadcasts, time-delayed live formats and recordings, ARTE will host what is set to be a continuous TV and streaming event from 3.30 pm onwards: with the entire programme available to watch free of charge on arte.tv, arte.tv/en and YouTube.

The eight-hour event was initiated by Wolfgang Bergmann (IMZ Board, CEO of ARTE Germany and ARTE coordinator at ZDF) and is carried out by a broad alliance of European partners under coordination of Rebecca Gross, head of ZDF/ARTE culture and music department: “For once let´s not discuss Europe in a complicated manner but let´s just listen to Europe – together” is their joint credo for the day.

The masterpieces will be interpreted by outstanding contemporary pianists, accompanied by leading European orchestras, under the baton of renowned international conductors. The performances will be held in emblematic venues throughout Europe as the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Pnyx Hill in Athens, with a view of the Acropolis, and the Torre de Belém in Lisbon - each city contributing its own cultural context, architectural character and musical blueprint.

europiano will take place on Fête de la Musique/World Music Day: an international event that is celebrated annually across some 700 cities and 120 countries. europiano celebrates Europe’s shared cultural heritage as a unique musical journey throughout the continent. As such, the project is set to symbolise cultural cooperation in Europe: different musical traditions and artistic approaches coming together in one joint programme.

Production and partners

europiano is a co-production of ZDF/ARTE, ARTE GEIE, ARTE France and NDR/ARTE, working closely with European partners. Participants include ORF, SVT, RTP and production companies Accentus, EuroArts, Unitel, C Major Entertainment, 3B, L'Affaire est ketchup and Prismédia. The project is being carried out in cooperation with local organisers such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Palau de la Música de València, the Megaron in Athens, the Rheingau Musik Festival and other European cultural institutions.