europiano - a musical journey through the continent

21 JUNE 2026: 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 will bring together outstanding contemporary pianists, accompanied by leading European orchestras, under the baton of renowned international conductors. A day not to discuss Europe in a complicated manner, but to just listen to Europe – together. 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.

Yulianna Avdeeva, Rafał Blechacz, Bruce Liu, Eric Lu, Mao Fujita, Martha Argerich, Lukas Sternath, Hayato Sumino, Nobuyuki Tsujii and Anna Vinnitskaya are pianists from different generations who each embody their own school and style.

europiano will take place on the 21st of June 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.