Undergrand

Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival 2024 presents Undergrand, a piano performance in a range of compelling locations. Imagine a piano in a park, atop a volcano, on a beach at sunset, in a forest in the late afternoon, on a busy city street with a musician tinkling the ivories...

Creating a surreal atmosphere in tune with leaves, water, the breeze, city traffic and people, Undergrand – a portable baby grand piano – pops up all over Tāmaki Makaurau, with music that moves the spirit and gives us reason to pause and reflect.

With a curated selection of talented rangatahi and professional pianists playing all styles and genres, along with an opportunity for public to share their talents, this pop up piano presents a range of recitals and unforgettable experiences that will undoubtedly make your day better, wherever you may be.

Undergrand travels to Piha, Cornwall Park, Mahurangi, Māngere Maunga, Takutai Square, Queen Street, Mission Bay, Manukau, Devonport, Sylvia Park, Henderson, Wenderholm Regional Park and Takapuna, and will close the Festival with live family karaoke in Aotea Square.

Meet our Pianist: Flavio Villani.

Flavio Villani is a New Zealand pianist who made Auckland his home after moving from Italy more than a decade ago. The journey towards his first solo performance with an orchestra was documented in the internationally acclaimed biopic documentary ‘Crossing Rachmaninoff’. The film followed his preparations for, and performance of, Rachmaninoff Concerto n.2 in Calabria in 2015. After that performance he subsequently took different soloist opportunities performing Rachmaninoff Concerto n.2, Tchaikovsky Concerto n.1 and the Warsaw Concerto with the Orchestra of CalArts in Los Angeles, the New Plymouth Orchestra, the Taranaki Symphony, the Bay of Plenty Symphonia and the Auckland Symphony Orchestra.