From April 27 – 28 May 2023, the mjf piano trail saw 13 pianos dotted throughout Manchester available for all passers-by to play. Delivered in collaboration with our friends at Forsyth Music shop and Yamaha, we ran a competition to find Manchester’s best street pianists and had a whole raft of prizes up for grabs including… a digital Yamaha piano!
The focus of the trail was to encourage the Manchester community to come together and share in the joy of music!
The 13 pianos were located around the city at: The Arndale Centre, The Corn Exchange, Forsyth Music shop, Great Northern, Harvey Nichols, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Central Library, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Quayside Media City UK, Royal Exchange Arcade, Spinningfields, HOME and Manchester Victoria Station.
View the full line-up of activities we offered alongside the piano trail including:
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “This city-region has music running through its veins, and helping connect people to new musical experiences and supporting talented musicians has always been so important to us. The mjf2023 piano trail will take music back out onto the streets of Manchester, giving more people the chance to try their hand at playing and to encounter the vibrant music of our city in a really unique way.”
Emma Loat, Manager of Forsyth’s Music, said: “For many years, we’ve had a street piano at the front of the Forsyth’s shop on Deansgate so we know that Manchester and the surrounding areas is full of talented musicians and those willing to have a go. We’re really excited to supply 13 pianos for the mjf piano trail and we’d urge all those budding performers to come forward, have a go and be in with a chance of winning some fantastic prizes.”
James Sargeant from Yamaha, one of this year’s piano trail sponsors, added: “We are thrilled to be working with the Manchester Jazz Festival again this year in support of the mjf piano trail 2023. This fantastic initiative enables anyone and everyone to enjoy playing and listening to the piano, in some iconic locations across the city and of course, with the chance to win a Yamaha digital piano this is not an opportunity to be missed! We look forward to hearing lots of new talent which will no doubt emerge during the trail.”
We are delighted to announce our winner of the piano trail, transatlantic folk singer, Zoe Mulford. Check out her entry below.
“I only found out about the MJF piano trail during the last week of the festival. I dropped everything and went to scout out pianos”- Winner, Zoe Mulford
And we are also delighted to announce our 8 incredibly talented runner ups, including the inspirational 12 year old blind pianist , Chapman Schum. Check out a snippet of each entry below.
“The MJF piano trail is always great fun. I look forward to it every year! It’s provides people with the amazing opportunity to showcase their skills, and it opens up many different types of doors for everyone involved. I love it! Thank you so much! 😍” – Runner up, Aminah
Prizes
The prizes up for grabs were:
