The Las Cigarreras cultural center in Alicante marks another year in the city’s anniversary celebrations. Piano Day, an initiative backed by the German composer Nils Frahm, honors the piano and everyone connected to it—performers, composers, producers, and especially listeners—with events worldwide.
The celebration for Piano Day takes place on March 29, chosen because it is the 88th day of the year and a piano has 88 keys. Alicante joined the global observance in 2017 with a program of artistic, creative, and musical activities centered on the piano. The events explored the instrument’s relationships with other art forms and with technology, highlighting its enduring influence across disciplines.
The coordinator and organizer for Piano Day Alicante is a musician from Alicante named Charles Izquierdo. He emphasizes variety, noting that there are many ways to approach contemporary piano and that the program evolves each year. On this particular Saturday, the day at Las Cigarreras will feature two main activities: a workshop and a participatory sound installation.
The first project, Water Piano, imagines pianos as flexible ideas rather than fixed objects. It explores how instruments can be imagined and built with different materials, with creativity and water playing a key role in the concept.
A second project, Extended Piano, will be a participatory installation where the piano remains the core instrument. In this setup there will actually be two pianos. The sound will expand beyond the traditional instrument through effects, resonances, and echoes. The aim is for sounds produced by passerby to shape a more expansive sonic surface, weaving a rhizomatic note network that connects listeners and performers alike.
A free workshop will be offered from twelve to thirteen thirty, open to audiences of all backgrounds, with a preference for participants aged eight and up. Registration is simple and can be done on site. The sound installation is scheduled for the evening, from eighteen thirty to twenty. Entry is free and no prior registration is required.