Piano Go Round
When: 8 p.m. March 10, 2 p.m. March 11
Where: Fitton Center, 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton
Tickets: $20, www.fitton center.org, (513) 863-8873
HAMILTON — The Piano Go Round will be returning to the Fitton Center for Creative Arts next weekend, featuring some of the most talented pianists from the area.
“It’s a combination of two pianos, four pianos and solo pianos,” said Rod Nimtz, one of the pianists performing. “It is just sort of an opportunity to celebrate the piano.”
The Piano Go Round, which will feature four grand pianos facing each other on a stage, has been organized around several pianists from varied musical backgrounds, with many different styles. Nimtz explained that many different genres of music, from popular music to gospel music to Broadway musicals to ragtime music will be played at the event.
“The nice part about the event is its mixture of so many different types of music,” said Nimtz. “Everyone brings to the table their background, the style of music they feel most comfortable with and everyone works together, serving as a soloist or an accompanist.”
The pianists will move in and out of the role of soloist and accompanist, playing off each other.
One of the musicians will be Jeff Smith, a professional composer, arranger and musician, who has written music that can be heard all around the world. Many local residents have heard Smith’s arrangements playing at the stage shows at King’s Island.
Nimtz has been playing the piano for more than 30 years and was one of the original pianists from the first Piano Go Round.
Some of the other pianists include David Belew, a board member for the Fitton center, Tom Reuter, a returning member from last year, Randy Runyon, music director at Zion Lutheran Church in Hamilton, among a other pianists including a parade of youth performers.
“Since we are working without written arrangements,” said Nimtz, “a lot of the creative process is taking place right there in the concert, in front of the audience.”
And most of the music is going to be familiar to most people.
“That is the way these things work best,” said Nimtz, “the music that you play, is the music people know and love, but you do it in a different way.”
The Piano Go Round was started back in 2000 for a scholarship fundraising program at Miami University. After giving an encore performance for the 40th anniversary of the Middletown campus, Nimtz was contacted by the Fitton Center to start a Piano Go Round in 2011. The show sold out before the performance and was taped by TV Hamilton.
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