CONCOURSE — Pianist and composer Ayako Higuchi gave a free concert in Joyce Kilmer Park on Tuesday afternoon, performing on a piano that had been placed in the neighborhood by the arts group Sing for Hope.
The 32-year-old Higuchi has been playing the piano since she was 5 at venues including Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theater.
It was pianist's first show in The Bronx, and she said the experience could not have been better.
"It was outdoors with this beautiful piano and beautiful audience under the beautiful weather. Yeah, it was a perfect performing experience for me," she said.
The 161st Street Business Improvement District helped put the show together, and Executive Director Cary Goodman said he was thrilled to have such an accomplished musician perform in the park.
"She's played at Carnegie Hall. She's played at Lincoln Center," he said, "so she's been at all the world class venues, and now she's here."
Higuchi's concert was scheduled to go from noon to 2 p.m., and she performed on a piano decorated with bees and buttons that had been placed in the park by Sing for Hope, an organization that puts pianos in different parks and public spaces throughout New York City each summer.
The instruments will be up until June 19 this year to give budding or professional pianists a chance to play some music at their leisure.
“The mission of the organization is to make arts accessible to people who don’t always have great access to the arts,” said Richard Robertson, chief operating officer of Sing for Hope. “So this project puts 51 pianos out on the streets for anyone and everyone to play.”
The piano in Joyce Kilmer Park is called "Bee Inspired" and was decorated by artist Tracy Crane. Other Bronx pianos this year are located in Van Cortlandt Park, the Willis Avenue Community Garden and the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum.
At the end of their time outside, the pianos will go to public schools throughout the city, and Sing for Hope is currently working to raise $25,000 to cover the cost of moving all of the instruments.
Robertson said more than 100 applications came in for the pianos, so he anticipates continuing the partnership with city schools going forward.
Anthony Young, who stopped by Higuchi's performance on Tuesday, said he was thrilled to see a free piano concert in The Bronx.
"Anytime that you can get something different that can expand your horizon, I call it good," he said.
