Team Pianodrome

Tim Vincent-Smith

Artist and musician Tim Vincent-Smith originally conceived of the Pianodrome as an open, interactive, sculptural amphitheatre made from pianos in 2017. Since then as a co-director of Pianodrome CIC, as well as designing and leading the construction of three Pianodromes he conceived the majority of concepts for the award winning sculptures of the Leeds Piano Trail (2021) and led their design and construction, he also helped to design and build Glasgow Piano Arc and various other smaller sculptural works and furniture from pianos.

In Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 Tim wrote and performed ‘Playing Beethoven’, a new play for the Old Royal Pianodrome and as a founder member of the new music ensemble S!nk Tim has performed to packed houses and critical acclaim in the Pianodrome and beyond.

"Pianodrome is a space for people to explore and realise their creative potential. I hope to continue to develop my creativity through the Pianodrome and to help others do the same."

Photo credit: Chris Scott

Artist and musician Tim Vincent-Smith originally conceived of the Pianodrome as an open, interactive, sculptural amphitheatre made from pianos in 2017. Since then as a co-director of Pianodrome CIC, as well as designing and leading the construction of three Pianodromes he conceived the majority of concepts for the award winning sculptures of the Leeds Piano Trail (2021) and led their design and construction, he also helped to design and build Glasgow Piano Arc and various other smaller sculptural works and furniture from pianos.
In Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 Tim wrote and performed ‘Playing Beethoven’, a new play for the Old Royal Pianodrome and as a founder member of the new music ensemble S!nk Tim has performed to packed houses and critical acclaim in the Pianodrome and beyond.
"Pianodrome is a space for people to explore and realise their creative potential. I hope to continue to develop my creativity through the Pianodrome and to help others do the same."

Matthew Wright

Tom Nelson

Volunteering with the Pianodrome in 2018 gave me an outlet for creativity and playfulness away from the stress of teaching. Pulling pianos apart, installing the Pianodrome and helping run events was escapist, anarchic fun which took me back to my days as a community music tutor and volunteering whilst travelling.

In 2020 I started getting paid work building the sculptures for Leeds piano trail. Next I worked on the build team for the second Pianodrome for Old Royal High and helped get the third Pianodrome over the line in Charlotte, North Carolina. This gave me confidence to start making things with piano parts. To see my favourite thing I’ve made please see this blogpost.

Venue managing at the Old Royal High in 2022 with a great team of volunteers and colleagues was an epic thing to be part of.

I still really enjoy dismantling pianos in our Adapt a Piano workshops and I currently run the Piano adoption showroom where we recondition old pianos destined for the dump and give them to good homes. After pulling old broken pianos apart for several years it feels good to care for the ones which can be saved. In the future I want to continue learning how to fix pianos, transform pianos in new ways and hope to set up a Piano Orchestra, where the “shonkiest” pianos are given their time to shine.

Shona MacArthur

Laura Knight

I went along to my first piano dismantling session in the spring of 2018, during the build of the first Pianodrome, and got very inspired by the idea of transforming the beauty of unplayable pianos into something new and creating a wonderful event space out of them! It felt like an explosion of creativity happening locally - Tim and Matt attracted lots of energy, great people and good vibes!

I enjoyed the hands-on process of dismantling pianos and my experience of working at the Edinburgh Fringe was suited for the first Pianodrome venue. I volunteered at Front of House and Box Office teams during the Pianodrome at the Botanic Garden 2018 and Pianodrome at the Pitt 2019.

In 2022, I set up Studio Pianodrome online shops on the website and Etsy in collaboration with Tim and the wider team, took up the Admin role and joined the fantastic Old Royal High Resonancy team where I helped with production, set up the Box Office and was the Lead Venue Manager. It was a one-of-a-kind venue and a great, creative team to be part of!

Photo credit: Elliott Caunce Photography