Cyprus hopes to win world record for piano playing

Twenty-five Cypriot musicians aspire to break the Guinness World Record by playing on one piano at the same time sending the message that music remains the main form of socialisation.

The group has found a way for everyone to sit, stand or lay on a Ritmüller Concert Grand GP-275 piano which they will play on July 5 in Nicosia in an attempt to make the list of the famous Guinness World Records for the most musicians playing the same piano simultaneously.

The musicians will perform original music by a Cypriot composer.

The idea belongs to the director of Kyriakides Piano Gallery and president of the Avantgarde Cultural Foundation, Stavros Kyriakides, and dates back to 2019. Kyriakides and Avantgarde joined forces to break the Guinness World Record for the most musicians to be playing at the same time piano simultaneously.

When Kyriakides decided to put together a team of musicians that would attempt setting a new world record four years ago, it was 21 people and held by the Netherlands, but in the meantime, it was raised to 23 musicians by the current record holders in Serbia.

“Breaking a Guinness World Record for the piano serves the goals we set in the direction of audience development and promotes our country internationally,” explains Kyriakides.

“We are going through an era where social media dominate our lives and we observe the phenomenon, worldwide, of the decline and ageing of the audience in music halls. With this attempt, we wish to demonstrate that music is the leading means of socialisation, that classical music is ‘alive’ and just as exciting as any other form of music and that the piano is its main ‘ambassador’ conveying in a unique way feelings and experiences that might otherwise be impossible to externalise.”

The musicians who make up the team are professionals – performers or professors in various schools, conservatories, universities of Cyprus – but also amateurs or students.

“When Stavros Kyriakides contacted me and explained what he had in mind, my first reaction was to laugh out loud as I thought of myself with 24 other people sitting at a piano, trying to play together. That laugh was immediately replaced by a big smile, exactly because I thought of myself with 24 other people sitting at a piano, playing together,” says one of the musicians.

The record’s title and the rules that govern it explain that this is about the most musicians playing the same piano simultaneously, and not necessarily pianists, so the organisers chose to include a guitarist in the group, exactly to demonstrate the concept of “networking”, by musical terms. These are Elena Christou, Avraam Kontos, Chryso Hadjikou, Annie Trillidou Santi, Andronikos Drousiotis, Despo Karantonis, Elina Antoniou, Anna Forari, Antigoni Komodromou, Constantinos Aspris, Romy Kieslinger, Christos Limperopoulos, Christiana Kounni, Matin Bassami, Evrydiki Nicolaou, Maria Matheou, Rodoula Panayidou, Kyriacos Panayiotou, Kyriaki Steliou, Vaso Vanezou, Christie Pavlou Symeonidou, Anthi Papaphilippou, Andreas Michalopoulos, Leoni Hadjithoma and Borislav Alexandrov.

The music that the 25 will perform is a composition by distinguished Cypriot pianist, Steinway artist, Nicolas Costantinou. As a performer, Costantinou has given concerts in Europe and the USA, in important music halls and international Chamber Music Festivals and has collaborated with leading orchestras. He became known for his daring choices from traditional and modern repertoire as well as with his performances with unusual musical formations.