‘Flower Piano’ Returns to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park

The Flower Piano event at the San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park returned this year.

The event, which ran from Sept. 13 to 22, positioned 12 pianos around various locations in the garden. Alongside scheduled performances by musicians, the public is invited to sit down and play the pianos.

A highlight of the event is the Flower Piano Lounge, where the Botanical Garden's celebration garden is turned into an open-air concert lounge with full-service bars, and lounge seating.

This year the piano lounge featured groups such as the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, John Brothers Piano Company, Martin Luther McCoy & the Robin Hodge Williams Gospel Choir, and the Sumi Lee Tango Collective.

San Francisco residents can attend Flower Piano and enter all Golden Gate Park gardens, for free.

The event was co-created by pianist Mauro Ffortissimo, a founding member of 849 Folsom Music, a music and spoken word performance troop.

Ffortissimo is featured in the documentary "Twelve Pianos," which explores the origins of his work and the Flower Piano event.

The film follows Ffortissimo, an artist and musician who brought a piano to the bluffs near his home along the Northern California coast and played it every evening at sunset. By allowing the piano to deteriorate against the harsh weather conditions of the coast, he aimed to use it as a symbol of the impermanence of life.

Keeping a piano on the beach turned out to be illegal, so Ffortissimo set it on fire as a final artistic expression.

Afterward, a dozen pianos were placed along the California coastline and played by musicians and strangers.

Together, they created the Golden Gate Park's Flower Piano event.

On Sept. 19, Ffortissimo, who has played piano for over 50 years and at every edition of Flower Piano, performed with saxophonist George Long.

"I don't sing, but I have no shame," Ffortissimo told the crowd during his hour-long performance, where he sang, played Chopin and tangos, and recited poetry.

"Playing by the birds and nature is refreshing," Ffortissimo told the crowd.

The 10-day-long piano event doubles the duration of last year's and marks the ninth Flower Piano held since 2015.

Alongside the Conservatory of Flowers and Japanese Tea Garden, it makes up the Gardens of Golden Gate Park.