THE PIANO GUYS Tickle The Ivories And More At The McCallum

The McCallum Theatre welcomes the return of The Piano Guys for two performances on Saturday, March 24, at 3:00pm and 8:00pm. The performance at 8:00pm is presented through the generosity of Jerry and Sarah Mathews. They sold out quickly last year, so don't miss your chance to see The Piano Guys this season!The Piano Guys became an internet sensation with their self-made music videos. They've made more than 65 since joining forces in 2011, including their break-out 10-handed version of One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" and a gorgeous reinvention of "Let It Go" from Frozen.

But who are The Piano Guys? There's only one piano player, Jon Schmidt, and one instrumentalist, Steven Sharp Nelson, on cello. The other two, Paul Anderson and Al van der Beek, are equally significant members of the group. The Piano Guys'name comes from Paul's piano store, The Piano Guys, in St. George, Utah. Looking for an alternative to conventional advertising, Paul devised a Facebook page and YouTube channel featuring the most famous pianist he could find - local pianist, Jon Schmidt. Jon was well-established locally, with eight albums and seven piano books of his song transcriptions. He performed concerts throughout Utah, one featuring guest artist Steven Sharp Nelson who adventurously combined traditional cello playing with percussion effects. Paul was so taken by Jon and Steven, he closed his store in 2011 to devote himself to the group.

When Steven moved to the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, serendipity intervened. Al van der Beek, who played several instruments and sang, lived down the street from Steven's new place. "I checked out his home studio and started playing some of my unfinished songs," Steven said, "and he told me what the titles should be and their meaning and finished them on the spot!" In The Piano Guys, then, Al is charged with the studio operations, co-writing, some vocal texturing, music arranging, and percussion work.

Their spectacular videos have so far netted over 1.3 billion YouTube views. Piano Guys' Steven Sharp Nelson says: "A billion is a big number. Especially for a quartet of dads who just started making music videos for fun. Honestly, we are overwhelmed with gratitude."

Their YouTube channel has over 5.4 million subscribers. Their videos show The Piano Guys performing in locations around the world, including The Great Wall of China and Iguazu Falls in Brazil. The Guys continue their quest to film a music video at each of the Seven Wonders of the World, recently recording a video in the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. The videos are divined by Anderson who notes, "It's all about the merits of the videos, and share-ability. People see them and then share them with their friends on Facebook, and before you know it, they can take off."

And sure enough, The Piano Guys have over 1.6 million Facebook fans who have shared videos like "Michael Meets Mozart," featuring over 100 tracks of cello textures, including a deep bass drum sound created by tapping on the cello body; a shaker sound made by Nelson rubbing rosin on his bow; and a record-scratch noise caused by his scraping a quarter on the strings. "Cello Wars," the ambitious video which resulted from a six-month production to realize its Star Wars-inspired light saber/cello bow concept, has over 37 million YouTube views.

"We try to put a wow factor in every video," says Anderson. This certainly is true for "Peponi (Paradise)," the Guys' African spin on Coldplay's "Paradise," for which the group helicoptered a grand piano onto the edge of a 1,000-foot cliff, where African guest vocalist Alex Boyé sang the translated words. Same with "Code Name Vivaldi," which blends The Bourne Identity soundtrack riff with a similarly intense Vivaldi cello concerto in a video culminating with Schmidt and Nelson, performing on a flatcar on a high-speed train. "Titanium/Pavane" is a mash-up of French classical composer Gabriel Fauré's "Pavane" with David Guetta's "Titanium," the Guys having previously lensed a lovely take on Guetta's "Without You." "Beethoven's 5 Secrets" employs five separate melodies from the four movements of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, in conjunction with One Republic's "Secrets."

"We love showcasing the beauty of the earth, where people don't expect to find classical instruments," says Anderson. The Beethoven video combines outdoor performance footage from the mountains surrounding St. George, Utah, with a concert featuring the American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, manifesting The Piano Guys' dual goal of bringing people to classical music and inspiring young musicians.

"Parents are using our music to show their kids how fun classical music can be and motivate them to learn instruments," says Schmidt. The Piano Guys' cover song mash-ups, adds Nelson, have become "a great way to introduce ourselves and make an instant connection with our audience as a classic spin on new stuff, and a new spin on classic stuff."

With van der Beek's studio prowess together with the inventive cinematography of Anderson, Schmidt and Nelson have forged a fresh approach to the growing crossover fusion of classical and pop music that has connected with a massive audience.

Uncharted, released in 2016, on Portrait/Sony Music Masterworks. made its chart debut at #1 on the Classical, Classical Crossover and New Age Album Charts. It follows Wonders, The Piano Guys, The Piano Guys 2, A Family Christmas, and The Piano Guys - Live! Collectively, their first five releases spent 302 weeks at #1 on various Billboard charts.

"We're all spiritual guys, and the only way to properly explain it is not to take credit!" says Nelson. "It really seems meant to be."

Website: www.thepianoguys.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePianoGuys
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

Tickets for these performances are $117, $97, $87 and $67. Tickets are available at the Theatre's website at www.mccallumtheatre.com or by calling the McCallum Theatre Box Office at (760) 340-ARTS.

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