Classical music melodies mingled with downtown Salt Lake City noises on Friday, June 5, at the unveiling of “Piano Assemblage Ensemble,” an interactive, large-scale sculpture by Utah artist Jason Manley.
The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, The Blocks Arts District and Salt Lake County Arts and Culture sought an inspiring piece for Abravanel Plaza and trusted Manley with its creation. “They had a vision of a piano-meets-sculpture idea, and they took a leap of faith in me to take these pianos and create something that was going to energize the space,” Manley said.
Kary Billings, Executive Director of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, emphasized how the interactive aspect of the sculpture provides the energy Manley spoke of. “We wanted it to invite people to walk around it and have it be visible from all sides so people could come and explore the energy of a piano,” he said.
Visitors can also play the pianos. “We wanted one piano to be totally playable, and we hope pianists come all summer long and really enjoy it,” Billings said. “It’s great, unexpected fun to have pianists coming from all levels.”
Building with pianos
The sculpture is made of “five pianos with a steel structure bringing them together,” Billings said. These instruments were found in unlikely places. “Sometimes we got them for a dollar on KSL. Sometimes our friends Barrus Pianos had one or two in storage,” Billings said. “We just went around and tried to find them.”
One of the five is a baby grand piano. “We had one piano—the one with the lovely flowers on it—donated to us a few years ago. Unfortunately, it was just going to cost too much to make it a playable piano,” Billings said. “We are really excited that we got to repurpose it for this.”
The flowery piano was finally put to use when it became a main source of inspiration for the sculpture. “The front of [the sculpture] has a flowery, petal form which relates to that grand piano that has those flower paintings already existing on it,” said Manley. “It developed organically. I was responding to the parts and pieces.”
The sculpture will remain in Abravanel Plaza until Sept. 8, 2026, and the piano will remain playable as long as the weather allows.
Merging Artforms
The unveiling also featured a live performance from Bennett Larsen, a Utah competitor in the 2026 Bachauer International Piano Competition. The performance included selections from “Firebird Suite” by Igor Stravinsky and “Theme of Corelli” by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Larsen played these classical pieces alongside the city landscape. He said he enjoyed mixing the elements of classical music and city life together. He notes that the sculpture represents a mixture as well. “Merging forms of art is always a beautiful thing to do, so it’s cool to see that they’re merging music and visual art,” Larsen said.
