manchester jazz festival’s piano trail competition is back for 2025.
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
mjf and Forsyth Music Shop have joined forces once again for the mjf2025 piano trail competition: to find Manchester’s hidden talents across a trail of 16 street pianos at locations across Manchester
We have received the following press release;
manchester jazz festival’s piano trail
competition is back for mjf2025!
manchester jazz festival and Forsyth Music Shop have joined forces once again for the mjf2025 piano trail competition: to find Manchester’s hidden talents across a trail of 16 street pianos at locations across Manchester city centre and beyond into Greater Manchester.
From 20 March – 31 May, the mjf piano trail competition encourages everyone to get creative and just have fun and for those who want to take part, there’s a chance to enter a competition to win a Yamaha digital piano and many more prizes!
THE LAUNCH
We’re delighted to announce that Emma Loat, Manager of Forsyth Music Shop, will launch the mjf2025 piano trail competition, which will take place from 6pm on Thursday 20 March at the Corn Exchange. The launch will feature live performances from last year’s winner of the piano trail competition, Ainsley Vanzyl, young piano prodigy William AN, and special guest Andrzej Baranek.
The mjf piano trail competition is delivered in partnership with the world-renowned Forsyth Music Shop of Deansgate and Yamaha pianos and is part of manchester jazz festival’s 30th anniversary celebrations (mjf2025) which will take place at 12 venues across the city from 16 - 25 May 2025.
The 16 piano locations are: Piccadilly Station, Manchester Arndale, Harvey Nichols, HOME, Victoria Station, MediaCityUK, Great Northern, Corn Exchange, Spinningfields, Royal Exchange Arcade, Central Library, Forsyth Music Shop, Aviva Studios, Trafford Palazzo, Grand Arcade (Wigan) and Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre (Oldham).
Alongside the piano trail itself, there will also be two bespoke piano trail walking tours available, run by Free Manchester Walking Tours (FMWT), on the 17 and 18 May (£10 per adult, children go free) and live performances at some of the pianos on the trail, more information to be announced soon. Visit http://www.manchesterjazz.com/pianotrail to find out more about the piano trail, the walking tours and how to take part in the competition.
HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION
To be in with a chance of winning a prize, simply find one of the pianos in the trail, capture a short video of your tune, 5 minutes max, and post the video to your Instagram, Facebook or X account (*not as a story). The competition closes at midnight on 31 May 2025. Tag mjf @manchesterjazzfestival on Facebook or Instagram or @manjazzfest on X and use the hashtag #mjfpianotrail2025
There are no rules regarding who can apply, what kind of music you play or what your performance involves. Just have fun and get creative!
At the end of the piano trail, mjf and Forsyth’s will select all winners and the winning entries will be showcased on social media and YouTube.
PRIZES
The prizes up for grabs so far are:
- Yamaha: Yamaha P145 Digital Piano
- HOME Bar & Kitchen: Two course meal for two (including bottle of wine/soft drinks)
- Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre: £50 Oldham Gift Card (all ages)
- Harvey Nichols: complimentary lunch for two people at the Second Floor Brasserie
with a bottle of Harvey Nichols Champagne
- Manchester International Festival 2025: 2 FREE tickets to MIF show, Football City,
Art United
- Birthday party for 12 Children at Oxygen, Quayside MediaCityUK (Family)
PLAY IT FORWARD: STREET PIANO FUND
manchester jazz festival and Forsyth’s Music Shop are joining forces to fundraise for a bigger and better piano trail with their Play it Forward: Street Piano Fund campaign; to maintain and expand the current network of street pianos to reach new venues, boroughs and communities across Greater Manchester all year round, to ensure more people have the opportunity to play and enjoy music-making, no matter their age or ability. Sourcing, servicing, delivering and then ongoing maintenance of the pianos or indeed replacing them (Piccadilly Station is currently on its third piano in as many years due to intensive use it gets!) is no small job. However, manchester jazz festival and Forsyth’s are keen to make this an ongoing sustainable legacy and are launching their Play it Forward: Street Piano Fund campaign to make it easy for everyone who appreciates the pianos to help keep them going for the benefit of all. To find out more and how you can support, please visit:
http://www.manchesterjazz.com/playitforward
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said:
“This city-region has music running through its veins, and helping connect people to new musical experiences and supporting talented musicians has always been so important to us. The mjf piano trail will take music back out onto the streets of Manchester, giving more people the chance to try their hand at playing and to encounter the vibrant music of our city in a really unique way.”
Emma Loat, Manager of Forsyth’s Music, said:
“For many years, we’ve had a street piano at the front of the Forsyth’s shop on Deansgate, so we know that Manchester and the surrounding areas is full of talented musicians and those willing to have a go. We’re really excited to supply 16 pianos to a growing number of venues for the mjf piano trail and we’d urge all those budding performers to come forward, have a go and be in with a chance of winning some fantastic prizes.”
James Sargeant from Yamaha, one of this year’s piano trail sponsors, said:
“We are thrilled to be working with the manchester jazz festival again this year in support of the mjf piano trail 2025. This fantastic initiative enables anyone and everyone to enjoy playing and listening to the piano, in some iconic locations across the city and of course, with the chance to win a Yamaha digital piano this is not an opportunity to be missed! We look forward to hearing lots of new talent which will no doubt emerge during the trail.”
mjf2025 takes place from 16 - 25 May at venues across Manchester city centre. Visit http://www.manchesterjazz.com for more information and to book tickets.
https://www.facebook.com/manchesterjazzfestival
https://www.instagram.com/manchesterjazzfestival/
https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FManJazzFest
Hashtag for piano trail: #mjfpianotrail2025