Episode 97: Flower Piano

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 A transcript, lightly edited for clarity and length, follows.

VOC Covid 19 Flower Piano EP 97 Mix 1

[00:00:00] George Koster: Welcome to Voices of the Community, which explores critical issues facing Northern California communities. We introduce you to the voices of community thought leaders and change makers who are working on solutions that face our fellow individual community members, neighborhoods, cities, and our region.

[00:00:28] George Koster: This is George Koster, your host.

[00:00:33] George Koster: This episode is part of our series Exploring COVID nineteens impact on nonprofits and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area back in April of 2020 when we decided to create this ongoing series on COVID nineteens impact, first on nonprofits and then on small businesses in the San Francisco Bay area.

[00:00:52] George Koster: We like you had no idea how long the pandemic would go on and what the health and economic impact would be in our community. As we enter the second half of 2022 with the latest explosion of cases from the most recent COVID-19 Omicron mutations, along with the masking requirements being changed and folks getting their vaccinations, our communities are still struggling to deal with the health.

[00:01:17] George Koster: Economic, mental and societal impacts of the ongoing global pandemic. This all adds to the ongoing uncertainty of our ever-changing indoor and outdoor vaccinated and unvaccinated protocols and the politics of the pandemic that will drive how we all come back together as a unified. Or fractured community.

[00:01:37] George Koster: We will continue to shine a spotlight on the nonprofits and small businesses that make up the fabric of our community, along with the founders and staff who are struggling to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their operations, services, and sustainability, until we can all get to the other side of the pandemic.

[00:01:56] George Koster: Along the way, we will also share with you all the amazing solutions that our nonprofits, small businesses, foundations, and government leaders are working on to help us all get to the other side of the pandemic and come together to rebuild our communities with more economic, social, and environmental equality.

[00:02:14] Dean Mermell: We'll walk around and all of a sudden we'll stumble on somebody who's a really incredible player and maybe they've never even played for people, maybe they've never even played outside of their living room. That happens really often, and we'll approach them and say, hi, would you like to be on the program next year?

[00:02:30] Dean Mermell: They're like gobsmacked. It never occurred to them to play for people in public. And then next year they find themselves on the program playing for people and surrounded by applauding folks. And so this is why I call flower piano an interactive music festival because it really works with the public in this way.

[00:02:48] George Koster: One of the topics we've covered in our two plus years of producing this special series on the COVID-19 Pandemic's impact on our community is the impact the pandemic is having on our live performing arts organizations. This episode features the Voices behind the Annual Flower Piano Show in Golden Gate Parks Botanical Garden.

[00:03:07] George Koster: Our featured voices are the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, CEO, Stephanie Linder, along with the co-founders of Sunset Piano. Dean Memel and Maro Formo. I'm joined remotely by the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, CEO, Stephanie Linder, along with the co-founders of Sunset Piano, Dean Memel and Maro Fortissimo.

[00:03:29] George Koster: Welcome to Voices of the Community, Stephanie Dean and Maro. This is really one of my favorite events that you've created here in San Francisco, and it's especially wonderful during the Pandemic 'cause it's outside. And so I'd love to just have each of you share a little bit. About your own background, and then we'll get into the background of the organizations and then of course, the creation of Flower Piano Show.

[00:03:52] George Koster: So Stephanie, why don't we start with you and you can kind of set the, uh, context, if you will, of the gardens and the show. Yeah,

[00:03:59] Stephanie Linder: happy to. Yeah, and thanks for having us. So I've been with the Botanical Garden for a little over four years, and we merged with the Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers July 1st.

[00:04:14] Stephanie Linder: To become the gardens of Golden Gate Park. With that, all three sites are free admission for residents. We've also offered now a multi garden ticket so people can come and visit all three sites on one ticket. So we are committed to being accessible to the public. We're part of the Museums for All program, so folks who, regardless of residency, if they are on SNAP benefits, you know, and CalFresh Medi-Cal, they can come, they can bring their families for free.

[00:04:43] Stephanie Linder: We are proud to be in a public private partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, and they take care of the facilities, the horticultural maintenance. And a whole variety of really critical infrastructure needs here at the three Gardens. On the nonprofit side, we get to do extraordinary things like work with these guys, Dean and Morrow, and this will be our seventh year partnering with them to bring the community flower, piano, and it's one of my very favorite things that we do here.

[00:05:15] George Koster: Thank you all. So Maro and Dean, tell us a little bit about your creation of Sunset Piano and then we'll get into the creation of the Flower piano show. Sure.

[00:05:25] Mauro ffortissimo: I'm a musician and I painter. I always work with pianos. I take my part, I make sculptures with piano parts, so I had a lot of pianos. And a few years ago we do one piano down in half Bay where we have this large studio.

[00:05:38] Mauro ffortissimo: And play outdoors by the beach. And that was kind of the beginning of Sunset Piano. And then we did an installation of 12 pianos throughout the San Mateo coast. And that we had such a great time hiding from the authorities, unfortunately, 'cause we had that many permits. And after doing that, we got invited to work in San Francisco to do installations on downtown, mostly around the mid-market corridor.

[00:06:02] Mauro ffortissimo: At the same time, Dina and I were looking to, you know, a better place to set pianos. 'cause we were used to doing 'em by the water and the beach. And at that time I think Dina approached the American parks 'cause we don't doing something around the Golden Gate Park. But that was the issue. But what happened with the pianos at night?

[00:06:19] Dean Mermell: Our idea originally was to hide. 12 grand pianos in Golden Gate Park and we thought that was a great idea and Rec and Park went, well, let's think about that. And then next day, and I thought that was gonna be the end of it, frankly, because you know, we think we have great ideas all the time, but very few people take us up on them.

[00:06:38] Dean Mermell: But then they called us back and they said, actually it's the Botanical Gardens 75th anniversary. And we think maybe something can happen with that. So they invited some representatives of the garden to meet with SF Brecken Park and with us, and we hit on this idea of putting the pianos in botanical garden, and then the structure of flower piano kind of came out of that.

[00:07:03] George Koster: Just staying with the whole idea of dropping pianos in the middle of an amazing botanical garden. Turning to you, Stefan, has anything like this been done at other botanical gardens that you know of in the United States or perhaps around the world?

[00:07:14] Stephanie Linder: You know, many botanical gardens have summer concert series or other kinds of programming like that, and I'm sure you know Gina Morrow can tell you, there's lots of examples of public pianos, pianos being placed in plazas and on streets, but.

[00:07:33] Stephanie Linder: There's nothing exactly like flower, piano. It's pretty unique. And one of the things that my colleagues at other botanical gardens across the country ask me when they hear about this event, we describe it. They say, well, what do you do with the pianos at night? Or What happens if it rains? Or, you know, they start thinking of all these things that, well, we're really fortunate.

[00:07:55] Stephanie Linder: I mean, we do get some pretty foggy, drippy days where we've had some issues, but by and large, you know. It doesn't rain here in summer and we have this mild climate. I mean, these guys, their team does a lot of work to keep these pianos dry and tuned and all of that. It's not easy, but we're able to leave them outdoors overnight.

[00:08:15] Stephanie Linder: They're covered, protected, but a lot of gardens don't have climates where they could do that. So, but it's pretty unique what we do here.

[00:08:23] George Koster: Turning to Maro and Dean, how do you, and perhaps you do this as a group, but I'm always fascinated as to the programming itself. So this year is even a more robust, if you will, or perhaps more elaborate, you know, each night with its own theme.

[00:08:38] George Koster: And an artist has actually written original music to it. So share with the audience a little bit about how you create the programming itself. Was that, you know, part of your original idea, has that progressed, if you will over the years?

[00:08:50] Dean Mermell: It's definitely evolved. The original idea was that it would be purely acoustic piano music, and we would have the pianos available for the public to play on weekdays.

[00:09:05] Dean Mermell: And originally it was a longer program. It used to be 12 days, but for several practical reasons. We've shortened it now to five days. Originally it was going to be open to the public on weekdays to play the pianos, and on weekends we would program the pianos with local professional musicians. It's still structured pretty much that way during the week.

[00:09:27] Dean Mermell: There's always pianos available for people to play. Although we have spread some programming into the weekdays now. Which we're hoping will alleviate some of the crowds on the weekends, which last year were pretty intense. But yeah, that's the basic idea. It's a mixture of keeping open pianos for anyone to come in and play from the public.

[00:09:48] Dean Mermell: And having professional musicians, of which there are some amazing people in this town, programmed to play at specific times. And the thing that you were asking about, I think, was this special program that we're leading off with this year called Fall and Fly, which is a piece of music written for 12 grand pianos specifically for that.

[00:10:10] Dean Mermell: That's written by a local composer named Benjamin Gribble. He's been working on it for three years. That's going to be conducted by the director of the Stanford Symphony, Paul Phillips, and played by our best musicians. So it's an incredible 23 minute piece in three movements that is incredibly moving.

[00:10:31] Dean Mermell: We're also going to have some special guest speakers, authors Rebecca Soni and Gary Camilla. It's amazing that everybody lives here in this city because they're really well known, incredible authors, and also a poet, and yet a ba, and so they're going to contextualize the evening with these themes of renewal regrowth.

[00:10:53] Dean Mermell: Transformation, which are the kind of themes that are at work in this piece of music and Fall and Fly will take place on Wednesday, September 14th. At five o'clock, tickets are almost gone, so people really need to jump on it if they're gonna get a ticket.

[00:11:11] George Koster: And that's taking place in the Great Meadow itself because of Correct.

[00:11:14] George Koster: Obviously, the number of folks playing the 12 pianos and everyone who wants to buy tickets, et cetera. Can you share a little bit more about Sunset Piano? Is it a collective of musicians or is it just the two?

[00:11:26] Dean Mermell: It's a very small

[00:11:27] Dean Mermell: collective,

[00:11:28] Mauro ffortissimo: no, it's just Dean and I we're two artists that love. Pianos and music in general, and we have through the years, even San Francisco, most of our friends are musicians, so we call them Sunset Piano players.

[00:11:41] Mauro ffortissimo: But you know, they're all good on their own.

[00:11:44] Dean Mermell: We don't own them. Yeah.

[00:11:45] George Koster: So if someone was a musician who's listening to the show and wanted to play, they could show up and play one of the open pianos.

[00:11:54] Dean Mermell: Yes, absolutely. And in fact, we have discovered many incredible people that we later, like I'll walk around, we'll walk around and all of a sudden we'll stumble on somebody who's a really incredible player and maybe they've never even played for people, maybe they've never even played outside of their living room.

[00:12:11] Dean Mermell: That happens really often, and we'll approach them and say, hi, would you like to be on the program next year? They're like gobsmacked. It never occurred to them to play for people in public. And then next year they find themselves on the program playing for people and surrounded by applauding folks. And so this is why I call flower piano an interactive music festival because it really.

[00:12:33] Dean Mermell: Works with the public in this way.

[00:12:35] George Koster: Agreed. I mean, that is really one of the amazing parts is to stumble upon someone playing. And I've been there when someone just, you know, there's an open piano and someone sits down and starts playing and then the crowd starts to gather. So if I was a piano player and I wanted to participate in next year's show, for example, how would I do that?

[00:12:52] Dean Mermell: Just look for us walking around. Get lucky. It's getting harder every year. Quite frankly, you know, we had to say no to a lot of people this year. Each year we have to say no to more people because you know, we have somewhere between 60 and 70 individual musicians and ensembles that play each year, and there's still more people who want to play.

[00:13:14] Dean Mermell: So we do what we can, and like I said, we're expanding our programming into the weekdays now. But it's still very well curated. You know, we try to really curate this so that we put together a program each year that has a lot of diversity, a lot of variety, a lot of different kinds of music from different parts of the world, but it needs to be piano centric.

[00:13:36] Dean Mermell: Sometimes I'll get an email from somebody saying, Hey, I play the Deri, do really well, and I'd really like to play at Flower Piano. I go, well, it's not really our thing, you know? So, yeah, we keep things piano centric, but outside of that, if you're a good player and you know, want to play, sure. Send us an email or something and we'll look at what you're doing.

[00:13:58] George Koster: Could you walk us through the program a little bit? 'cause I noticed this year, obviously there's music and poetry, there's a puppetry show. It looks like it's tied to music. So besides what, it sounds like an amazing fall and fly show.

[00:14:10] Stephanie Linder: Yeah. If I could chime into on our community partner performers, in addition to the incredible array.

[00:14:18] Stephanie Linder: Of performances that Dean and Morrow curate. We also have ongoing partnerships with the San Francisco Symphony, sf Jazz Community Music Center, and others. And so, you know, they're just bringing incredible performances into the mix. There's sort of like three kinds of performances, the Sunset piano curation, these community partners, and then this open playtime, and it's all fantastic.

[00:14:45] Stephanie Linder: So I wanna just underscore, as we're talking about programming, there's more weekday programming than ever before, and a lot of it falls kind of into that lunchtime, happy hour timeframe too. So even if you're working that weekday, hopefully you're working from home now in the pandemic era, you could sneak over and catch some.

[00:15:07] Stephanie Linder: And even if there's nothing on the schedule, just come, even if there's nothing on the schedule that resonates with you or you don't know who the, you know. Doesn't matter. Just come, there's 12 pianos. You're gonna love something and it'll be worth it.

[00:15:19] Dean Mermell: And there's bound to be somebody who will blow your mind at any time of day.

[00:15:24] Dean Mermell: The the weekdays are amazing because the weekends it is kind of overwhelming. You kind of don't know where to turn. Sometimes I'm walking along on a Saturday and I'll reach a certain point where it's like. There's Dave Brubeck happening over here. There's Chopin happening over there, and there's some honky tonk like just ahead of me.

[00:15:45] Dean Mermell: And I'm standing there and I'm kind of like, what am I hearing? What do I do? You know? And it's a delightful conundrum to be in, but it's a bit much sometimes. And during the week you can be walking along and stumble onto somebody, like playing some Eric Satee or something, and there's a goose standing next to the piano.

[00:16:01] Dean Mermell: You know, it's like crazy. There's beautiful. Magical moments available during the week that are harder to come by on the weekends. So yeah, come during the week. It's a whole other way of experiencing flower piano. That's really great.

[00:16:15] Stephanie Linder: I think part of it is that you get to see the garden a little bit more, right?

[00:16:19] Stephanie Linder: Because when we have the larger crowd, it's still, you're in the garden. It's an amazing setting. It's beautiful. But I find that you really notice the animals, whether it's the geese or the hawk flying over. You notice the redwoods. You notice. The various plantings around you and what's going on, and you can kind of experience the garden a little bit more as you're experiencing music.

[00:16:43] George Koster: Well, and staying with you, Stephanie, this is a two part question and really for everyone, but COVID-19 hit everything kind of shut down people. Were trying to get outside and do more, and obviously the garden shut down as well. How did COVID to 19 impact the Gardens itself? And then the flower piano show?

[00:17:01] Stephanie Linder: So we were closed for 11 weeks and we laid off about half the staff at the botanical garden. When we reopened, we were able to hire about half of those back, and we are just now actually getting fully staffed up again. When we reopened, it was amazing. We have had record breaking visitation the past two years.

[00:17:22] Stephanie Linder: We have had a thousand more member households. We've never been busier and flower piano was no exception. When we brought flower piano back last September, we had 60,000 people come in five days. We used to have 60,000 people come in 12 days and three nights. So it gives you a sense of just the demand, the anticipation, and it was emotional.

[00:17:48] Stephanie Linder: It was joyous. I saw so many reunions as I walked around last year. I saw so many people getting together for the first time since the pandemic and doing it at Flower Beyond

[00:18:03] George Koster: you're listening to voices of the community, which explores critical issues facing Northern California communities. Voices of the community is supported by Grant from the James Irvine Foundation, dedicated to a California where all low income workers have the power to advance economically more@irvine.org.

[00:18:23] George Koster: This is George Koster, your host, and if you're just joining us. In this episode, we're discussing how our performing artists are bringing back their musical magic at the Golden Gate Parks Botanical Gardens Annual Flower Piano Show. Our featured voices are the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, CEO, Stephanie Linder, along with the co-founders of Sunset Piano, Dean Memel and Maro Foresi Mo.

[00:18:47] George Koster: Let's get back to our conversation about their work to provide the platform of the Flower Piano Show for anyone who plays the piano to show up and perform along with hundreds of musical performers in the San Francisco Bay Area and Maro and Dean. You're performing artists, right? And I think most people don't realize that 90% of our performing arts employees, if you will, were all furloughed, laid off, et cetera, because everything shut down and at least you had the benefit, if you will, performing outside.

[00:19:15] George Koster: How did the. CVID 19 pandemic affect you guys on an individual level, but then also you know, your ability to bring flower, piano back.

[00:19:24] Mauro ffortissimo: Yeah, well, impact has like impact everybody, obviously. And then when we did it last year, fortunately, unfortunately got cut down to half of the time instead of 12 days to six.

[00:19:36] Mauro ffortissimo: In many ways, I think we're liking it now. The main difference was that we used to have two weekends, and those two weekends we couldn't buy more players to play. So that's why the numbers a bit crunched with players that we had to decline. That was kind of, as an organization, the biggest impact on us was to make it shorter.

[00:19:54] Mauro ffortissimo: We working, still navigating through that and a personal level. Yeah, like everybody else, we were, you know, had to be at home as a gig worker. I think we were lucky to get some government help. Some other places they weren't as lucky. And I think most musicians would survive with that and, and playing sometimes outdoors in places that maybe weren't supposed to.

[00:20:13] Mauro ffortissimo: But I personally kept doing that, taking a piano here and there without advertising any of it. And I figure, hey, we do it. You know, there's a thing that dinner, and I always say that music is a healthy thing that we do is, is something that we strongly believe that even the flowers and the plants and the trees, they really enjoy having music being played for them.

[00:20:33] Mauro ffortissimo: So that's, uh, I think that the pandemic didn't stop us from that.

[00:20:39] Dean Mermell: Yeah. It was a difficult time, no question. And we really missed, you know, having that time of the year that we always look forward to flower piano. And so it was a difficult year for me personally too. Yeah. I felt like the whole world kind of paused for me.

[00:20:55] Dean Mermell: What has come out of that time is. A renewed appreciation for what we do. You know what Marow and I do together and what we do is a collaboration with the garden because it's beautiful that you know when you're forced to not see each other and kind of shut your life down in a way, and then you get to re-experience it again.

[00:21:15] Dean Mermell: I see that as being an opportunity. And so now I'm really, again, enjoying producing flower piano with these guys, and the collaboration with the Garden is really wonderful. You know, as artists, we don't get to have that experience with many people, and the Garden has been a wonderful partner in this, and I can't imagine how this could have happened without the kind of chemistry that we have.

[00:21:40] Dean Mermell: So, coming out of the pandemic, I have a renewed appreciation for that now.

[00:21:45] George Koster: So Stephanie, how has the entire flower piano show impacted the gardens? I think for a lot of folks, they knew that they were there. They would sometimes visit, but it really became a destination.

[00:21:57] Stephanie Linder: Yeah, it's certainly brought us a lot of new and different visitors and new members, some new funders.

[00:22:04] Stephanie Linder: So we raise. Funds to cover flower piano. We don't make any profit on flower piano. Those out of towners who do have to pay admission, that money goes into something called the garden improvement Fund held at the bid that is reinvested back into the gardens. The budget per flower piano this year is $300,000.

[00:22:24] Stephanie Linder: And we're about 50 K away from that goal. So we are still seeking sponsorships, but you know, this has become our signature event. It's one of the things that we're known for and I just think it fits in Golden Gate Park. Golden Park's a little over 150 years old, and music has always been a part of this park.

[00:22:44] Stephanie Linder: So it just works here. It just makes sense here. And so you think about hardly strictly, you think about opera in the park, you think about outside lands, the community wants. This programming and they're voting with their feet, so we're happy to do it, but you know, it's a heavy lift. We have to go out and we're really fortunate to have both individuals, companies, foundations who love this and they wanna help us provide it as a gift to the community, and we're happy to be able to do.

[00:23:14] George Koster: Staying with that, Stephanie, how can folks who are listening to the show support the show, but also the Gardens of Golden Gate Park?

[00:23:21] Stephanie Linder: Well, first of all, come bring a friend. If you bring an instrument, bring it, but also, you know, become a member. It's a great way to also hear about other programming that we have.

[00:23:30] Stephanie Linder: We have lots of cool offerings, health and wellness, botanical art, and drawing. We book and author events, so become a member. There will be folks around asking for donations, especially residents who come for free, you know. Drop a few bucks if you can, into the donation box. We really appreciate it. The other thing is it's not too late to sponsor.

[00:23:49] Stephanie Linder: So you as an individual, or if you have company and you'd like to sponsor all the information's on our website, so sf bg.org/flower piano. It's all there. We'd love to have you. And also you can just send a donation and you can write. On the check or in your email that you want it to help support flower piano.

[00:24:09] Stephanie Linder: We'll make sure it's accounted for in the right place and helps keep flower piano going. Lots of ways to give. Also, we still need volunteers and it's a great volunteer gig. It's a great way to come meet people, experience the music and the event, and you can sign up online and bring your.

[00:24:26] George Koster: And they get in for free.

[00:24:27] George Koster: Right? 'cause they're volunteering.

[00:24:28] Stephanie Linder: Absolutely.

[00:24:29] George Koster: And so is there a place on the website to actually volunteer?

[00:24:33] Stephanie Linder: Yes. If you go to that same website, and it's SF as in San Francisco, BG as in botanical garden.org. Slash flower piano, one word, and there are a bunch of buttons there, and one of them is volunteer and sponsor information is their general donation.

[00:24:52] Stephanie Linder: You can also just become a member. The other thing I do wanna say is that members get expedited entry. So if you see that long line. For the 12 piano extravaganza in the middle of the day, fly right back in if you become a member and there's all kinds of perks, and that membership gets you into all three gardens for a year.

[00:25:11] Stephanie Linder: So we'd love to have you as a member. You'll get our regular newsletters and just learn more about the world of plants, plant conservation, horticulture, botany, all the things that we're doing.

[00:25:22] George Koster: And are there various member levels or is it just one membership?

[00:25:26] Stephanie Linder: There are a lot of different levels. I will tell you it's that same web address, but it's forward slash membership to get there, and it starts at a family Dual membership is $85, an individual membership is 70, and then they go up from there.

[00:25:44] Stephanie Linder: It includes admission to more than 350 botanical gardens across. The country. So take your membership card or better yet, download it on your phone, your membership, and take it when you travel. It's a great thing to do when you're in other cities. Go check out their botanical garden, gets you discounts. At our bookstore, we have a fabulous bookstore and our plant arbor, you can buy plants to bring home.

[00:26:07] Stephanie Linder: So a lot of good value, but I think the most important thing is that you're supporting the good work. And the development of our collections and our education programs. We serve thousands of children free of charge every year, and you know, run all kinds of volunteer programs, engagement programs, and your contribution helps us do that.

[00:26:27] George Koster: If someone wanted to be a sponsor, is there individual sponsor level? You don't have to be a big company.

[00:26:33] Stephanie Linder: Well, to be a sponsor, yes. That is a little bit pricier. Let's see here. So our sponsor levels. And benefits are all listed on the website. The lowest level starts at 2,500 and goes up to a hundred thousand.

[00:26:47] George Koster: Great. And then as we began, you mentioned that folks who are on Snap, for example, could participate for free.

[00:26:53] Stephanie Linder: Yes. So if you live in San Francisco, you don't have to pay admission, just bring proof of residency. But if you're outside of San F. If you receive SNAP benefits, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, just bring your card and bring your family, and there's no charge.

[00:27:08] Stephanie Linder: So Museums For All is a fabulous program. It's a national program. The Institute on Museum and Library Services, as well as the American Museum Association, the city of San Francisco, we all participate and it makes museums free or very inexpensive for families with low incomes. And we are. Just thrilled to be a part of it.

[00:27:29] Stephanie Linder: I should also mention that recently all veterans and active military personnel come free to the gardens. So lots of ways to take advantage of that. And so we don't want anyone not to come because they can't afford it. And volunteering is another great way to come and be a part of it.

[00:27:45] George Koster: That's great. So I'm gonna ask each of you to share your favorite story of working on flower piano and start with Dean.

[00:27:53] George Koster: Oh

[00:27:54] Dean Mermell: wow. There's so many. Well, I've seen two people get engaged. I was standing on the moon viewing deck one year and somebody was playing something really beautiful and there was this young couple that was kind of in the corner and the guy kind of pulls something out of his pocket and the woman was like looking down and all of a sudden her eyes went wide.

[00:28:18] Dean Mermell: And then, you know, they had a big hug and I ran over them and I stuck my face right in their face. Said, did you guys just get engaged? It was like the most off the wall thing to do, but they did and they were so happy. And this music was playing and it was like the most romantic thing you could imagine.

[00:28:34] Dean Mermell: And I totally spoiled it, but I had to know. And then since then, I've seen another couple get engaged and another couple get married at flower piano. So it's very romantic atmosphere and I like that about flower piano. It brings people together in all kinds of ways.

[00:28:51] Mauro ffortissimo: Now you could rent parts of the garden for a wedding.

[00:28:54] Mauro ffortissimo: Is that true?

[00:28:54] Stephanie Linder: Yes, you can. Not anymore during flower piano, but you definitely can.

[00:28:59] Mauro ffortissimo: I have a couple of good memories of having kids playing sometimes, you know, just cannot believe they're so good. I remember once I was supposed to play somewhere and I'm playing my little routine, or some guys got business and then there is a kid might be maybe, I don't know, seven or eight, standing there looking and I say, so you want a play?

[00:29:17] Mauro ffortissimo: Say, yeah. And I ask him, are you good? And say, yeah, okay. Said I let you play but don't be better than me. And he started the piano playing like Man off. And I say, forget about it. After that, I let him use my remaining time on the spot. So that's really a beautiful surprises. Or sometimes people that come and so I used to play, I don't play anymore.

[00:29:37] Mauro ffortissimo: And they do feel like they're not jaded there because you see, you know, a goose going by with girl and they fit that. They sit that dinner on plate and the following year they come over and they tell us that. They went back to their classes again or that now their kids are taking classes and that's really, really encouraging to keep doing what we do.

[00:29:55] Dean Mermell: Yeah, that happens a lot

[00:29:56] Mauro ffortissimo: actually. Yeah. Yeah. More music, less bombs.

[00:29:59] George Koster: And I wanna go back to you, Dean, 'cause you mentioned something earlier in our conversation just about the relationship that both you and Mar created over time with Jennifer and her team. Can you share a little story about the creation of that partnership?

[00:30:11] Dean Mermell: Well, you know, it's an unusual situation, I think because we're sort of an arts. Organization. Well, what we really are is two guys in a website, but we're just two artists that just had this idea and we had no experience in actually producing a large event or anything. And then we approached the garden and they had no real experience doing anything quite like this either.

[00:30:34] Dean Mermell: So there had to be a lot of trust there, and there was a big learning curve in the beginning as we learned how this whole thing worked. It's still ongoing and we're still evolving. There's things that we deal with every year, like how to have a large crowd of people at a music event that is taking place in a sensitive, natural environment, you know, in a garden essentially without hurting any of the plants.

[00:31:00] Dean Mermell: So we try to work closely with the horticulture people so that we're not. Making them upset, which is easy to do, but we try to really listen to them. I used to be a docent at Audubon Canyon Ranch, you know, and Morrow, you know, lives in a beautiful spot in Half Moon Bay, and both of us are very, very enthusiastic about the natural world, and the garden is the most beautiful example of that in the city.

[00:31:26] Dean Mermell: So we are really concerned with letting the garden be its best. Show its best at this time and working with us to bring our musician friends to this environment. It works really well. We don't always see exactly eye to eye, but we get through it and at the end of the day, we're all really glowing at the end of this thing, at what we accomplished together.

[00:31:49] Dean Mermell: I think it's rare as far as an artist and other kind of organization relationship, but we're really grateful for it.

[00:31:58] Mauro ffortissimo: The first time we did it was in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the botanical Gardens, and it was just a one time deal. Uh, I think we were lucky at, at the time the director was Sue and Cliff, and she's also a piano player and love pianos.

[00:32:11] Mauro ffortissimo: Did that make a difference? Yes, you really push for that to happen. When some gardeners were thinking, no, how you gonna move a piano there? They're gonna destroy the garden. And so having her on board from day one was kind of pivotal to keep going and, uh, growing. So yeah, she's no longer in the garden, but she will come and join us.

[00:32:32] Stephanie Linder: She's a sponsor. That's right. She's still very, very much involved and comes back in her retirement. She still gets to support this event. The way I look at it and how I explain to people is, we're more than the venue. The garden is part of the experience, so the people of the garden are part of the experience, but the experience, you know, walk in, there'll be a huge sign and it'll have a map and it'll show you where all the different pianos are placed.

[00:32:56] Stephanie Linder: And you're visiting the world in 55 acres, right? It's 55 acres. You'll be in the redwoods, the California NATO section, the Great Meadow, the Garden of Fragrance, the Rhododendron Garden, the ancient plant garden, where you learn about the evolution of plants, you know, the Zarach garden, which is just a stunning garden that we have dedicated volunteers that keep.

[00:33:18] Stephanie Linder: The, the perennial's just perfect and it's just stunning. So you explore the garden and each setting for the piano is really different because of the garden space, right? So it's not like going to a concert hall or even just to a big field, you know? It is a very unique experience that interacts with the garden itself.

[00:33:39] George Koster: Stephanie, two things. One, the last executive director's name said she's a sponsor.

[00:33:43] Stephanie Linder: SueAnn Schiff.

[00:33:44] George Koster: Thank you SueAnn, for being an ongoing supporter. And then could you share a story with the audience about the whole flower piano show and its importance to, uh, your organization?

[00:33:54] Stephanie Linder: Oh, there are so many, I would have to say serene on piano with the awesome orchestra at the central fountain there, where we have the dedicated pavers, right?

[00:34:05] Stephanie Linder: A hundred different players. You watch them sort of workshop and rehearse the piece, you know, for half an hour, one 40 minutes or so, and just watch the whole process. And how they are gonna do it. And then you get to see them do it and it's just incredible. And they're coming back. I have a schedule in front of me, so I wouldn't forget to say this, from four to six on Saturday, September 17th at the Fountain Plaza, the awesome orchestra, they'll be doing two performances, one from four to five, one to five six, and it's gonna be incredible.

[00:34:40] Stephanie Linder: So, you know, I'm not a musician. I will say I did a lot of college radios and worked in concert promotion in college. So I love music. I'm professional at being the audience. I learned so much about the process of how an orchestra comes together and to see it condensed into an hour. And then, you know, the players who are the soloists on the piano, the sort of feature artists, just remarkable.

[00:35:05] George Koster: That's great. Alright, so turning to our final question for everyone, and that is, what are some of the good things or positive things that you feel have come out of the COVID-19 pandemic to support the Flower Piano Show and the performers and the gardens of Golden Gate Park? So I'm gonna start with you, Stephanie, since you were just sharing your story.

[00:35:21] Stephanie Linder: Well, we know that being in nature and music have healing qualities. This is scientifically proven again and again, and doing those things. Together. Experiencing music, playing music, singing, dancing in nature. It lowers your cortisol levels, it lowers your heartbeat. It has all these positive mental and physical health benefits and you know it's good for you.

[00:35:47] Stephanie Linder: Flower piano is good for you.

[00:35:49] George Koster: It's a good one in tomorrow.

[00:35:50] Mauro ffortissimo: You know, it's about community building too, you know? So I think garden flower plants. People Music poet. We do have a corner called The Corner in which there are local San Francisco poet. Some music happened together and after the pandemic, you know, a lot of us lost friends and family and so it's great to see everybody coming back to celebrate that too.

[00:36:10] George Koster: Indeed.

[00:36:10] Dean Mermell: Yeah, it feels like a return flower piano. There was a point last year when I had to get from one end of the garden to the other in a hurry. And we have these little electric carts there that you can get driven around on if you're a VIP. So I managed to get somebody to drive me from one end of the garden to the other, and it was this sea of smiling faces that we were trying to get through and we couldn't do it.

[00:36:35] Dean Mermell: It was like everything went into slow motion and all I could see was smiling faces and the cart couldn't move. We were surrounded by this sea of happy humanity, and I thought, oh, this is the best thing that's happened since the start of the pandemic. You know?

Thanks to our Sponsor

Voices of the Community is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation, dedicated to a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically. More at www.irvine.org

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