Franco-German cultural television channel Arte is clearing eight hours of its schedule for piano concerts on Sunday to mark the annual Fête de la Musique celebration of music.
The project, called Europiano, runs from 3:30 pm to 11:30 pm (1330-2130 GMT) and features works by Johannes Brahms in Vienna, Sergei Rachmaninoff in Wiesbaden, Edvard Grieg in Paris, Frédéric Chopin in Poznań, Robert Schumann in Hamburg and Borys Lyatoshynsky in Kiev.
Some of the concerts will be performed live, while others, such as the Kiev concert, have already been recorded.
Pianists taking part include Martha Argerich, Eric Lu and Bruce Liu, accompanied by leading European orchestras.
Arte presenter Annette Gerlach and pianist Louis Philippson will guide viewers through the afternoon and evening's 11 concerts - ranging from Lisbon to Stockholm and Athens - from a studio in the German city of Mainz belonging to public broadcaster ZDF, the TV channel said.
Arte has specifically included Kiev in the line-up of venues. "Europe listens together. And Europe belongs together," said Arte programme director Sylvie Stephan.
Wolfgang Bergmann, co-chief executive of Arte Deutschland, said it had been very important to them to include Ukraine in the line-up of venues. "That was not trivial, but we are glad and happy that it worked out with our Ukrainian partner broadcaster Suspilne," he said.
On the schedule is Martha Argerich, 85, set to perform Schumann's "Piano Concerto in A minor," a key work of the Romantic era, with the Symphoniker Hamburg under Sylvain Cambreling at the Laeiszhalle in the port city.
In Wiesbaden, Hayato Sumino, 30, will play Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor," accompanied by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hr-Sinfonieorchester) under Alain Altinoglu at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden.
In Kiev, Maksym Shadko, 33, who was born in Kharkiv, will perform Lyatoshynsky's "Slavic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 54," from the 1920s. The conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine and the chamber music ensemble Kyiv Camerata is the Canadian Keri-Lynn Wilson.
