Piano in Unexpected places in French Polynesia
In november 2025, I took my piano far beyond the concert hall and into the landscapes of French Polynesia, for a series of films created on the island of Moorea.
The idea was simple: take a piano somewhere it was never meant to be, and see what happens when music meets the raw beauty of nature. Together with filmmaker and drone pilot Lionel Cuveiller and his team, we spent several days exploring the island and looking for places where the piano could become part of the landscape.
The first film was shot on a floating barge in the middle of Moorea’s lagoon. Surrounded by turquoise water and the mountains of the island, the piano seemed almost unreal in this setting. It became a completely different kind of stage — open to the ocean, the wind and the changing light.
We then brought the piano into the pineapple fields beneath Mont Rotui. Playing surrounded by rows of pineapple plants, with the dramatic mountains rising behind them, created a very different atmosphere. The landscape became part of the music rather than simply a backdrop.
For the final film, we went even deeper into the forest, to a remarkable pair of banyan trees. These ancient trees, often called “trees of life”, created a natural cathedral around the piano. I performed Éternelle and The Memory of Time, two deeply personal pieces connected to memory, family and the passing of time.
The latter also carries a special story. In 2020, Lionel asked me to compose The Memory of Time for his documentary Secrets d’Anciens, created as a tribute to his mother. Years later, returning to Polynesia and performing this piece beneath these trees felt like a meaningful way to bring that story full circle.
These films are ultimately about more than playing piano in beautiful places. They are about taking music out of its usual setting, creating
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