Part of the magic of our show is the iconic imagery of 2 grand pianos face to face. Because our show must be completely mobile, we knew we had to figure out how to make the grand pianos extremely portable so they would fit into every elevator and make it through every turn. In 2010 we commissioned a master cabinet maker to solve this problem. He built us two stunning pianos that break down into smaller parts that can then be assembled directly on site. This solves the problem of tiny elevators and tight corners.

It primarily depends on the difficulty of the load in route, and secondarily on how complex our set up is. (Pianos vs. keyboards, drums or no drums, additional keyboard setups for cocktail hours that are in other rooms, etc.) Normally we like to arrive 2-3 hours before the guests arrive. We are able to coordinate our arrival time directly with the venue.

They’re not a problem, however if there are a lot, we may wish to bring an additional set of hands to help us load in which can affect your price, but only minimally.

We take into account the travel time and expenses, and the amount of time we are onsite. Since we setup before the guests arrive, your price will be dependent more upon the duration of your event rather than the length of our actual performance.

Absolutely! If your venue requires it, we can provide them with a certificate naming them as additional insured.

For groups of over 80-100 guests, it’s generally advisable, but we’ve done shows for larger groups with no platform. Most medium to large venues either have platforms available, or can provide you with a preferred vendor who can bring it in. Preferred stage height is dependent upon the size group, but generally between 12” – 22”. We ask for a platform footprint of approximately 16′ (facing the audience) by 12′ deep.

2 piano show: 16’ x 8’ minimum, and 16’ x 12 (or larger) preferred

2 pianos plus drums: 16’ x 10’ (or 20’ x 10’) minimum, and 16’ x 12’ preferred

2 pianos plus 3 other musicians: 20’ x 10’ minimum, and 20′ x 12′ preferred

The general rule of thumb is that we want to be as close to the furthest audience member as possible, because our show is based on engaging and interacting with every audience member. So if the room is rectangular, a strategic location might be in the center of the long wall with tables tightly grouped in front of the stage. If the room is really large, we may want to be in the very center of the room and do theater in the round. Please note that if you put us in the round, we need to broadcast our sound in multiple directions. This requires additional sound equipment and may incur additional costs. Please ask us.

Yes, gladly, but you probably don’t need it. We are a C-corporation. All checks are made out to the corporation.

No we do not.

Anywhere. We have over 70 dueling piano artists and 25 sets of baby grands and PA systems situated all over the lower 48 states. Additionally can and do fly our artists throughout the world and work with local production companies. Ask us!

Unfortunately no. We prefer to have two identical pianos. It doesn’t cost any more for us to bring two pianos as it would to bring just one, and they look and sound identical.

We are a brand, in the exact same way that Blue Man Group is a brand. Every player that works at New York, NY Dueling Pianos has been rigorously trained in our specific format, and have all been doing interactive dueling piano shows full time for at least 6 years. We are extremely selective about the talent that represents our brand. Check out our many videos. They all display the same fun, interactive show regardless of which artist is featured. Don’t forget, the show is about the audience. It’s never about the artist. We are not looking for your group to leave the show saying they were great entertainers (we are and they may!), we want your people leaving saying that was SOOO much fun!

Generally, you won’t need to. Once we understand your event, your guests, and your location we will know which of our players are the best suited for your show. Many times we have more than one show going at the same time and a particular player won’t be available. If it’s really important to you, we can discuss our options, but you’ll generally get the best results if you leave this to us.

Yes. We do many shows that are family/corporate friendly. That is entirely up to you. We will discuss content with you and take your lead. We’ve done church groups, student shows and corporate groups that are absolutely squeaky clean.

Yes. We’ve done beach parties where the average age was 15…and they loved it! Just tell us when you’re booking your show so we send the best entertainers for the younger set.

In addition to our clean shows, we offer our naughty show, and really anything in between. Just like an order of buffalo wings, you can specify a show rating of mild, spicy or extra spicy. Let us know what your vision is when booking.

We find that the sweet spot for our headline shows is between 75 minutes and 2 hours but our job is to fit into the vision of what you want your event to be. We are able and willing to perform for longer or shorter times. It really depends on you and the timeline you envision. We’ve opened large conferences with a 10 min super charged single set at 8 in the morning. We’ve also done events with multiple entertainers rotating through the pianos all day long so that the music never stopped.

If you’re serving dinner, we strongly suggest that the show begin after the plates have been cleared. It is very difficult for us to get people to sing/dance/clap while they are chewing food! If you are serving cocktails, it’s always helpful to let the guests loosen up a bit before starting in on the show. Share with us your event flow and we can discuss best practices.

Certainly! All of our interactive high energy entertainers are able to tone it down and play (and sing) lovely background music while your guests enjoy their conversations over cocktails and crab cakes. We do advise a significant break after the background music to reset the room before beginning the headline act. We come back from this reset with an entirely different energy to let everyone know that a SHOW has begun and it’s time to party!

Yup! Yours or ours. Let us know beforehand.

While it is true that tipping for song requests is an integral part of dueling piano bar shows, it is not expected or required for our private clients. We generally don’t put tip jars on the pianos unless you specifically request it. Some clients do! We have clients that believe that the song battles and tipping wars they have seen at bar shows are exciting and fun and ask for it to be part of the show.

The excitement of the tipping battles only works with real money. If people don’t have skin in the game their fake tips won’t mean anything, either to them, or to the rest of the audience watching. Using fake money can also derail the show. Some of our more daring clients have put envelopes with real money inside at each place setting, for the guests to use for to start and stop song requests. While it adds to the expense of the event, no guest will ever forget that you gave them an envelope of cash!

We do shows with and without drums. We normally quote the drums as an add-on to our show, except when we quote out weddings, where we build the drums into the quote. The biggest advantage of adding drums is that it is great for encouraging dancing. While drums are not necessary for us to engage your audience and having a truly amazing show, drums sure do amp up the sonic energy and can be great fun.