I often see advertisements for concerts featuring 8 hands or more in an effort to feature a high quantity of pianism crammed into one recital. This might be overindulging or just a marketing phase but seems to be working for many concert organisers at the moment. If one or two pianos with a flock of pianists are your idea of a new concept, think again.

Steinway & Sons have invited me to perform on four different Steinway pianos in one recital. This once in a lifetime experience will feature the oldest Steinway piano known to date ranging up to the latest built concert grand piano on most concert stages today.

The first Steinway piano was built in 1836 and the first piano I will perform on this instrument known as the kitchen grand or Steinway no. 1 because that is exactly where Engelhard Steinweg (later Steinway) built this new instrument due to restrictions in regulations preventing him to build new pianos as a commercial venture. This piano is 212cm long and built as a fortepiano with hammerheads covered in leather.

The second piano was built in 1857 and is known as the square piano. Much of Steinways & Sons’ reputation and fame was gained from the advances they made in square piano building during the 19th Century, and their designs and patents were used for decades.

The third piano is known as the Wagner piano and was built in 1876 and was the piano owned and used by Richard Wagner. This piano was the prime instrument used by composers and pianists alike in the late Romantic period with technical advances making it possible for virtuosos of the day to perform without breaking the piano.

The last piano is the current model D-274 concert grand piano built in Hamburg in 2014. This instrument is the choice of 98% of concert pianists and concert halls across the world.

My programme will include a wide range of music and styles to suit each piano stretching from JS Bach all the way through Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin to Rachmaninoff, Gershwin and Corigliano. The concert will take place in Hai Kou, China on 16 May 2015 and I cannot wait to play on these rare old instruments and experience the legacy and history under my fingers.