Edmonton pianist plays 1st concert since paralysis in 2019

An Italian concert pianist living in Edmonton suddenly became paralyzed in 2019. Three years later, before his first concert since his paralysis, Sarah Chew finds out how he co-designed a device that allows him to press the piano pedals – with his mouth.

By Sarah Chew

Posted October 22, 2022 4:50 pm.

A concert pianist living in Edmonton who became paralyzed three years ago is able to play again thanks to a contraption he helped design.

And it’s in time for his upcoming concert.

Riccardo Baldini grew up playing piano and was a concert pianist in Italy. He moved to Edmonton and continued teaching and playing.

But in 2019 he suddenly became paralyzed, losing movement in his legs.

Edmonton pianist Riccardo Baldini. (Credit: CityNews/Sarah Chew)

“Bleeding inside my spinal cord that caused my spinal cord to stop working, so emergency surgery that night and from that day, I’m in a chair,” recounted Baldini.

Baldini worked hard to recover muscle strength in his core to enable his playing of the piano, but losing the ability to press the pedals that change the resonance of the instrument was a hard pill to swallow.

“For classical music, which is what I do, 80 per cent of the music requires the damper pedal, the right pedal of the piano, and obviously I couldn’t use it,” he said. “So I was really sad and it was just suddenly limiting all my functions.”

Baldini searched for a device that would allow him to press the pedals without the use of his legs but couldn’t find anything satisfactory. So he decided to create one himself with the help of an engineer friend of his in Edmonton.

“Device that you place on the pedal, and it can allow you to activate the pedal through a mouth splinter. So basically what I used to do with my foot now I can do with just biting.

“It gives you back something that you thought you lost.”

Device created by Edmonton pianist Riccardo Baldini. (Credit: Riccardo Baldini/handout)

He hopes to commercialize the device to make piano more accessible for kids with disabilities or in wheelchairs, just like him.

He’ll be using the device in his first concert since his paralysis at the Betty Andrews Recital Hall on Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

“Music is something that should be widely accessible and it’s not, because there’s no way of adapting the instrument or the teaching as well,” said Baldini.

Tickets for Baldini’s show “One Piano, Four Hands” can be found here.

He hopes it will inspire and fill audiences’ hearts, and break barriers for what people with disabilities can do.