A public piano brings a moment's pause to a bustling train station

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Commuters rush around Waitematā train station, headphones on, eyes down on phones. But a white upright piano makes them stop in their tracks.

Iain LeggatRNZ Concert Digital Producer

22 October 2026

4 min read

Iain LeggatRNZ Concert Digital Producer

22 October 2026

4 min read

Photo credit:RNZ / Iain Leggat

It’s rush hour at Waitematā station, and it’s the usual scene.

Commuters scurry about with headphones on, thinking about to-do-lists, scanning departure boards. This is a place of movement, not a place to linger and soak up the atmosphere.

Bella Donnachie, who works in customer service for Auckland One Rail, says it’s a familiar scene.

“Everybody is set on completing their trip, looking at phones, looking at our displays to see where they’re going,” she says.

Then someone lifts the lid of the station’s public piano.

They could play the opening bars to a Beethoven concerto or maybe a Bruno Mars cover. Something in the building changes.

“When the piano is being played, there's almost this moment of people dragging their feet a little bit or stopping to kind of take in the atmosphere,” Donnachie says.

Cellphones are used to record videos, strangers' clap, compliments are shared. For a few short minutes, the city transport hub is transformed into a pop-up concert venue.

Weekend Days host on RNZ Concert, Maria Mo, says that’s the pull of a public piano.

“It makes you stop in your tracks while you’re on your way somewhere and pay attention, because we’re all drawn to music,” she says.

“It’s a little slice of beauty in your busy commute.”

The white upright piano was donated after an event in the building. Five years later it’s built up a loyal following amongst the station’s regulars.

Little kids jump on with ‘Chopsticks’, seasoned pros squeeze in an extra five minutes of practice. Lorraine performs and busks for Hato Hone St John. One pianist has earned himself a fanbase amongst station staff, turning up most afternoons or evenings.

“He is so, so talented,” Donnachie says.

“Every time we see him walk through those doors, we all kind of stop and think, 'We're really in for a treat now’.”

She once saw a commuter playing the piano spot a stranger in a band t-shirt and break into one of the band’s songs.

“It’s a chance for people to say, ‘you and I are speaking the same language’.”

There’s few rules. Station staff wearing pink hi-vis vests gently discourage playing during service announcements, and ask players to hold off if they’re being a rough on the instrument.

“We want to make sure the piano stays for many more years to come.”

Find out New Zealand’s favourite piano pieces on Labour Day with RNZ Concert’s Classic Countdown. Across the day, the station will celebrate classical, jazz, film score and more piano music and countdown to reveal Aotearoa's number one favourite piano piece at 6pm Monday, 26 October.

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