For concert pianists, the enemy is not wrong notes or memory slips, but something far more mundane – and far more pervasive. Shadow.

“Piano shadow is the most annoying thing I encounter in almost every concert hall,” says pianist Kristian Chong. “Sometimes halls manage it well, but often there’s a shadow from your head and shoulders falling straight onto the keyboard. You’re constantly aware of it.”

Speaking to Limelight ahead of a series of concerts in Victoria and in the Canberra International Music Festival in April–May, Chong says it’s a surprisingly universal problem. While orchestral musicians often enjoy carefully calibrated stand lighting, pianists – especially those touring from venue to venue – are frequently left negotiating a complex choreography of overhead rigging, stage aesthetics and lighting design. The result can be uneven illumination across the keys and glare on sheet music. Worse still can be the disorienting effect of shifting light as a performer moves.

Enter the BenQ PianoLight Grand – a purpose-built floor lamp that promises ideal concert-hall lighting at home.

Benq’s PianoLight Grand. Photo courtesy BenQ

Chong admits he was sceptical at first. “I couldn’t quite believe it, to...