Rick Carlisle to play medley to open American Piano Awards outside Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sept. 21

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle is scheduled to play on the piano before performances by five others, part of 'Piano on the Plaza.' It's at 3:30 p.m. at Bicentennial Unity Plaza.

Rick Carlisle joined Darius Rucker on stage to play the piano last year at his show in Indy.

Indiana Pacers fans have the opportunity to see head coach Rick Carlisle on a different stage Saturday afternoon in downtown Indianapolis.

One of his favorite hobbies away from the basketball court is playing the piano. It’s something he’s done since the 1980s.

“Took two lessons and basically bailed on it because learning that way didn’t work for me,” he told me in 2023. “And then I picked it up again in college when I transferred schools (from the University of Maine to the University of Virginia), took a year and just grinded and figured it out myself — which I wouldn’t recommend as a way to learn.

“Music is a great thing. I recommend it to anybody. It’s never too late to learn.”

Carlisle will be a guest performer at “Piano on the Plaza” Saturday afternoon at Bicentennial Unity Plaza, just outside Gainbridge Fieldhouse. It’s part of a 90-minute show that runs from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

“He’s really good on the piano by the way,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said previously. “I know that. He has been for a long time.”

Rick Carlisle behind a piano, on stage with artists and dedicating a song to a former colleague

Carlisle is scheduled to perform a medley before performances by five other finalists, part of the 2025 American Piano Awards.

It’s a free outdoor concert that’ll be hosted by Ryan Ahlwardt and Katasha S. Butler. Click here for free tickets.

According to the listing, the finalists “are pursuing the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship, playing alongside the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Dover Quartet, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.”

Michael Davidman
“The Muse,” Op. 34, No. 1 by Sergei Rachmaninoff (transcribed by Earl Wild)
Etudes-Tableau Op. 39, No. 1 by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Avery Gagliano
Mazurkas, Op. 30, No. 2-4 by Frédéric Chopin

Sasha Kasman Laude
Overture to “Colas Breugnon” by Dmitry Kabalevsky (transcribed by Sasha Kasman Laude)

Elliot Wuu
“Kinderszenen,” Op. 15, No. 1-7 by Robert Schumann

Angie Zhang
“Troubled Water” by Margaret Bonds

Carlisle has played on stage many times with Bruce Hornsby and Darius Rucker.