Dueling Pianos Take Requests At Towne Square Saturday

The crowd picks the setlist at Towne Square this Saturday. Great Canadian Dueling Pianos close out the week's TD Summer Music Series date on Aug. 22, playing from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in downtown Oakville.

Dueling pianos is a request format. Two players sit facing each other, the audience calls out songs, and the pair go back and forth working through them with plenty of improvising and singing along. The playlist is built almost entirely from what people in the crowd ask for, so classic rock and Disney can turn up in the same half hour.

The Toronto duo behind it, Joel Lightman and Donovan LeNabat, have played weddings, corporate events and celebrations, and performed in front of a national television audience on Canada's Got Talent.

The music starts earlier than the pianos do. Strolling musicians play along Lakeshore Road East from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., so the shops and patios downtown have a soundtrack for the two hours before the show.