About the Author

About the Author

Paul Castel-Andrew is a documentary film editor who has taken his story telling skills to his twin passions of Paris and pianos.

Castel-Andrew wanted to write a book about the many facets of the pianist-composer Frédéric Chopin, but so many books have been written on Chopin already.

In 2018, Castel-Andrew's wife took him for his birthday to visit the Domaine Musicale de Petignac. Seeing all the wonderful pianos of Gérard Fauvin coupled with his passion for pianos, planted a seed of an idea to focus on writing a book on pianos and not just Chopin.

Castel-Andrew finally decided to focus on writing about when Paris was the piano capital of the world from 1830-1848, when it was known as Pianopolis. While there is a large amount of academic study of the period, there are few historical biographies that capture the essence of the time and bring it to a general audience to enjoy. Paul's goal in writing this book is to bring the key players of this time and their stories to life.

Research started in earnest in the fall of 2018 with several visits to the Richelieu music library in Paris to source documents from the Paris Pianopolis era.

By Christmas 2022 the first draft of the book was finished.

In 2025 the website to promote the book started construction and Castel-Andrew is using his video background to create several short films to complement the website.

The book, set to launched in 2026, is a dream come true for Castel-Andrew who now looks forward to Paris Pianopolis Part 2, which will focus on the end of the 19th century when Belle Époque Paris became the home to French pianist-composers like Debussy and Ravel, who reshaped the piano landscape.