L-R, Artur Pizarro, Paul Carrack, Julian Joseph
Top artists praise new Yamaha AvantGrand ‘hybrid’ piano
Artur Pizarro, one of the world’s most highly renowned concert pianists is joined by jazz legend, composer and bandleader Julian Joseph and Paul Carrack, one of the UK’s most popular musicians, in acclaiming Yamaha’s new AvantGrand hybrid piano as the first non-acoustic instrument to create a physical and emotional relationship with the player, and offer a true acoustic piano experience. The hybrid nature of the piano is a result
of combining a traditional concert grand piano keyboard action and hammers with some of the world’s most advanced sampling technology, developed specially for the AvantGrand. The experience is delivered via a detailed speaker system and soundboard resonators, which together closely replicate the experience of playing a concert grand. But the master stroke is the newly developed Tactile Response System, which transmits string vibrations through the keyboard action to the player’s hands, which, for an accomplished pianist, is integral to the playing process. Paul Carrack, currently touring the UK to sell-out audiences promoting his new album
I Know That Name, selected the AvantGrand
N2 for all his live shows, whilst Julian Joseph requested an N3 both for the world launch of his Shadowball opera in November 2009 and for his recent Samuel Coleridge Taylor recitals at the British Library. He says: ‘The AvantGrand has an incredible touch response that actually feels like an acoustic instrument. It really is superb.’ Julian Joseph comments: ‘The
AvantGrand is a new type of piano, designed to provide a high quality instrument that works well in an essentially acoustic environment. The keyboard action is even and weighted exactly like an acoustic piano, and it’s an instrument one can work with confidently to achieve a smooth transition to the concert grand in any situation. Yamaha is innovating and getting it right!’
Artur Pizarro asked: ‘How would you shrink
a concert grand piano to fit the space of your average living room? How would you recreate the touch and tone quality of a concert grand piano in a baby grand sized piano? How do you practise on a concert grand-quality instrument without bothering your neighbours? Play AvantGrand with a good pair of headphones! Do I want one? YES!’
http://avant-grand.com/
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Kemble announces Chopin Piano E-Competition for all amateur pianists
international Chopin Competition winner and e-competition judge, Kevin Kenner. The second prize will also include a private lesson from Kevin as well as VIP tickets to Chopin piano recitals and subscriptions to Classic FM magazine. The e-competition launched in April
The Kemble ‘Chopin’ piano – the main prize for the 2010 Kemble ‘Chopin Piano E-comeptition’
To celebrate Chopin’s 200th birthday this year Kemble Pianos has announced its new ‘Chopin Piano E-Competition’ for amateur pianists aged 18-plus, who stand to win a special edition Kemble Chopin piano worth £8,000, together with a private piano lesson from
on a dedicated YouTube channel, where applicants can submit video entries of any piece from Chopin’s solo piano repertoire. The YouTube channel also features interviews with artists and judges, including Freddy Kempf, Christopher Elton, Marina Nadiradze and Classic FM’s editor John Evans, and offers hints and tips on creating the best video results. Classic FM Magazine editor John
Evans says, ‘We’re not just looking for technical ability. We’ll be looking for passion and performances that move us.
Artur Pizarro celebrates Chopin’s 200th anniversary with complete solo piano series
It will not have escaped the notice of any classical music teacher or student that 2010 is the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth. To celebrate it world-renowned pianist Artur Pizarro has embarked on a series of nine recitals from February to December 2010, performing the complete solo piano works of Chopin at St. John’s, Smith Square, London, in association with Yamaha Pianos and Classic FM. Renowned for his interpretations of Chopin, Artur Pizarro has released two critically acclaimed recordings of Chopin’s music for Linn Records. On his release of Reminiscences, a CD collection of Chopin piano works for Linn Records, (Linn CKD 248), Artur says:
‘The repertoire of this CD looks back to my childhood and my early contact with Chopin. Piano has been a part of my life since before I can remember, as my maternal grandmother was one half of a classical piano duo. A lot of solo piano was also played and Chopin was prominently featured. I was also able to listen to a lot of Rubinstein and Neuhaus playing Chopin on LPs. The Fantaisie-Impromptu, the C-sharp minor Posthumous Nocturne (which I played in my first recital 25 years ago) and the mazurkas on this CD were among the first piano works I ever played. The rest are either pieces I would hear my grandmother, Berta da Nóbrega, play or her duo partner Evaristo
Campos Coelho (a student of Vianna da Motta, Viñes, and Isidor Phillip) or my own
teacher Sequeira Costa (who also studied with Vianna da Motta and with Mark Hambourg, Edwin Fischer, Marguerite Long and Jacques Février). I mention these great teachers of the piano who have influenced me in one way or another as their teachings have always been present in my life with Chopin.’ In Pianist Magazine, March 2007, Marius
Artur Pizarro
Dawn wrote: ‘Pizarro’s brilliant rendition of the early Variations Brillantes and the Barcarolle is on par with the greatest Chopin interpreters. The majestic Third Sonata can hardly be bettered and with the fine natural recorded sound we could very well have the Chopin release of the year’. Mike Ketley, Yamaha’s senior director,
comments: ‘We are thrilled and privileged that Artur has selected to use our flagship Yamaha concert grand piano for the Chopin recital series. These performances will no doubt be remembered as one of the musical highlights of the anniversary celebrations of the year. The superb tonal characteristics, dynamic and expressive range of the
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