25/6/2010 [Musical Instruments]
Following its recent New York debut at the United Nations, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the ending of World War II, Yamaha’s exciting new CFX concert grand piano launched by Piotr Anderszewski earlier this year has made its debut at the world famous Carnegie Hall and continues to win global plaudits from internationally renowned venues and acclaimed artists at the highest level of classical repertoire.
On 8th June, US Chopin Piano Competition Gold Prize winner Claire Huang Ci who won the competition playing CFX performed her prize of a solo recital in the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall presented by the Chopin Foundation of the United States. Claire left a capacity audience in no doubt that she is on her way towards a major career after an outstanding performance of works by Chopin, Scriabin, and Ravel on the same magnificent new CFX she used to win the National Chopin Competition that marks a significant milestone in Yamaha's celebrated 108-year history as an acclaimed world-class piano maker.
Already ordered by several of the world’s top concert halls and music universities, the new CFX leads Yamaha’s CF Series concert grand pianos, widely acknowledged as truly exceptional instruments and the result of many thousands of hours of private testing and evaluations carried out in partnership with some of the most discerning and demanding concert pianists, piano professors and technicians worldwide.
The piano will feature at Malvern Theatres for the highly acclaimed Yamaha International Piano Recital Series that has so far presented sellout concerts by internationally acclaimed pianists, Peter Donohoe, John Lill, Noriko Ogawa, Nikolai Demidenko, Angela Hewitt, Stephen Hough and Freddy Kempf.
Pianists who will perform using the new CFX piano throughout the third series from 16th October 2010 to 1st April 2011 include, Benjamin Grosvenor, Artur Pizarro, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Stephen Hough.
Born in Rochester, New York, Claire Huang Ci has already won numerous competitions at the national and international levels, including the World Piano Competition and the Kosciuszko Chopin International Piano Competition. As the first prize winner of many competitions, she performed in Carnegie Hall in 1999, had a successful debut with Philadelphia Orchestra in 2003, and appeared as a soloist with a number of other orchestras. She is currently studying in Hannover, Germany, with Arie Vardi.
The CF Series comprises the flagship 275 cm CFX model and two smaller grand pianos, the 212 cm CF6 and the 191cm CF4. Both the CF4 and CF6 draw on Yamaha's exemplary conservatoire heritage and are sure to prove particularly popular with academic institutions where performance, durability and value are paramount.
Each instrument is entirely hand-built by a small team comprising some of the world's most experienced and passionate craftsmen. All wooden materials are individually seasoned and crafted to perfection and exude Yamaha's legendary attention to detail. The design of the hammers has also been improved and each CF instrument is subject to many hours of detailed and intricate voicing.
Yamaha’s European Director of Pianos is Mark Rolfe who comments “Yamaha CF concert grand instruments are respected and acclaimed at the very highest level and the new CFX and accompanying models are testament to our strong partnerships with many of the world's top pianists and educationalists. The CF Series can be characterised by Yamaha's revered reputation for tonal clarity, incredibly deep and rich bass, open broad sonority and a long, singing sustain. We are confident that they will further extend our outstanding success with international artists and concert halls.”
