Yamaha Artist Services Hosts Benefit for Colorado Springs Conservatory

BUENA PARK, CA (April 29, 2005) — The students and faculty of the Colorado Springs Conservatory (CSC) can be forgiven for feeling a little proprietary about “America the Beautiful.” After all, they live in the shadow of Pike’s Peak, where an 1893 visit inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write the song. So it was that patriotic tune, accompanied by a slide show of their home state’s natural beauty, that opened a unique presentation at Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. (YASI) in New York on October 20.

Alumni, friends and guests of the Colorado Springs Conservatory gathered at Yamaha Artist Services in New York for an evening of intimate performances to raise money for the institution, which uses 17 Yamaha pianos, including a Disklavier and CFIIIS.

A complement of CSC alumni who are currently working and studying in the northeastern arts community welcomed guests at the new Yamaha facility for an evening of intimate performances. Taking the stage one after the other to the accompaniment of a Yamaha CFIIIS nine-foot grand, they entertained a group of invited friends and donors to raise funds for the institution that gave them a start.

Jazz piano great Lenore Raphael, a dedicated friend of CSC, joined the school’s locally based alumni in performing at the event. “The spirit of these kids is great,” she beamed. “The conservatory is a very warm, friendly place, and it’s got a very unconservative feeling.”

The conservatory, which uses a full complement of Yamaha pianos, teaches 200 to 250 students each year ranging in age from three to 19, offering classes after school and on weekends. The program is designed to prepare alumni for entrance into elite undergraduate music programs and eventual careers in the performing arts – and no matter what discipline they choose, CSC founder and director Linda Weise insists that each student know how to play the piano.

“The goal is to get them into good schools,” Weise says. “We’ve got kids who come from the mountains, kids who come from ranches on the eastern plains, from Denver, from a pueblo – we’re like a little Greenwich Village. Some of them drive 80 miles to get to class.”

The 17 Yamaha pianos at the school include one Disklavier and a CFIIIS. “Our Yamaha pianos have meant everything,” Weise says. “It would be a completely different place if the relationship weren’t there.”

At the October 20 fundraiser, one CSC alumnus after another brightened the evening in a program that ranged from show tunes (Bridget Schanlis and “The Girl in 14G”) to country standards (Carmen Mock performing “Stand By Your Man”), with a little acting from Tripp Fountain thrown in for good measure.

Operatic mezzo-soprano Kristen Leich went on from CSC to the Oberlin Conservatory and a role as resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. She was one of the conservatory alumni who entertained donors at YASI that evening, with a rendition of the aria “Nobles Seigneurs” from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots. Leigh credited Weise and her emphasis on piano study for the success she’s enjoyed.

“I’m not a strong sight-reader, so my tool when learning music is a keyboard,” she says. “Linda knows what it takes to become a working professional in this field. I don’t think I would have made it out of Colorado if I hadn’t met her.”

For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Piano Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622, telephone (714) 522-9011, or e-mail infostation@yamaha.com.