College of Charleston Becomes The First Institution in The U.S. to Purchase The Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Piano

CHARLESTON, S.C. — College of Charleston is the first institution of higher learning in the United States to acquire Yamaha’s CFX Concert Grand Piano. Following the recent construction of a five-story addition to the College’s School of the Arts, an anonymous donor generously decided to buy a new piano for the recital hall. After weighing all the options, the man in charge of this significant purchase decision, University Artist-in-Residence Enrique Graf, selected Yamaha’s new CFX concert grand piano.

"I have played and recorded on beautiful Yamaha pianos before," said Graf. "But when I tried the CFX, I was blown away by the beauty of the sound throughout the registers and the evenness and sensitivity of the action."

Yamaha Artist Frederic Chiu had the honor of performing on the new CFX for its inaugural performance on February 8, 2011 at 8pm in Memminger Auditorium.

According to Mark Anderson, Director of Marketing, Yamaha Keyboard Division, "We believe the CFX is the best piano in the world and we’re delighted that the College of Charleston chose it for its distinguished department of music. We’re confident that as more institutions come to know the beauty and quality of the CFX, this instrument will take its place on the stages of many of the top conservatories, colleges and universities across the United States."

Located in downtown Charleston, S.C., the College of Charleston’s music program merges the intense focus of a conservatory with a broad education in the liberal arts. The College participated in Yamaha's School Piano Placement Program, arranged by Fox Music House, for over a decade and purchased 16 new pianos in 2005.

Introduced in January 2010 in the United States, the 9’ CFX concert grand is Yamaha’s flagship concert grand model. Incorporating the sum total of Yamaha’s piano manufacturing expertise and technology, the new model replaces the acclaimed CFIIIS concert grand piano.

In addition to drawing on its 108-year heritage of manufacturing the world’s finest pianos, the instrument represents 19 years of research and development conducted by Yamaha craftsmen, designers and engineers, to create this extraordinary handcrafted piano. The process culminated with a series of top-secret, in-depth evaluation sessions conducted in New York, Paris and Tokyo with top artists and Yamaha artist services over the last few years.

The CFX has begun to make its mark on concert stages around the world. Several distinguished pianists have won prestigious competitions playing the CFX, including Yulianna Avdeeva, awarded First Prize at the Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition in October, 2010, Yamaha Artist Claire Huangci, who won the National Chopin Piano Competition, and Cho Seung-jin took first prize at the 2009 Hamamatsu International Piano Competition.

With its outstanding expressiveness and power, the CFX is quickly establishing a reputation for serving the needs of the most discriminating performing artists.

The College of Charleston’s piano students again won this year’s South Carolina MTNA Competition and recent student achievements include winning the Vendome Virtuoso Prize in Portugal, a semifinal finish in the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, and the winning the Viña del Mar International Piano Competition in Chile.

Other exceptional achievements by the Music Department include a Grammy Award nomination for a recording entitled "Radamés Gnatalli: Solo and Chamber Works for Guitar," by College of Charleston guitar professor Marc Regnier, joined by his former student and two fellow faculty members. Also, the London Times chose an all-Poulenc CD with Enrique Graf, the Charleston Symphony and the Prague Wind Quintet, recorded on a Yamaha CFIIIS, as its pick of the month; the disc also received a four star rating in Classical CD Magazine. And, the International Piano Series at the College of Charleston, now in its 21st season, has presented legendary pianists Leon Fleisher, Earl Wild and Yamaha artist Abbey Simon, along with young stars such as Yuja Wang, Sean Kennard and Chu Fang Huang.

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