Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Piano Powers Prestigious International Keyboard Institute and Festival

BUENA PARK, Calif. — Yamaha will provide its acclaimed CFX concert grand piano to the prestigious International Keyboard Institute & Festival, held at New York's Mannes College, July 17-31. This year marks the first-ever worldwide streaming of ten IKIF Master Classes from Yamaha’s midtown Piano Salon, made possible by NewTek’s TriCaster™ technology. The classes will be viewable at Yamaha.com/usa/yasi. The teaching schedule is as follows:

Week One
Monday, July 18:  Yamaha Artist Eduard Zilberkant
Tuesday, July 19:  David Dubal
Wednesday, July 20:  Emanuel Krasovsky
Thursday, July 21:  Cyprien Katsaris
Friday, July 22:  Yamaha Artist Alexander Braginsky

Week Two
Monday, July 25:  Jerome Rose
Tuesday, July 26:  Yamaha Artist Alexander Kobrin
Wednesday, July 27:  Victor Rosenbaum
Thursday, July 28:  Yuan Sheng
Friday, July 29:  Yamaha Artist Akiko Ebi

Bios for these artists can be found at http://www.ikif.org/faculty.aspx.

“Yamaha is thrilled to provide the CFX concert grand piano for this superb event,” said Yamaha Artist Services Director Bonnie Barrett. “We’re also delighted to provide the means to enable these remarkable artists to share their insights with a worldwide audience through the live broadcast from our piano salon via the NewTek TriCaster.”

A host of exciting Concerts, Lectures and Masterclasses are planned as part of the 13th Season of the International Keyboard Institute & Festival. Concert events include the Prestige Series, at 6:00 pm each evening, featuring accomplished young artists from around the world, each beginning an international career. Many of these artists are recent winners of major international competitions including Chopin, Liszt, E-Competition, Rubinstein and Paderewski.

The festival’s Masters Series, at 8:30 pm each evening, features Guest Artists and Faculty, including distinguished pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Cyprien Katsaris, Akiko Ebi, Dmitri Alexeev and Yuan Sheng. Festival Founder/Director Jerome Rose will perform the opening concert. Other highlights include:

Faculty Artists who will teach and perform include Alexander Braginsky, James Boyk, Alan Feinberg, Emanuel Krasovsky, Nina Lelchuk, Frank Lévy, Michael Lewin, Steven Mayer, Michael Oelbaum, Victor Rosenbaum, José Ramos Santana, Anthony Smetona, and Eduard Zilberkant; with adjunct faculty members Magdalena Baczewska, Asaf Blasberg, Gabriele Leporatti, and Quynh Nguyen.

Since 1999, the Festival has attracted students from around the world who have the opportunity to study with Faculty Artists, participate in master classes and attend concerts and lectures given by some of the world’s best-known pianists and scholars. The Festival has grown from a base of 30 participants to well over 100 each season. Participants who attend the Festival for two weeks are eligible to compete for up to $10,000 in the Dorothy MacKenzie Artist Recognition scholarship awards. 

Over 140 video clips of past Festival events are posted on YouTube. IKIF’s Facebook and YouTube links can be accessed directly or through links at www.ikif.org. To purchase tickets, and access the Schedule of Concerts, Lectures, and featured Masterclasses, visit www.ikif.org. 

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.

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.