YOUNG RUSSIAN PIANIST PLAYING YAMAHA CFX TRIUMPHS AT 16TH INTERNATIONAL CHOPIN PIANO COMPETITION
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Russia's brilliant Yulianna Avdeeva and Yamaha's acclaimed CFX concert grand piano took centre stage at the 2010 International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition as the outstanding 25-year-old pianist took first prize at the highly prestigious event. Avdeeva personally selected the CFX for her prize-winning performance in Warsaw on 19th October.
Held over a three-week period every five years in the Polish capital, the competition is the oldest of its kind and is avidly followed by classical music lovers all over the world. The selection of a Yamaha CFX concert grand by a 1st prize-winning performer, therefore, is a considerable accolade and a global milestone both for the instrument and for Yamaha's dedicated craftsmen and design team.
As this year’s Chopin competition coincides with the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth in Warsaw in 1810, it has attracted particularly strong international interest. What better time, then, for the Yamaha concert grand to reach the pinnacle of world-class concert performance?
The 2010 competition was characterized by the high quality of its performances and it was after lengthy late night deliberations that the jury, which features several world-famous pianists including Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, Fou Ts’ong, and Kevin Kenner, chose Yulianna Avdeeva from the ten finalists. She received the Gold Medal, a laurel wreath, and 30,000 Euros. In addition, Yulianna was awarded the Krystian Zimerman prize for best sonata (12,000 €).
The pianist studied in Moscow and is currently working as an assistant to a Russian professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich.
A Yamaha CFX was also played by the fourth prize winning pianist Evgeni Bozhanov from Bulgaria, as well as being used by two of the four finalists who received distinctions.
Mark Rolfe is Director of Pianos for Yamaha Music Europe and he commented “ The CFX was twenty years in development and launched to the world only in March this year. We are thrilled and proud that this truly outstanding instrument has impressed so many artists, educators and concert hall managers in such a short space of time. The musicality and capability of the CFX has now been showcased to the entire classical music world thanks to Yulianna who has shown the quality of the Yamaha CFX to be capable of matching and exceeding the other available instruments at the Chopin competition.”
ENDS
About the Yamaha CFX
Following twenty years of development in the Yamaha workshops, the CFX was first unveiled at a concert given by Piotr Anderszewski earlier this year in Wiesbaden, Germany and is winning plaudits from artists and concert halls throughout the world. The CFX piano marks a significant milestone in Yamaha's celebrated 108-year history as an acclaimed world-class piano maker.
The CFX is not simply a development of existing models, it is a new instrument that builds on Yamaha's ambitions to exceed the expectations of players and audiences, and to set a new global standard for grand pianos. In this instrument Yamaha has completely re-examined and re-evaluated every single aspect of the piano-making process and the components involved therein, resulting in a wide range of startling improvements and advances.
Each CFX 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.
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