Benjamin Grosvenor debuts CFX

The outstanding British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor will perform on Yamaha’s new CFX concert grand piano for his forthcoming recital which opens Yamaha’s International Piano series at Malvern Theatres on 16th October, the concert also coincides with his 18th birthday. This will be the first public performance on the Yamaha CFX in the UK and Benjamin will present a programme of Chopin, Ravel and Gershwin.
Benjamin Grosvenor was a child prodigy who came to worldwide recognition when he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Keyboard Final in 2004 at the age of 11. Over the past 7 years, while continuing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he has pursued an international career from Singapore to New York with a select number of high-profile engagements. Benjamin has featured in two documentaries for BBC TV, including Alan Yentob’s Imagine series on “Being a concert pianist”, and his performances have been broadcast widely in the UK, Europe and the USA.
Benjamin Grosvenor comments on the CFX “I tried out the CFX in Poland in August and I was really impressed by how the piano projects to the back of the hall and its wide range of dynamics which are very easy to control.”
Following 20 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 CF Series pianos mark a significant milestone in Yamaha’s celebrated 108-year history as an acclaimed world-class piano maker.
The CF Series is not simply a development of existing models. They are totally new instruments that build on Yamaha’s ambitions to exceed the expectations of players and audiences and set a new global standard for grand pianos. In these instruments Yamaha have completely re-examined and re-evaluated every single aspect of the piano-making process and components involved therein, resulting in a wide range of startling improvements and advances.
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 Mike Ketley comments “This piano is the result of many thousands of hours of private testing and evaluations carried out with some of the most discerning and demanding concert pianists and technicians worldwide and we are privileged to be seeing it making it’s UK debut in Malvern.”