There are at least 3 performance pianos.. I'll call them by.. S&S Satin New York, S&S Gloss New York, and S&S Hamburg. 3 different sounding instruments. One of the finalists wanted a different instrument for the concerto rehearsal and the conductor disagreed with his choice, so that was fun to watch! I saw Ron Conors from S&S NY only briefly, however I would assume there are others. I tuned for the Silver-Garburg piano duo (who are in town for 2 concerti performances) and during our conversation I mentioned that I was watching the Van Cliburn competition. They told me of the great technicians in Texas.. So whoever are the concert guys in Texas. keep up the good work.. The prizewinners are announced Sunday night Texas time.. that's Monday late morning for me... and Monday is a public holiday here! Brian From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of PJR Sent: Friday, 5 June 2009 9:36 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Half o t Thanks for the website:(www.cliburn.tv <http://www.cliburn.tv/> ). It is awesome! I turned the TV off and watched it full-screen for hours. I wonder how long it will be up. It says until June 7th; however it says the competition was held last spring, so they must be repeats. I wonder how the piano situation is organized. I saw them rolling off one piano and rolling out another. Do they have a fleet of pianos and piano-tuning elves in the back room? It must be tough on pianos there. Thanks again. Phil Ryan Miami Beach PianoCare2 wrote: William Thanks for these comments. I have been watching the competition through www.cliburn.tv <http://www.cliburn.tv/> . It is great to watch live performances, as well as prior rounds and also rehearsals for the finals. Nobuyuki is inspirational. I must add that Di Wu's rehearsal of Beethoven 2nd concerto was fantastic.. Especially the singing tone in the second movement. Bozhanov is also up there. It is going to be a great final. Hopefully Nobuyuki will finish in the top three. Brian Wilson _____ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Piano Boutique Sent: Monday, 1 June 2009 9:41 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Half o t List, I ran across this on one of my blind lists and thought you might find it interesting. William Blind pianists wows audiences at piano contest By ANGELA K. BROWN - 20 hours ago FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - With a dramatic bow of pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii's head, rich sounds of the piano, violins, cello and viola broke the concert hall silence as he and a string quartet played Schumann's Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44. Just before the final note about 30 minutes later, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition audience began clapping. People jumped to their feet, some whistling or yelling, "Bravo!" The standing ovation lasted nearly five minutes, so long that the 20-year-old from Japan returned to the stage twice to bow, grinning from ear to ear. The audience may have loved Friday's performance, but not everyone may have known its significance. Tsujii - who was born blind - had to figure out how to cue the other musicians. That was especially important with the Schumann piece, because all instruments must start playing simultaneously in the first movement. After his first rehearsal last week with the Takacs Quartet - the University of Colorado at Boulder-based group that performs with all 12 Cliburn semifinalists - Tsujii said he decided to nod his head as a cue. He had only played with a chamber music group once before, recently in Japan, after learning it would be required should he advance to the Cliburn semifinals. He previously performed with symphony orchestras in Paris, Berlin and Tokyo, and he followed the conductor's breathing, he said. But Tsujii said his blindness has not limited his playing opportunities and that he doesn't want to be known as the pianist who cannot see. "The most important objective as I'm performing is that the audience is going to be moved," Tsujii said through an interpreter. While playing on stage, first violin Edward Dusinberre occasionally glanced at Tsujii, and he and the other Takacs Quartet members also seemed to rely on musical cues. "We've had a great time working with him," Dusinberre said before Friday's performance. "There is of course a tremendous intensity to his listening to what we're doing, and his sense of timing is very natural, and so we're having a great time communicating with him." Cliburn officials initially said Tsujii was the competition's first blind competitor but recently were reminded about a blind pianist who didn't advance past the first round in 1973. Tsujii, nicknamed Nobu, already had fans in Japan but has gained even more since arriving at the Cliburn. So far, video of his preliminary round performance on the contest's Web site has about 11,400 views, the most of the 29 pianists who started in the competition. Van Cliburn, the legendary classical pianist and namesake of the prestigious contest held every four years, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Tsujii's playing was "absolutely miraculous" and "truly divine" after hearing him last week. Tsujii was just a baby when he showed an interest in music, said his mother, Itsuko Tsujii of Tokyo. "When I would put on Chopin CDs, he reacted very actively, patting the sofa, and seemed to be enjoying it," she said through an interpreter. After he played the toy piano she got him at age 2, he started taking lessons at 4 and began learning to read music in Braille. But because that method took too much time, he listened to music recorded by his piano teacher and memorized it, which took a few days for some pieces or a week for longer, more complex ones, he said. "Although he is blind, you never know that when listening to his music," Rena Miyamoto, an assistant piano teacher at Ueno Gakuen University in Tokyo who recently began working with him, said through an interpreter. "His music is from his soul, his heart." The six Cliburn finalists will be announced Sunday night. All of them will receive managed concert tours worth $1 million, and each of the top three finishers will receive $20,000 and get to record a CD, among other prizes. The winners will be announced June 7. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ibozl-WK0Gob0c6-XJUQZ_NBKV NQD98GRI681 Kathy blackburn kblackbn at austin.rr.com ************************************************************ Join the Monthly Monetary Support program (MMS) and help improve tomorrow today in ACB. For details, contact Dr. Ron Milliman, MMS Program Committee Chair, by e-mail: rmilliman at insightbb.com or by phone at 270-782-9325 and get started making tomorrow look brighter today in ACB! * ACB-L is maintained and brought to you as a service * * of the American Council of the Blind. * -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: acb-l-unsubscribe at acb.org For additional commands, e-mail: acb-l-help at acb.org No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.46/2144 - Release Date: 06/02/09 17:53:00 No virus found in this incoming message. 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