PR96975

NEW YORK, July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

--A unique 21st Century evolution of the grand piano

On July 19, 2022, celebrated pianist Kirill Gerstein's performance at the

Verbier Festival, which will be broadcast live on Medici.tv, will mark the

public debut of the Maene-Viñoly Concert Grand Piano.

The novel instrument was developed jointly by master piano maker Chris Maene

and renowned architect Rafael Vinoly. The piano's curved ergonomic keyboard

matches the natural sweep of a pianist's arms rotating from the shoulders and

facilitates effortless playing across all registers. The keyboard's radial

arrangement is extended to strings that fan out over a much larger soundboard

augmenting the instrument's capacity for nuance, clarity, and power.

Mr. Vinoly is an avid amateur pianist whose own experience and close

friendships with master pianists has sharpened his awareness of the

instrument's biomechanical demands and inspired his idea to curve the keyboard.

In a 2016 conversation with legendary artists Maestro Daniel Barenboim and

Martha Argerich, he was encouraged to develop the concept. Soon after, Viñoly

sought out a partnership with Chris Maene, who had previously developed a

straight-strung grand piano for Maestro Barenboim.

First, the team collaborated with noted piano kinematics researcher Renzo

Pozzo, professor at the Department of Medical and Biological Sciences at the

University of Udine (Italy), and German pianist and researcher Dr. Henriette

Gärtner to determine the keyboard's ideal arc. The further technical and

aesthetic development leveraged time-honored piano-building traditions,

computer-aided design and acoustic modeling, and the generous feedback and

support of some of the world's most prominent piano technicians and artists

including Emanuel Ax, Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Gerstein, and Stephen Hough,

among others.

After six years of development, we are proud to present a grand piano that

exceeds our team's expectations of sound quality, ergonomics, construction, and

aesthetics.

Kirill Gerstein said:

Classical forms remain vibrant and relevant through change and development. The

Maene-Vinoly concert grand advances the discourse of what a modern grand piano

is while acknowledging and utilizing the traditions and ideas of the past. Its

curved keyboard, designed to follow the natural arc of the arm's movement, is a

starting point for a re-examined layout of the larger soundboard that follows

along this curvature. The unified design, ergonomics, and function give the

piano a unique sonic signature. This piano is a musical and artistic creation,

as art innovates and provokes by building on the achievements of the past to

look into the future. I am thrilled and honored to give the first public

performance on the Maene-Vinoly Concert Grand.

Chris Maene said:

Rafael Vinoly is an exceptional architect with a clear vision and a profound

passion for his creations. In the instrument's design, the visual aspects are a

logical extension of the drive to meet its acoustic and ergonomic goals. By

considering it as an integrated whole, he drove us to challenge a grand piano's

traditional set-up and embrace the consequences of the foundational idea. The

physics of conveying the forces applied to the ergonomic keyboard lent itself

to a radial straight strung arrangement and to our unique expertise. The result

is astonishing: from Rafael Vinoly's ideas arose a radically new concert grand,

with unique looks and an exquisite sound!

Rafael Vinoly said:

Chris Maene's obvious expertise, sensitivity and commitment to excellence can

only have come out of a lifetime of probing and learning about making pianos.

But more than that, no other piano maker has the courage to challenge the

status quo of a culture and industry that has seen little innovation on behalf

of its most important exponents, professional artists. Chris has the courage of

an artist, because he is one, as well as a consummate craftsman.

**At 1pm on July 19, 2022, immediately following the piano's debut, a

Maene-Vinoly Concert Grand will be presented to the press and the public by

Messrs. Maene, Vinoly, and Gerstein at the W Verbier, Rue de Medran 70, 1936

Verbier, Switzerland.  Light refreshments will be served.

PRESS KIT AND IMAGES:

https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/yIS5zdyxPN

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Henk Swinnen, Senior Adviser

Atelier Chris Maene

+32 (0) 484 151 989

chrismaene.be

Raymond Lee, Communications Director

Rafael Vinoly Architects

+1 212 924 5060

vinoly.com

SOURCE: Rafael Vinoly Architects