Frederic Chiu and Yamaha Celebrate 25 Years

Frederic Chiu, recognized as one of the most eclectic and imaginative pianists performing today, will present a special concert on October 30th at Miller Theatre, located on the campus of Columbia University in Manhattan.

The concert is presented by Yamaha Artist Services New York, celebrating the pianist’s 25-year association with the Yamaha Corporation as an exclusive Yamaha Artist. Chiu will perform selections by Prokofiev, Debussy, Ravel, and a New York premiere of a work by contemporary Chinese composer Gao Ping. The program will also include a special performance incorporating Yamaha’s exclusive Disklavier technology. The concert will be recorded live for later release in multiple formats, including DVD, audio CD and DisklavierTV™.

The longtime relationship between Yamaha, the world’s premiere musical instrument manufacturer, and Frederic Chiu, represents a unique collaboration bringing together the highest standards of artistic excellence and cutting-edge technology. "I’ve enjoyed an incredibly rewarding relationship with Yamaha for a quarter-century. The consistent and unwavering support I’ve received from Yamaha Artist Services over the years has helped me explore, experiment and evolve as an artist, educator and musician, in ways I could never have imagined otherwise," said Chiu. "I’m looking forward to officially celebrating this milestone on October 30th."

Chiu's intriguing approach to piano performance and pedagogy springs from a diverse set of experiences and interests, including his eclectic Asian/American/European heritage, intense musical training, and an early and ongoing exploration of artificial intelligence and human psychology, especially the body-mind-heart connection.

An accomplished performer, Chiu has toured internationally with the Orchestre de Bretagne and Stefan Sanderling, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, Estonia National Symphony, China National Symphony and the FOSJE Orquesta in Ecuador. In the United States, he has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Hartford, Dayton, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, among others. He has performed as recitalist in the world's most prestigious concert halls including those of Berlin, Tokyo, New York, and Washington D.C. A frequent chamber musician, Chiu's many musical partners include Joshua Bell, Pierre Amoyal, Elmar Oliveira, Gary Hoffman, David Krakauer, Matt Haimovitz and the St. Lawrence, Shanghai and Daedalus string quartets. He has recorded more than twenty CDs, earning distinctions as "Record of the Year" or "Top Ten Records of the Year" by publications including Stereo Review, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Frederic Chiu has long been committed to expanding the scope of classical music. He has created unusual musical collaborations with personalities such as the Shakespearean actor Brian Bedford, the hip-hop artist Socalled and psychologist/writer Howard Buten. He has done extensive educational outreach through free performances of concerts and lectures at public schools, and his unique performances of Peter & the Wolf, transcribed for piano and narrator. He is the founder and artistic director of Beechwood Arts, a non-profit organization dedicated to changing the way the arts are created and experienced by fostering collaborative innovation across artistic genres and generations.

The Miller Theatre 25th anniversary concert will include the New York premiere of Gao Ping’s Concealed Kisses, Frederic Chiu’s own arrangements of two movements from Prokofiev’s "Romeo and Juliet" ballet suite and an historic and ground-breaking Chopin "duet". Chiu will perform with himself, taking advantage of the powerful technological capabilities of the Yamaha Disklavier reproducing piano. Disklavier pianos are capable of recording an actual piano performance, and then playing it back note-for-note, with all the sensitivity and nuance of the original performance. For Chopin’s Rondeau in C Major, Op. 73, Chiu will perform on Yamaha’s flagship Disklavier-equipped concert grand, the DCFX, while a second Yamaha Disklavier concert grand will recreate a "live" performance recorded previously by Chiu. During the course of his 25-year relationship with Yamaha, the pianist has pioneered the use of Disklaviers in performance and educational applications, most recently for long-distance piano lessons, concerts and master classes, applying DisklavierTV™ technology that enables him to perform live in one location, while his exact keystrokes and pedal movements are transmitted over the Internet, then played back in real time on other Disklaviers located around the world, along with perfectly synced video.

The October 30th concert will be recorded in its entirety as a DisklavierTV event, so that owners of Disklavier pianos across the nation will have an opportunity in the near future to watch Chiu concertize on a big-screen television as his performance is reproduced note-for-note on their own Disklavier piano.

"Frederic Chiu is one of the most original and creative musicians I’ve had the pleasure of knowing," said Bonnie Barrett, director of Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. "He’s a wonderful ambassador for Yamaha, personifying the perfect union of consummate artistry and adventurous innovation. It is very appropriate that he will be pioneering a new performance protocol for this concert, presenting Chopin’s composition for four hands using only his own two hands. As is customary with Frederic, the concert at Miller Theatre will be pushing the technological envelope to complement his imaginative artistic vision, but ultimately it is all within the context of the highest musical standards."

All tickets $20
Please contact the Miller Theater Office: 212-854-7799
For more information www.millertheater.com; www.yamaha.com/yasi