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About Pro Piano
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With offices in major United States cities, Pro Piano was originally a piano tuning and service firm which gradually became North America's largest independent purveyor of concert grand pianos, providing Hamburg Steinway concert grands to nearly all the major pianists of the last quarter century. Artists diverse as Argerich, Arrau, Ax, Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Brendel, Corea, Hancock, Jarrett, Levine, Okashiro, Pollini, Pogorelich, Weissenberg, and Zimerman came to know and rely upon Pro Piano for the world's finest instruments. These great artists developed a lasting personal relationship which cemented a camaraderie between the firm Pro Piano, and the spiritual family of pianists worldwide. As a result, Pro Piano is a name recognizable to artists throughout the cultural world. Yet, as anyone who has ever accomplished significant material goals can attest, the spirit yearned for more. So it was that Pro Piano Records and the Pro Piano New York Recital Series were formed in 1993. In each case, the prevailing purpose for the undertaking was to nourish and sustain the careers of deserving pianists. Annually, hundreds of international pianists audition for The Pro Piano New York Recital Series. This strictly anonymous audition program is conducted with absolute rigidity to insure fairness and impartial selection of deserving pianists. From one to five piano recitalists (who can number among them chamber ensembles, too) are then presented on the stage of The Carnegie Recital Hall. The anonymous jury then selects the Pro Piano Artist of The Year from among the recitalists. As an Artist of The Year, the selected artist is given additional awards and receives a recording contract with Pro Piano Records for the release of at least one CD. Pro Piano Records grew from the concept that in the modern world of classical music, recorded music is a vital and key form of artistic expression, made all the more important by the ever present supply of conservatory students all nurtured on academically similar standards of technique and expression. It is much more realistic for an artist to breathe individually during a recording session than from the microscopic limitations of a concert stage. The public is simply too unforgiving of live performances which do not fit into their perceived mold of normalcy. However, recorded works are given the latitude of tolerance in respect to their individual creativity and expressiveness. Pro Piano Records utilizes the most advanced technical tools in all recorded works. In fact, A Pianist's Perspective Recording is the process which most clearly establishes Pro Piano Records as the unique voice in classical piano recordings. The Pro Piano Records label attempts to capture the pianist's world on disc, distancing itself from the typical concert hall sound found on nearly all other recordings. What the artist hears at the piano is the most important reference for listener and for artist alike. Without such a reference, the pianist would be rendered impotent. It stands to reason, therefore, that the pianist's perspective is the singular most important perspective to be addressed in the recording process. From a simple past of piano tuning and piano provision, Pro Piano Records and The Pro Piano New York Recital Series have evolved into international leadership in the fields of independent record creation and artist discovery and promotion. Among the many important artists on the Pro Piano records label, Chitose Okashiro (1993), J. Y. Song (1994) and Laure Favre-Kahn (2001) are three outstanding examples of the high standards required to be named The Pro Piano Artist of The Year. Other marvelous artists on the Pro Piano Label include: Edward Aldwell, Adam Aleksander, Sergei Babayan, Michel Block, Esther Budiardjo, Sara Davis Buechner, Gwhyneth Chen, Laure Favre-Kahn, Anton Kuerti, Jerome Lowenthal, Vardo Rumessen, Katia Skanavi, Per Tengstrand, Oxana Yablonskaya, Vladimir Viardo, and composer Ezequiel Viñao. |
