An Evening of Piano Music on 9 July
Alexander Malofeyev unveils the brand-new concert grand piano
The Mikhailovsky Theatre has acquired a unique concert grand piano. As part of their partnership with the Mikhailovsky Theatre, the makers of the piano have provided the theatre with a next-generation Yamaha CFX. This elite grand piano, which is the only one of its kind in St. Petersburg, has benefited from all the expertise and skills of the company’s master-craftsmen: skills that have been honed over more than a century with the exclusive aim of achieving the perfect sound. The grand piano will be used in concerts featuring orchestral music, chamber music, and choral music at the theatre.
In an effort to create the perfect concert instrument, Yamaha’s experts have been building strong relationships with several outstanding musicians over many years, picking up invaluable advice and feedback from them. The previous model, the Yamaha CFIIIS, was created in collaboration with Sviatoslav Richter. The quest for perfection, however, has no end. The CFX concert grand piano represents new heights in the history of piano manufacturing. The journey from the initial concept to implementation began back in 1991, when a team of engineers, experts, and designers set to work on the project. To this end, the oscillations of the instrument’s body, sounding board, frame, and strings were analysed, the frequency overtones for each note were set, and high-speed photography was used to observe the reaction of the strings when struck by the hammers. The result of all this hard work was an exceptional grand piano with an outstanding mechanism and a sound capable of expressing all the rich diversity of emotions contained in great music. In recent years, this grand piano has been tested by some of the greatest pianists in the world, including Russia’s very own Denis Matsuev.
The Yamaha CFX grand piano is the official instrument of a number of prestigious international piano contests and festivals, including the International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow), the International Chopin Piano Competition (Warsaw), the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition (Utrecht), and piano competitions held in Sidney, Barcelona, and Monte Carlo.
In order to celebrate the arrival of the new grand piano at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, the young virtuoso pianist Alexander Malofeyev has been invited to treat audiences to a special performance. Malofeyev studies at the Gnessin Moscow Special Musical Middle School, where he is taught by E. Berezkina. Although just 12 years of age, he already boasts an impressive record in piano contests, with a huge number of triumphs to his name. Alexander has won awards at the Ninth International Rachmaninov Competition for Young Pianists in Novgorod (grand prize, special prize for the best performance of a work by Johann Sebastian Bach, 2014); the Moscow Musical Diamond International Piano Competition (grand prize, 2011, 2014); the Young Talents of Russia National Competition (2013); the First Astana Piano Passion international contest for young pianists (first prize, 2013); the International Stairway to the Stars Festival and Competition in Moscow (grand prize, 2013); the 21st Delphic Games of Russia (gold medal, 2012); the Anna Artobolevskaya Young Pianist Festival (grand prize, 2012); the Mozart Wunderkind International Competition in Austria (grand prize, 2011); and the Fourth New Names of Moscow Children’s Creativity Festival (2011). He has also won a Public Recognition award (Moscow, 2012). On 3 July 2014, Alexander was awarded first place and the gold medal at the Pyotr Tchaikovsky Eighth International Youth Piano Competition in Moscow.
Alexander Malofeyev’s concert will take place at 7:00 p. m. on 9 July in the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s Fireplace Hall. The concert will feature music by Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Medtner.
Admission is by special invitation only.
