--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