Yamaha Expands Relationship with MIM

L to R: John Shalhoup (YCA), Dr. Bill DeWalt (MIM), Robert Heller (YCA), Jim Levesque (YCA) and Christopher Bell (MIM)

Yamaha Corporation of America and the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix announced that they are expanding their relationship with Yamaha’s two-year renewable loan of a Disklavier reproducing piano to the museum’s global collection. Other Yamaha instruments in MIM’s collection include a silent guitar, an alto horn, a trumpet, a valve trombone, an alto saxophone, a clarinet and a Recording Custom drum set, used for performances in the museum’s Music Theater.

Billed as “the most extraordinary museum you’ll ever hear,” MIM is a 200,000-square-foot building with two floors of spacious, light-filled galleries and a collection of nearly 15,000 instruments and associated objects.

“Yamaha truly shares our commitment to bringing exciting and unparalleled musical experiences to the world, and I’m delighted that they have made this generous contribution of instruments to our fine collection,” said Dr. Bill R. DeWalt, president and director of the museum. “We are dedicated to providing high-quality events and presentations, while Yamaha represents excellence in craftsmanship and technology, so this partnership is a natural one that will have long-term benefits for all our visitors.”

According to DeWalt, the addition of the Yamaha Disklavier provides a new way in which the museum can showcase the superb acoustics of the its 300-seat Music Theater around the clock. When not being used for actual live performances in the theater, the Disklavier will remain on stage to automatically perform the myriad songs from its vast software library.

In addition, MIM plans to explore the full potential of Yamaha’s Disklavier RemoteLive technology. Here, a pianist can perform live on the Disklavier in the theater and have his or her exact keystrokes and pedal movements transmitted live and in real time to other networked Disklavier pianos anywhere in the world.