To be honest, when I first saw the AvantGrand in Hamamatsu I didn't really have any great expectations for the instrument. I just thought... "OK, so they've released another digital piano." That changed completely when I actually played it - I could see that this was something very special.
It possesses enough potential to be called a real piano. The touch, the sound... even though it's a digital piano it actually feels closer to a grand piano; that is, you can really feel a connection to it as an instrument.
A key aspect of playing the piano is that getting the sound you desire requires a certain amount of practice.
To put it another way, with practice, the piano allows you to create a certain level of expression.
This is just my personal opinion, but generally speaking, acoustic instruments are destined to have individual differences, and, for pianists the first piano they encounter will affect them significantly.
That's why I would suggest that this piano, with its fixed, constant standards, might be a better choice when starting out than an acoustic grand piano in anything but perfect condition. I believe the AvantGrand just has that much potential for performance. The fact that such an instrument has emerged means that more people will be blessed with the chance to play the piano. The AvantGrand offers the pianist a truly broader canvas...
In June 2005, Alexander Kobrin was awarded the prestigious Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano...
Read MoreIn June 2005, Alexander Kobrin was awarded the prestigious Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Immediately following this announcement, Kobrin began his first tour to the United States including recitals at Bass Hall for the Cliburn Series, the Washington Performing Arts Society, and further debuts at La Roque d’Antheron, Ravinia Festival, Beethoven Easter Festival, Hannover Prize Winners Series, Turner Sims and at the renowned Klavier-Festival Ruhr. This season, Kobrin returns to the United States for a following fifty-date tour.
Last season, Kobrin made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at both Avery Fisher Hall and for the inaugural concert of the Bethel Woods Arts Centre. He was also invited to open the 06/07 season concerts with both Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Present and forthcoming engagements include debuts with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Louvre, Wigmore Hall, Esplanade Concert Hall Singapore, Sheung Wan Civic Centre Hong Kong, and recital tours in Italy including Palermo, Verona, Trieste, and Savona. Other appearances worldwide include Aspen Music Festival, Daytona Beach, Nashville Symphony, and his seasonal tour to Japan, the International Chopin Piano Festival in Duszniki Zdroj (opening the Festival), Orchestre de Bretagne, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, and an eleven-date tour of the United Kingdom with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Paval Kogan. In addition, he made his Boston debut in March 2007 giving a recital as part of the prestigious Celebrity Series of Boston.
Born in Moscow in 1980, Alexander Kobrin began piano studies with Professor Tatiana Zelikman at the Gnessin Special Music School when he five. In 2003 he graduated from the Moscow Consevatory, where he studied under the late Professor L. Naumov.
In 1999 he was the winner of the Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy and was awarded the special prize in memory of A. Benedetti Michelangeli. Shortly following, Kobrin was second-prize winner of the 2003 Hamamatsu Competition (with no first prize awarded), which led to tours extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and South America.
Alexander Kobrin has collaborated with leading conductors such as Claus Peter Flor, Michael Christie, Alexander Lazarev, Vasily Petrenko, and James Conlon, and has worked with orchestras including the Orchestra Verdi di Milano, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Moscow Virtuosi, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, the Virtuosi of Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, the Osaka and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras, Rio Philharmonic Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Seattle Sinfonietta, and the English Chamber Orchestra.
In addition to the Cliburn Competition disc for harmonia mundi which was released in October 2005, Kobrin has recorded two volumes of Essential Chopin for international labels.
Alexander Kobrin also teaches at the Moscow State Gnessins Academy of Music.
